Have I mentioned we have a new Web editor? I haven’t? Well, we do!
Libby Tucker was one of our business reporters, but she’s always been deeply involved in new ways to deliver information. And now she will put that into practice.
Expect big stuff from Libby. She’s that good. For example, after what seems like years of talking about building community on our website, I now expect it to happen.
What’s “building community?”
Well it’s creating a place on the Web where you can find information and interact with other folks with similar interests.
Generally, there are two types of communities: geographic and topical.
The first deals with where you live. So, for example, if you want to read about, say, Salmon Creek, and want to interact with others who are interested in Salmon Creek, we’d have a spot for you.
The second (topical) deals with a special interest you might have. Say you’re interested in health. Well, we’d have a spot on our site where you could go to learn about and discuss health issues.
Coming soon!
o o o
We really shouldn’t assume anything, right?
I pretty regularly make this mistake. I might know something and assume everyone else knows it, and then I just end up confusing people.
It works the other way, as well. Someone will say something to me, and I have no clue what he meant. So I smile and pretend I know what he meant. Later, I find out it was something everyone in the world knew. Except me.
Ciò è vita!
So I get a call this week from a very nice gentleman. He had just read our editorial on how the state Legislature has been stalling for months, rather than getting its act together on the budget problems. We went on to say Republicans have been pushing for action, but mostly what we received from Democrats were cricket chirps.
So the caller essentially uses one of my favorite words:
Huh?
He wondered if we meant critics chirps, not cricket chirps. Maybe, he thought, we were using an insider Shakespearean thing. He hunted a little bit on the Internet and then decided to call me.
I told him we probably wrongly assumed everybody would know the meaning of cricket chirps. I said that it essentially means “nothing.” No, really. It means nothing.
The sound of crickets chirping is the sound of silence.
OK, I’ll put a sock in it. (You know where that came from?)
o o o
I was getting my cup of joe, and the guy behind me was buying The Columbian. This is always a good thing. He says “hey” to me. This is not always a good thing.
But this time it was.
He’s been liking my columns and wondered if I was taking a lot of heat for my spotlight on things like government salaries, benefits and pensions.
I say it’s been surprisingly hot for it being December and all.
He says keep it up. He says that he and his buddies have really been enjoying them. He says he has empathy for me and is sorry for the heat.
I start humming “back of my neck gettin’ dirty and gritty.”
I leave the counter and he tells the nice lady he’d like to buy the paper.
“Which paper?” she says.
“Which paper!!??” I yell across the joint.
We both smile.
Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.
