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The Star-Bulletin's beginning a big advertising hype for the upcoming premiere of Pearl Harbor, The Movie, apparently after being designated the film's exclusive print promotional "partner". It's a big contest spanning a couple of weeks. But the prizes? A $20 restaurant gift certificate (not likely enough for a meal for two), two movie tickets (not to the premiere, but to a screening two days later), two tickets to the USS Missouri, an unspecified "movie memento", and a chance "to watch the stars" of the film from an unspecified distance as they arrive for the premiere the winner won't be attending. Maybe it strikes you differently, but it looks to me like a pretty low rent prize package which certainly doesn't live up to all the hype. Or maybe I just got a bad attitude after spending last evening watching Cecil B. Demented, a wonderfully crazy critique of Hollywood.Also noted in the pages of the Bulletin's weekend magazine...two separate canned promos for The Mummy spanning two full pages...a promo for Sonny Ching's noted hula halau which leaves the reader dangling. The caption for the large (but three year old) file photo says the group will perform on Saturday, but the event listing says it's on Sunday...
There's also an abbreviated listing of places to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, with no indication today is anything other than an excuse to down an extra ration of tequila (misspelled in the listing several times). I looked unsuccessfully for at least a nod to the history behind this now-commercialized celebration.
Here's one version of the reason we celebrate on this day, lifted shamelessly from off the Web from http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm, which also features links to other versions of this history.
The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but is should be ! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.
The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.
Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.
The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.
Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.
General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.
When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Pueblo, essentially ending the Civil War.
Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico City.
It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?
In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.
Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!
I wonder whether there's a way to do an "open" investigative story, publishing an account of the investigation here each day as I proceed through the layers of evidence, interviews, and questions. It's an intriguing idea. Reporters will sometimes do this with an aggressive editor--report regularly on progress, developments, leads, directions, all while the investigation is ongoing. There are all kinds of problems, legal as well as practical. For example, we're used to avoiding libel in a published story by pursuing all sides and seeking conflicting accounts of delicate situations, fairly and fully presenting critical information. But that information is gathered over time, and printing it piecemeal could create liability. And in practical terms, what would an investigation be like if everyone, including those who might want to resist disclosures, are able to follow along as it develops?On the other hand, it would certainly make an interesting read! That's what has me following the thought, trying to imagine how such a project might unfold. Perhaps there are certain types of topics that might better lend themselves to this kind of treatment. I'm still toying with it.
I don't know of any examples of such an experiment, but that shouldn't be a final deterrent. In any case, it's an interest bit of conceptual reporting, and worth pondering a while more.
At home, we're still having a hard time with Mr Leo. Perhaps it's his Siamese heritage, or his early childhood experiences after being abandoned and surviving on his own, but he's very high-strung, hyperactive (if that's a concept that applies in cat-dom), and demanding. If he isn't getting sufficient attention--and it can happen, with seven other cats competing for the finite amount of human time and attention--he lets you know with his own unique and dramatic flair. So I'm struggling with attention strategies, hoping to find some combination that works. Meanwhile, he remains complex, difficult, and adorable.
Mr. Leo
I got a call just a while back from MidWeek editor Don Chapman, who inquired about my situation and invited me out to talk. I accepted his invitation and stopped by their Kaneohe office one afternoon for a pleasant and informative conversation. The outcome was an open invite to add my name to their list of freelance writers, with an aim to add an occasional investigative story to MidWeek.I warned Don that this was rough territory for me in light of my termination by the management of the "new" Star-Bulletin, now a "sister" publication of MidWeek under common ownership. At the same time, there aren't a lot of high visibility spots and MidWeek's cover is one of them. And obviously Don and his crew were innocent bystanders and weren't part of the decision in my case. This was textbook ambivalence.
It had to ponder the situation for several days before it became clear to me that I would rather see my writing someplace else. At least for now, it seems, I'm not ready to contribute to the success of David Black's Oahu Publications on these terms.
Maybe I'm being insufficiently mercenary, and I'm certainly not adequately into the freelance "write for whoever's buying" space. Not yet.
A Honolulu Advertiser envelope arrived yesterday. It was a three-page letter informing me of my vested retirement rights in the Star-Bulletin's retirement plan, which was merged into Gannett's retirement plan at the end of March.According to their calculations, I'll be eligible for a retirement payment of $624.40 per month at age 65, or $374.64 at age 55. Not much, but I don't think that any of my prior jobs in the nonprofit world left me with any retirement benefits at all.
