Here
are a number of items I plan to post within the next two months, some likelier
(or more further developed) than others. Several follow a unifying theme.
(Content below is subject to change.) [See August 23, 2013, entry for further updates.]
1. First, whenever I get to this: Last in a series, Sons of Joyce, that I
started weeks ago:
Sons of Joyce,
Part 3 of 3: A Talk with William H. Gass in 1987 (Years Prior to Agent-Required
Trade-Book Publishing and the Current Market Focus Skewing to Genre Material)
[Comment: The title is tentative; this
entry will combine personal reminiscence and assessment of Mr. Gass from a non-expert
surveying perspective.]
2. Second, three entries in a series
titled Home Rule with Heart: New Jersey
in a Sunnier Vein:
How Do You Solve
a Problem like Maria? With a Mainly Positive Assessment (a look at a
fellow newspaper editor from within 1997-99)
[Comment: This is on an editor I remarked
on summarily—and somewhat more coolly in the autumn than I would do now—in this November post. Don’t worry—this isn’t a “hinky” story, or an
extended grump; fortunately, it doesn’t mainly revolve around an assault—which
is a big break when it comes to my publishing-world stories. This will look at
a female editor about 10 years younger than I, who proved a bit problematic in
1999-2000. (She may have said the same about me.) One big plus to this story is
that, with so many things in my life intervening since 2001, it’s good to look
back and “reconstitute” the story of Maria from a retrospective eye—and I had
to re-familiarize myself with some facts. Interestingly, a certain chunk of the
papers I have on her come from a motherlode of files I recently discovered,
which I had organized in 2001 in view of possible legal action concerning the
employer at which she worked, and which I had left in 1999. Further, in late
2000 she released stringer reporter Skoder from the latter’s writing for the Argus.
[More
importantly, Maria’s career since 2001 poses an interesting theme: an ambitious
young woman who makes some tactical missteps early in her post-college efforts,
but who redeems herself when she is seen over the longer term. So we can look
at the sweep of her career from about 1997 to about today, and look at some
office-political difficulties she was embroiled in in 1999-2000 as a clumsy
phase that she “got past.” [Update: In this May 28 blog entry, I do only the start of this.] What clues
does this give for young women today who are working in a difficult industry,
who may leave something to be desired in their occasional relations with
coworkers? And what do we say about a young media professional who is a
deep enthusiast for the “communications ethos” but who is quite lacking in
understanding about what it means to be a volunteer local-government “civic
servant”? This story has several interesting resonances, and I will take my
time with it.]
Radium Days: A
Rural New Jersey Community Fights a State Dumping Plan, with Grassroots Outrage
and Colorful “Plumage” [a series of
episodes, with photos, from 1986-87; this entry was promised in this wintertime“signpost”]
[Comment: This should be a fun entry,
partly for whimsically comparing some 27-year-old doings—more a typical but
colorful example of the “NIMBY phenomenon” than otherwise—with the current
hauling-waste and local-needs troubles to be seen in New Jersey as a result of 2012’s
Hurricane Sandy. The local-resident motivations manifested respectively in both
sets of issues are vastly different, and the 1986-87 stuff will be presented
here largely for “nostalgic” reasons, rather than for any purposes of possible
political commentary. Moreover, though I didn’t locate my printed photos of the
1986 things I witnessed, I did find
the photo negatives, so I need to transfer them into digital photos meant for
Internet viewing—not an impossibility. Lastly, I have old drafted article
material on the 1986 events, so I don’t lack for a substrate for a good blog
entry, but for some reason I can’t locate the many newspaper clippings I had of
the old events; and anyway I want to take my time with this piece. So it may
not appear until June, or maybe even later.]
Local Democrats Provide
a Novel Alternative in an Exurban Town, with Bootstrapping Means
[Comment: This projected entry is the one
most subject to change, or delay; it is from personal experience in 1994-97,
and in line with a longstanding policy of mine, I mean to strongly limit
discussion on my blog in this area, because a lot of that experience (1) was
among friends, (2) was positive, and (3) today seems worth keeping under wraps
for the foreseeable future. Yet there are one or two threads of themes to be
teased out that I seem within my rights to include on the blog; but suffice it
to say this entry will be subject to my “taking my sweet time.” (Update 10/15/13: A series following this theme, with relevant limitations, starts with this entry on this blog.)]
3. Film
break: There are a few interesting movie reviews in the works,
including of The Rocky Horror Picture
Show.
