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.

Back at writing newspaper columns - and teaching soon, too

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - An hour ago I finished a first draft of my second column for the Finger Lakes Times, the daily newspaper in Geneva that asked me several weeks ago to pen a weekly column for their editorial page - on anything I wanted to write about.

Jaysus, a dream come true. I've said for years the only thing that could ever lure me back to work for a daily newspaper was getting to write a column.

Be careful what you wish for, right?

Oh, did I forget to mention that they are paying me for this? Not much (we are talking journalism and newspapers here) but enough to make it worthwhile to have trouble sleeping when a column idea starts crawling around in my head.

My first column, published last Friday, was an introduction of sorts, though I was able to get myself into the spotlight and add some words about why I think community journalism - what the Finger Lake Times practices - is soooooo important to democracy.

And this week's column is about some people involved in decision-making in a local government who are not all that keen on participatory democracy.

In fact, at their most recent meeting, they told the audience that one topic - a proposed major propane storage project and potential environmental nightmare - was not up for discussion, nor would questions be allowed. And that's even though the group might be voting on whether to approve it in the next few months

Huh?

Imagine the fun I am having with that in my column.

It will be interesting this fall teaching column writing again at CSU, Sacramento, where I will be able to offer real-time experience. Perhaps in my Monday class, I'll have the students look over my shoulder for a column or two.

It will be good for them to see their professor sweating on deadline, too.

The 'public hearing that wasn't' story has been posted

READING CENTER, Town of Reading, New York, USA - The story I wrote about here Friday, kind of wild story to write (and chase) has already been posted by The Observer newspapers, a two-newspaper chain for which I write several stories per week.

Reading planning board member

I've been following a controversy over a proposal to store liquid propane gas in salt caverns. The company that wants to do it (Inergy of Kansas City, MO) says it is as safe as can be.

Opponents are terrified of potential accidents, plus, rumbling propane trucks aren't really complimentary to the tourist industry here at Seneca Lake.

Here is a link to the story, photo and video.
Public told: Go away


And the brief video can be seen below, too.

Covering local government - there's always a surprise lurking

READING CENTER, Town of Reading, New York, USA - What was supposed to be a routine, go-to-meeting, take-notes-at-meeting, write-story-of-meeting evening turned into a major imbroglio that sent me to the law books, put me in contact with a lawyer specializing in open meetings and forced me to turn up the heat on some local politicians to get some answers.

And those politicians? They don't like heat very much.

Actually, not at all.

Chairman of the board

I can't report too much about it in this space right now. I filed a story, photo and video with a local newspaper (as their on-the-spot correspondent). But the story is basically that a long-planned presentation got canceled, precisely at the moment it was supposed to start.

Not very polite to the presenters, some of whom had driven some distances to attend and hear about the dangers of storing propane in salt caverns. Politics involved? Hoo-boy, yes.

When the presentation was canceled by the planning board, many of the attendees opted to head off to a Brewfest where money was being raised for their cause - keeping the propane storage project from being built.

The Brewfest was certainly better than going home and crying in a beer, for sure.

I retreated home to start the grinding process of contacting people for the story. But while I missed out on the Brewfest, I had Dr. Reisling to keep me company.

Tuesday, I will post the story, video and photos here, along with some commentary about how I put the package together.

The one-hour rule, pared down to fit a crazy summer schedule

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - When things get too complicated (too many things to do, seemingly not enough time), I revert to what I call the one-hour rule.

For one hour, I focus entirely on whatever task/issue/job I choose. And during that time, no checking emails, (or Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin). No going outside to check on the status of the slowly growing tomato plants. No endless trips to the teapot for just a little more beverage.

It is amazing what can be accomplished in a focused hour.

But that rule does take, well, an hour to implement and so today, an experiment is underway: do the same thing, but in half-hour chunks.

That leaves me approximately 22 minutes to finish this blog. That's an endless vista, almost.

On the writing front, here in upstate New York, I have been successful in publishing a dozen pieces in two local newspapers, the Elmira Star Gazette and the Watkins Glen Review and Express. Neither would be confused with the New York Times, but then, the vast majority of people in this town do not read the NY Times.

But they do read these local papers. And they read them closely.

Other good writing news: a national magazine - Dog Fancy - has taken a piece from me about our Mexican foster dog Mia, currently living with our amiga Laura outside Guadalajara, Mexico.

Even my half-written novel (The Talking Mime) is on the to-do list, with an August finish date, a half-hour at a time.

And one new book (long in planning) has crept into a priority position: 18 Hours to Madrid.

But that's a topic for another column.

I only have 15 minutes left, and I need to throw a few graphics in this piece.

The half-hour rule, rules.