Column ideas buzzing like bees - but which one, which one?

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Two columns into the new gig with the daily Finger Lakes Times newspaper has prompted a half dozen interesting column ideas. Maybe more.

And as the Wednesday deadline starts to get closer (48 hours minus 11 minutes from this moment), the question bouncing loose is which topic to choose?

We have had carnage on local highways (we need lower speed limits, around the wineries and tourist attractions). There is an environmentally nightmarish project proposed for just up the road to store propane in salt caverns. The movement to sell wine in grocery stores is gaining momentum (and liquor store owner enemies). People are getting more and more politically active here, organizing, fundraising, connecting.

And then there is Adm. Fox's project to raise money for a spay and neuter clinic in Mexico, with local people traveling to Jalisco as part of the deal.

In the meantime, national and state politics are starting to impact things locally. A recently approved New York State cap on property taxes already has school districts and municipalities throwing fits. Can anyone say, California's Proposition 13?

So much to write about, sooooo hard to choose -  the purpose of this blog actually. When teaching column writing, I advise students to use this device, or sometimes a letter or email to a friend, as a way to get the creative juices going.

Juices? That makes me think of wine. And the Finger Lakes Times just wrapped up a long series of articles about the wine industry in New York and how important it is.

Wine it is for this week.

Unless I change my mind in the next 15 minutes.