Here’s an idea with merit … depending on who does the actual writing.
TRIBUNE CHEERS & JEERS: Oct. 15, 2008
Some people just need a little more praise. Some just need to be called to the carpet. In an effort to do both, The Tribune is bringing you a weekly Cheers & Jeers column in this space to do just that.If you have an idea for a cheer or jeer, e-mail it to Tribune Publisher Steve Kozarovich or mail it to 303 Scribner Drive, New Albany, 47150. We can’t guarantee we’ll use it, but cheers to you for trying.So to kick things off, we’ll start with a Harvest Homecoming edition.
Interesting, although the Tribune may find it necessary to place a cap on the number of times that underachieving city council time servers Dan Coffey and Steve Price can be jeered, lest the narrative spll over into the sports page.
For the hell of it, I have one of each, and if readers wishing to chime may do so. You need not restrict yourself to Harvest Homecoming, but I’ll lead off with an HH cheer.
CHEERS
… to the Harvest Homecoming committee for making the effort this year to integrate downtown businesses into the festival, and to all the risk-taking, food ‘n’ drink entrepreneurs downtown whose “unofficial” efforts enlivened Harvest Homecoming this year. There was good food, drink and music all around, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. In years to come, I see an exciting “after hours” component to New Albany’s annual fest.
JEERS
… to the New Albany Tribune for its current roster of guest columnists, which in recent months weeks has featured more embarrassment than enrichment, including attempted satire on the topic of sending barefoot and pregnant women back into the kitchen (Olson); a proposal to restrict the voting franchise to the elderly and taxpayers (Kettler); an incoherent plea to unite church and state owing to the inability of secular authorities to combat “evil” (Johnson); and a “thrash the straw man” attack on a New Atheism that doesn’t exist.
Taken together, this right-wing drumbeat has been nothing short of a soundtrack for Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary films about the Nurnberg Rallies, and encourages the view that Hoosiers in the southern half of the state have barely made it past Reconstruction in their social and political outlooks.
All of which is true … but must we draw attention to it so often?
