Writing as a reporter, a Citizen Journalist, requires a cool touch that can be hard to make exciting. That’s probably why it’s not all that popular on the internet. Most of the writing that we see in a political or newsworthy context isn’t writing to inform but to convince. It usually runs hotter with an urgency that propels the story forward easily. It may be a lot of fun to write, but it is even harder to do well. Writing to convince is a kind of organizing that has its own sense of quality. This is my attempt at defining it.
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Category Archives: Politics
Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin. Is there any other name that can launch a thousand conversations with at least as many nuances as hers? Not right now, there isn’t. For better or worse, Sarah Palin is an icon of our times. As Newsweek recently proclaimed, “How do you solve a problem like Sarah?” But there is a simple and remarkably satisfactory answer to that question. “Treat her like a human being – for once.” That may sound too simple to many people, but only because they are caught up in the attempt to define Sarah Palin – and, sadly, all women who have the audacity to be themselves.
Northstar
Today the Northstar Commuter Rail line opens from Target Field to Big Lake, with an extension to St. Cloud coming soon. It’s a commuter rail line, meaning that it’s a full-blown train operating on existing tracks, costing $320M for the 40 miles that it will run. It’s expected to carry about 4,000 people per day in a few years at speeds up to 80 MPH, but experts say that ridership may be much higher. As the hoopla becomes a staple on the news for the next few days, a lot of us in Saint Paul might be wondering when we get our ride – and the answer is that we could have had something just like this by now. But we don’t.
Retelling the Reality
The subject came up, as so many of these things do, while trying to explain things to my daughter. She understands that ordinary people banding together made great history happen. But there are so many holes that don’t entirely make sense until we get into it a bit deeper, such as Women’s Suffrage. A bunch of women organized, marched, made a lot of fuss, and eventually embarrassed the establishment into giving in. Great. But then the bigger issue comes up – why are the details of this story not very well known?
The stories of history are one thing. The stories that are hard to find have stories of their own.
All Politics is Local
Tuesday is Election Day here in Saint Paul. It hasn’t been an exciting election, but that only figures. As the economic situation continues, there’s little for local governments all across the nation to do but settle in for a long siege. There’s a good reason for this.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 