{"id":1794,"date":"2010-02-18T11:31:29","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T17:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2010-02-18T19:05:01","modified_gmt":"2010-02-19T01:05:01","slug":"columnist-sympathizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/02\/columnist-sympathizer\/","title":{"rendered":"Columnist Sympathizer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Card-Carrying<\/a>
Card-Carrying Columnist Card<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A nice thing just happened. On Jan. 31, I was elected vice president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists<\/a>. I’ve been a card-carrying columnist since 1991, joining during the run of my column Mirthology<\/a><\/em>, in the old Arkansas Democra<\/em>t. The post is interim, to cover after a resignation, until the annual membership meeting in July in Bloomington, Ind.<\/p>\n

VP should be just another officer and not particularly noteworthy. First I was archivist from 2005-07, then elected secretary and last summer re-elected minutes-taker. It’s cool that it’s a national group, but also comfortable in not being too big, around 300 members in a given year.<\/p>\n

But veep is not just another officer. According to the motion, I am “to be willing to be on the slate as a nominee for president at that meeting.”<\/p>\n

That’s what I’m in for. And barring nominations from the floor — a qualified candidate could get my vote — I’ll be out front for 2010-12.<\/p>\n

Here’s the thing. I am a former newspaper columnist. My last print-published column, Loose Leaves<\/a><\/em>, was dropped when I was downsized from that newsroom, in fall 2001. I’ve repeatedly made the fact known to board and lay members alike. For several years, different people have suggested I make myself available to the nominating committee, but I’ve insisted the NSNC president has to be a columnist. It’d be like the Bar Association run by a subpoena server, the Teamsters headed by a CPA, the American Veterinary Medical Association led by a Shih Tzu.<\/p>\n

Times are changing. No need to detail here changes in the newspaper business\/craft\/industry\/profession\/racket.<\/p>\n

The motion by longtime member, and currently newsletter editor, Robert L. Haught<\/a> lists, too generously, my alleged qualifications:<\/p>\n

The president needs to be someone who has been a member of NSNC long enough to know the organization well, who has demonstrated genuine interest in the future of NSNC, who is attuned to the conditions in the news business that affect columnists, who is articulate, promotion-minded, persuasive and able to lead. Ben possesses all these qualities and more. He has gone beyond the responsibility of the offices he has held to provide valuable assistance on the web site, the contest, the bylaws and other areas. He is the right person at the right time to move into a leadership position he has earned.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But, I am a former newspaper columnist. For nearly six years, my 40-hour, insurance-carrying job has been news page designer and copy editor. When I was a columnist, it was always a weekly gig, a few hours taken from my business-card title of some kind of editor or another.<\/p>\n

On reflection, though, I’m a former lots of things. Ex: reporter, metro editor, editorial page editor, low-brass<\/a> musician, watercolorist, freezer assembly lineman, wire editor, photojournalist, book and show critic, public radio news producer, journalism scholar, college instructor. …<\/p>\n

Former isn’t forever. Most of these things I can pick up again, should something happen to the current gig. Buy a picture of a trombone?<\/p>\n

No worries: I am a columnist in a 21st-century sense: I blog. I opened my Web site back in 2002, a long time for this medium.<\/p>\n

Most of our members who still produce columns for newspapers have an online presence as well, both staff and freelance writers. Yet we’re gaining members whose essays run solely online, either at their own or on broader sites.<\/p>\n

Sure, among my former selves, newspaper columnist is tops. I’m a realist, though, so I press on under my own masthead. Brick<\/strong> gets a lot of hits.<\/p>\n

These are interesting times<\/a>. Thank heavens I’m still a columnist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A nice thing just happened. On Jan. 31, I was elected vice president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. I’ve been a card-carrying columnist since 1991, joining during the run of my column Mirthology, in the old Arkansas Democrat. The post is interim, to cover after a resignation, until the annual membership meeting in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-course-of-words","tag-columnist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4901,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/07\/columnists-in-capital\/","url_meta":{"origin":1794,"position":0},"title":"#nsnc14dc: Columnists in the Capital & Beyond","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brick Bats Reportage"","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I can explain. Being immediate past president, I was welcomed to the opening June 26, 2014, of the NSNC hospitality suite by Marcia Tammeus, Annie Barr and Michelle Freed.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hosp-Suite-Opening-062614-nsnc14dc-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":150,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/voices-gone-wild\/","url_meta":{"origin":1794,"position":1},"title":"Voices gone wild","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 3, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Tuesday, May 3, 2005. It is far too easy for executives of media to pigeonhole columns into commentary. Or analysis. It then needs to be consistent, which is why humor and certain other person viewpoint columns are out these days. You can't have your toothpaste\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/07\/norma-desmond-heart-hildy-johnson\/","url_meta":{"origin":1794,"position":2},"title":"Norma Desmond (heart) Hildy Johnson","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock Consider the classic movies Sunset Boulevard (1950) and His Girl Friday (1940) (the latter the second of three film adaptations of The Front Page, the first out in 1931 then the 1974). If Norma worked for Cary Grant, instead of proclaiming to William Holden's character,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1383,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/06\/i-thought-we-were-in-trouble\/","url_meta":{"origin":1794,"position":3},"title":"I Thought We Were in Trouble","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"VENTURA, Calif. -- We themed (why not?) the 2009 conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists \"Survive and Thrive,\" and the speakers returned working titles that showed they understood, what with the now daily frosts at the beginning of the Newspaper Ice Age. So why are they so upbeat?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Few Bullets More"","block_context":{"text":"Few Bullets More","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/ventura-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":331,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/word-pictures-picture-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":1794,"position":4},"title":"Word Pictures. Picture Words","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/04\/worship-at-the-alter-ego\/","url_meta":{"origin":1794,"position":5},"title":"Worship at the alter ego","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A new ethical quandary in the news media. Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik used fake names to publish comments on his blog and on those of others. Some of his creations conversed with one another. The LAT blog was suspended; the dude apparently still has his print outlet. Mea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1812,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}