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Category Archives: Blotters, Ink & Otherwise

This is to classify those blogs that are defined groups, not ongoing collections. Often, these are diaries, such as travel logs.

Big Money

Monday, June 23, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — The second speaker for the columnists conference was Jarvis DeBerry of the Times-Picayune. He had a heck of a column Sunday showing how this month’s flooding in Iowa and The Storm (Katrina-Rita of 2005) have at least this much in common: deliberate damage to wetlands to benefit humanity in what has become [...]

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Home of the Owls

Sunday, June 22, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — Come, see for yourself. My fellow conferees and myself, being journalists, have read about The Storm since it blew in Aug. 29, 2005, and refreshed ourselves before coming to town. Even though we’re writers, some of us very good, none can explain the devastation and slow recovery as effectively as being here. [...]

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Pet a Penguin

Saturday, June 21, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — Dinner on Friday followed a bit of planned silliness. Columnists gathered outside the Hotel Monteleone where the Storyville Stompers were waiting. They comprised a dancing drum major, bass drummer, snare drummer, saxophonist, trumpeter, trombonist and sousaphone player. They played long versions of about three Dixieland classics and we were their “second-line,” sashaying [...]

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Getting Workshopped

Friday, June 20, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — For several years (see the Grapevine, Boston and Philadelphia categories at right), Brick has had write-ups of the sessions of the annual confab of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. I’m not sure if many besides the fellow conferees will be interested, but it’s for the record. I am secretary, after all. [...]

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The Storm

Friday, June 20, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — All morning, we visitors have been referring to Hurricane Katrina, occasionally to the other big one, Hurricane Rita, in the course of the all-day speeches and panel discussions. Instead of two days of workshops, this year’s National Society of Newspaper Columnists conference loaded up the teachin’ today so tomorrow we can move [...]

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Thus, the Diner

Thursday, June 28, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — Often, we try to locate a decent diner early in any multiday stay. On our own, we stay at Hampton or Comfort inns that include a regrettably starchy breakfast. You still need a diner. For conferences, like the one of last weekend, you reside on-site. The Sofitel here had a terrific and expensive [...]

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Word Pictures. Picture Words

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a special exhibit of the calligraphy of the 17th-century Japanese artist Ike Taiga, as well as his wife, Mamie. As is customary, he illustrated the words with scenes of woods, mountains and a few people here and there. Often Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran (his wife, really) used [...]

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Uncle Cousin

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — A fellow columnist, Ernesto Portillo Jr., on hearing my description of my mom’s favorite cousin, who’s lived in a suburb in New Jersey for 19 years, said last week, “Mexicans would call him your uncle, never mind the precise lineage.” I’ll continue to call him by his name, or Cousin (my brother calls [...]

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Pennies Tossed

Monday, June 25, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — While columnist conferees last Friday toured both the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, I had a 40-year closure issue with Benjamin Franklin so My Beloved and I skipped the latter. When I was age 10 3/4, late summer 1968, Dad had business in Camden, N.J. Time for a road trip! From Fort Smith, [...]

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Down to the Wire

Saturday, June 23, 2007

PHILADELPHIA — The final sessions of the 2007 conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists were the most traditional. In panel discussion format, largely avoided until this morning, perennial subjects were again addressed: techniques, ethics, books and technology. This will be brief, a note or two on each. After all, three panelists and a [...]

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