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Brick Bats Reportage

Three Cheers for NEA — Ra Ra RA

UA Takes Its First Seat at NEA Convention By Ben Pollock, Local 965 secretary This report first was published in the July 2022 newsletter of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965. Lots of us this summer have had to consider both mass shootings and reproductive rights. I ended up diving headfirst into both over July […]

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Brick Bats Reportage

The Goofus American

HAVANA — We went to Cuba! On our return, family and friends wanted to know all about it. “How was the food in Havana?” has been the most frequent question. Our answer: We barely ate on the island, not a satisfactory response for us, either. What can my wife or I report? I didn’t lose my […]

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Brick Bats Reportage

Draft Beer? Maybe Draft Gore

“Forget Biden, drop HRC & Bernie. Maybe we need a Draft Gore for ’16 movement. Maya Lin’s enviro concerns inspired that impulse.” BENTONVILLE, Arkansas — The above was my Facebook post from just after a lecture Monday night by artist-architect-environmentalist Maya Lin (the descriptives are hers). Mind you, Lin said absolutely nothing about politics nor former Vice President […]

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Brick Bats Reportage

Debatable? Indeed.

A full-scale, live television candidate debate just may be the pinnacle of unscripted yet predictable “reality TV,” with a local example as proof. It was a circus of tamed animals, no clowns. On Tuesday, Oct. 14, incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor faced Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton at a University of Arkansas auditorium. Below […]

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Brick Bats Reportage

#nsnc14dc: Crafting Columns, Getting Them Known

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Why were we here, besides for our writer friends and some sightseeing? To get better. Speakers at the 2014 conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists discussed politics, government and history, but the focus was on development of our skills. Hence, two wrap-up pieces. I tried to live-tweet a lot except […]

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Brick Bats Reportage

#nsnc14dc: Columnists in the Capital & Beyond

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Speakers at the 38th annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists could be separated into two general topics, with overlap: Some focused on Washington and capital news, and others on developing of crafting and marketing columns. Hence, two stories. I took a lot of notes and live-tweeted, except when I […]