Jay Harris, the recently resigned publisher of the San Jose Mercury News who resigned in protest of corporate greed, gave an interesting speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "It's a good read," says on S-B staffer who passed the reference on.
It's drama day in the Lind family. My sister's son, now about 31, flew to Maui from his home in California on Sunday to meet his natural mother after a lengthy, on-again off-again search for his biological roots. When he finally triggered the state's legal process that exists to unite adopted children with their birth parents, he discovered that she was eager to make contact and had been searching for a decade. She promptly sent him a ticket to Maui, where she lives, and he left his wife and kids and took flight. He's not only found his mother, but his sister as well. They're all coming to Honolulu today, and we're on the list of relatives offered an opportunity to share a bit of their time. Not your everyday Wednesday.
It's May Day, a day of international celebration of organized labor, originally in commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886. But here in Honolulu, most news media are stampeding to the right in an anti-labor frenzy, uncritically and mistakenly blaming organized labor for dragging down the economy, crippling education, undermining civil service, and creating bureaucratic roadblocks.It's especially depressing to see writers for the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin adopting similar postures when, at the same time, they enjoy better wages and working conditions than most newspapers around the country due to a strong Newspaper Guild local.
Gannett is still doing what it can to undermine the "new" Star-Bulletin, according to stories circulating among S-B newsroom staffers. Here's one version received yesterday:
well, you may have heard about them sending some guy from circulation over to the press in kaneohe to write down when the trucks leave and count how many papers are being printed - someone got his license # and took a pic of him so he started parking two blocks away and then walks up the press....and then there's the stuff about them pushing all the bulletins to the back of the shelves at safeway and other stores and putting the tizer up front....
and of course the harassment of the kids selling the bulletins, with some guy running off some 9 year old girl with her bulletins - and then telling bulletin sellers they couldn't sit in front of safeway and then they got into a fight with each other so safeway told both papers no one can sell papers in front of their stores now.
and other petty shit we hear all the time....they must be scared to be acting that way is all I can figure.
There's also word that the operator of the little 3rd floor restaurant back at the news building is pulling out. Business apparently dropped off dramatically after the Star-Bulletin moved out of the building.
I wrote a brief column about my recent experiences for the local SPJ newsletter, which was mailed out last week. Nothing earth shattering.
I managed to waste a bit of time yesterday doing another quick photo gallery update. Just click on the photo gallery banner, or on this picture of Lindsay, to check it out.
Gannett's Advertiser continues to have the lion's share of the Sunday advertising, and has a near monopoly on advertising inserts. I think the Star-Bulletin had its first insert yesterday, but an alert reader noticed that while Long's ran its big ad in both papers, it saved the value book insert with coupons for the Advertiser alone.
I wonder if more advertisers will shift to the Bulletin when Gannett stops cooking the circulation numbers by distributing free newspapers, including freebies to S-B subscribers. One rumor is that Gannett will drop their p.m. edition at the end of this quarter, which will cut a bunch of pseudo-subscribers. The Star-Bulletin's circulation will look better in comparison to their legitimate circulation numbers.
It's wet and windy in Kaaawa early Sunday morning. I've corralled most of the cats inside, out of the rain, except for Ms. Kili, who didn't retreat from the yard when the rain started, and Mr. Silverman, who finally got too nervous being trapped and really wanted out, so I opened a door for him. All the rest of us are waiting for the rain to pass so the portals can be opened again.This from a friend yesterday:
I try really hard not to be critical of the Star-Bulletin, and still refuse to let the Advertiser in the house, but am getting frustrated that my not-so-activist friends who read Gannett's rag seem to know a lot more about what's going on around town, especially in the area of entertainment. Unfortunately, I work in entertainment and may have to switch papers just to know what is happening in my own field.I was told that the Star-Bulletin consultants don't like "calendar listings", but prefer highlights and features on selected events. I produce free quality entertainment for the community, and the Bulletin used to run my listings with regularity. Not so, now, and I receive twice as many phone calls, trying to find out what's going on. It's irritating that Star-Bulletin readers cannot find out about the stuff we're offering.
So I guess we're unlikely to see a TGIF equivalent in S-B any time soon, and the Advertiser will remain the paper of choice for anyone wanting to venture out on the weekend. This active community produces myriad events from which to choose (as opposed, perhaps, to a more stay-at-home Canadian burg?), and we like to do our own choosing, not just read "highlights".
I may have some additional comments after looking through today's Sunday edition(s), the end of the first month of Sundays.
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