{"id":299,"date":"2007-03-19T11:07:58","date_gmt":"2007-03-19T16:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2007\/03\/19\/sunday\/"},"modified":"2007-04-30T21:30:16","modified_gmt":"2007-05-01T02:30:16","slug":"in-our-midsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/03\/in-our-midsts\/","title":{"rendered":"In Our Midsts"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY — Assorted thoughts. The professionals among the conferees and the speakers all were pessimistic about the future of the newspaper business. It was just a matter of degree. The most hopeful see journalism shifting mostly to the Internet with a minority paper presence. The dourest — and they actually were in a position to know and not just reflecting on Romenesko<\/a> like I do — were sure the Internet would change or subvert or kill real reporting. One said he hoped to hit retirement age before that happens.<\/p>\n

I was due at work at 5 p.m. so My Beloved and I took in a great brunch early. Fayetteville was four hours’ drive, either through Tulsa or past Sallisaw. MB suggested phoning the Oklahoma City Museum of Art Cafe<\/a>. Somehow I got connected to a line cook. He wasn’t sure if reservations would be needed but when he described the special and his internal debate about whether the lobster omelet with Serrano peppers also would need salsa — well, he sold me there.<\/p>\n

The museum also was downtown, with its building named for Don Reynolds<\/a>, is handsome and apparently has a strong, diverse but modest collection. But being Sunday it opened at 1, and we would be on our way east. The omelet was fine (though our first and never-to-be-topped lobster omelet was served at the Maine Diner nine months ago), and the restaurant was sunny, busy, and not too big. When eating trafe, do it right.<\/p>\n

The Bradford pears along the highways were in full bloom and redbuds just starting.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

We saw The Memorial<\/a> at night and from a distance. It is stunning, a wise choice for the site of the bombing in every way. Abstract art serves us well these days especially in large pieces of public art. We get the symbolism. See, you can’t help but grow quiet and reflective there.<\/p>\n

A good argument can be made that 9\/11\/01 did not change America as much as the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building<\/a> did. That and the O.J. Simpson<\/a> trial. Yes they should be in the same breath, both of them. They have created the country we now live in, developed how we view our republic, what we want the media to show us, and demonstrated to leaders how we allow them to treat us. What sort of gullible fools we have become.<\/p>\n

This can be a long essay, written another day. Leave at this: 9\/11 shocked us, was the now-cliched wake-up call, in how it was done and by whom, and the various ways we responded to it. But that the twin towers fell is not a surprise<\/em> because of Oklahoma City, the first major terrorist act on U.S. soil, at least this side of, perhaps, Harper’s Ferry. Because of the April 19, 1995, courthouse bombing, among the thoughts of anyone watching the tube on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was, “Oh no, not again.”<\/p>\n

The Simpson trial, including all the preambles such as the televised freeway chase, showed how far cable news could take us — at no distance, no depth — and that we would follow. It also showed broadcasters that journalism didn’t have to work hard, we would take shallow and brief news bits over-and-over, instead of the in-depth work television can do, in some ways better than print. The Simpson case demonstrated that Americans prefer a good show to civil liberties. The government noticed.<\/p>\n

I just Googled the O.J. case. Oh. My. His “not guilty” verdict was announced Oct. 3, 1995. What a season for television. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY — Assorted thoughts. The professionals among the conferees and the speakers all were pessimistic about the future of the newspaper business. It was just a matter of degree. The most hopeful see journalism shifting mostly to the Internet with a minority paper presence. The dourest — and they actually were in a position […]<\/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":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oklahoma-city-2007"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/03\/newspaper-redcoats\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":0},"title":"Newspaper Redcoats","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Will Rogers Writers' Workshop began with an evening reception Thursday, March 15, 2007, at the Gaylord headquarters, aka Oklahoma Publishing Co., aka The Oklahoman newspaper. The firm is far bigger than that, reminiscent of Donrey Media but older and broader, with TV stations besides newspapers of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Never met a blog I didn't like\""","block_context":{"text":"\"Never met a blog I didn't like\"","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/oklahoma-city-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":325,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/travel-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":1},"title":"Travel Plans","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Wednesday, My Beloved and I head to Philadelphia for the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. It starts with a Thursday night reception, but I need to be at the hotel at 2 for the board meeting. I have created Brick subsets for two previous conferences, in\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":298,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/03\/wayne-reagan-and-lincoln\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":2},"title":"Wayne, Reagan and Lincoln","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Will Rogers Writer's Workshop, OKLAHOMA CITY -- This Friday-Saturday set of seminars concerned humor writing -- for newspapers, magazines, books and in one session greeting cards, covering the writing of funny essays but also sound feature reporting. Improving one's marketing skills was featured in several ways. The impact of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Never met a blog I didn't like\""","block_context":{"text":"\"Never met a blog I didn't like\"","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/oklahoma-city-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":142,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/leash-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":3},"title":"Leash life","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, May 18, 2005: Instead of speaking out of turn, here is a Brick. While sketching with some others in Gulley Park at twilight, a family approached: a mom, two boys and a dog tethered to one of the kids. Intelligent kids, you could tell.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4122,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2013\/02\/euphonium-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":4},"title":"Euphonium Rocks!","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Unemployment during the Good Depression is no time to be extravagant. I tend to be stingy during good times as well, but blowing a fair amount of money for top seats for The Who on Valentine's night in Tulsa was crazy-right. The stop was on their Quadrophenia 2012-13 tour, playing\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":"Roger Daltrey (left) and Pete Townshend of The Who, 2008. Credit Wikipedia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Pete_Townshend_and_Roger_Daltrey_Philly_2008-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5465,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2016\/10\/will-rogers\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":5},"title":"Will Rogers. For President?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"TULSA -- Somewhere in the mist of the\u00a0beginnings of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists arose two icons, Ernie Pyle and Will Rogers. NSNC has\u00a0other now-ghostly mentors, including Erma and Molly and Art, but these two men from the first half of the 20th century are the modern mentors of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bookmarks showing Will Rogers for President buttons ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/willrogersforpresident-220x200.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","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=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}