Thought pr`ovoking piece Doug. I didn't know exactly how to reference this paragraph, so I apologize for copying it here in full] but it in particular resonated with me. We must hang together (because you know what happens when we don’t). Let us make it a point to lift up the efforts and people doing work that speaks to the best of the human spirit. Support or join with them and be inspired to emulate such work. The Kenny Kemps. The grandmothers, teachers, and workers. The uncompromised leaders and community organizers. The spiritual guides who speak to you. The aspirational, inspirational under-30 humans whose youthful views and votes were not poisoned by the toxic waste spilling from the disturbed ground upon which Donald Trump and JD Vance crouch.
Thank you most kindly, Julie. I was hoping some folks familiar with the Gazette and who had been in the newsroom more than once might resonate with the piece. Onwards!
Sad, lovely piece, Doug. I shed another tear for the Gaz and Charleston's Chandlers/Grahams/Binghams/Blethens/Bancrofts, the Chiltons. The newsroom! Dunno if it's still working out, but the Marfa Sentinel turned around its finances a few years ago by opening a bar/hangout downstairs. Think of every paper's reporters' joint—if only the papers had had enough sense to buy the bars. …
Given that type size is measured in points—72pt = 1 inch—the FDR hed must have been 144pt or 216, although I don't know if points are still used for type that large, AKA "going to the wood," hand-set wooden fonts when size is too large for Linotype. Every standard hed had a character count known to every editor. I wrote a couple of programs—one in xyWrite's scripting language, XPL, then one in C—that counted characters in a hed as the editor constructed it on a PC screen. —diane f
Dear Diane: Thanks for the response — and your educated, informed guess as to the 'FDR DIES' font size! I figured at a glance it might be somewhere above 200 pts. As for the Post, I will likely re-subscribe after a bit. Yet key 'news-institutions-funded-by-billionaires' as a genre needs to go away. Bezos seemed to not be radically interfering — until he did. His bank account probably woke him in the middle of the night, tapping hard on his shoulder.
I may return to BlueSky where I have an account I toyed with last year. I cannot imagine TwiXter's triumphalism and continued dirty-fingered algorithm diddling in the months and years ahead by Elmo Musk, who himself is yet more proof of Insidious Oligrarch Syndrome's malign affect on America's body politic. PS: You made me smile with mention of xyWrite. That was, I think, the very first computer program we were trained on once typewriters left and clunky desktop monitors replaced them back in the day at the Gazette. Oh, my, how many times we had to call the one (self-trained) expert in the building, Terry, down to rescue us from the latest XYwrite catastrophe. Onwards, Doug PPS: Bars in newspaper offices! Brilliant!!
Thought pr`ovoking piece Doug. I didn't know exactly how to reference this paragraph, so I apologize for copying it here in full] but it in particular resonated with me. We must hang together (because you know what happens when we don’t). Let us make it a point to lift up the efforts and people doing work that speaks to the best of the human spirit. Support or join with them and be inspired to emulate such work. The Kenny Kemps. The grandmothers, teachers, and workers. The uncompromised leaders and community organizers. The spiritual guides who speak to you. The aspirational, inspirational under-30 humans whose youthful views and votes were not poisoned by the toxic waste spilling from the disturbed ground upon which Donald Trump and JD Vance crouch.
Thank you, Jim! Your response and feedback is much appreciated, good sir. _/\_
This is one of my favorite pieces of yours, Doug. Thanks for capturing the awesome work of the folks at the Gazette back in the day.
Thank you most kindly, Julie. I was hoping some folks familiar with the Gazette and who had been in the newsroom more than once might resonate with the piece. Onwards!
Sad, lovely piece, Doug. I shed another tear for the Gaz and Charleston's Chandlers/Grahams/Binghams/Blethens/Bancrofts, the Chiltons. The newsroom! Dunno if it's still working out, but the Marfa Sentinel turned around its finances a few years ago by opening a bar/hangout downstairs. Think of every paper's reporters' joint—if only the papers had had enough sense to buy the bars. …
A maybe useful reminder of things you must already know, Ken White's substack today, the new regime's well-trod road of self-destruction: https://www.popehat.com/p/refuge-in-kakistocracy Also, Lucian Truscott has been rallying spirits realistically since the election: https://luciantruscott.substack.com/archive/ And if you've given up on bluesky.social it may be time to revisit. Surge of Xitter refugees since the election has been so massive even the nyt noticed. Today, the Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/11/14/x-social-media-bluesky-threads/ (I'm disappointed you took out your outrage at their boss on the wapo's news staff by canceling.) …
Given that type size is measured in points—72pt = 1 inch—the FDR hed must have been 144pt or 216, although I don't know if points are still used for type that large, AKA "going to the wood," hand-set wooden fonts when size is too large for Linotype. Every standard hed had a character count known to every editor. I wrote a couple of programs—one in xyWrite's scripting language, XPL, then one in C—that counted characters in a hed as the editor constructed it on a PC screen. —diane f
Dear Diane: Thanks for the response — and your educated, informed guess as to the 'FDR DIES' font size! I figured at a glance it might be somewhere above 200 pts. As for the Post, I will likely re-subscribe after a bit. Yet key 'news-institutions-funded-by-billionaires' as a genre needs to go away. Bezos seemed to not be radically interfering — until he did. His bank account probably woke him in the middle of the night, tapping hard on his shoulder.
I may return to BlueSky where I have an account I toyed with last year. I cannot imagine TwiXter's triumphalism and continued dirty-fingered algorithm diddling in the months and years ahead by Elmo Musk, who himself is yet more proof of Insidious Oligrarch Syndrome's malign affect on America's body politic. PS: You made me smile with mention of xyWrite. That was, I think, the very first computer program we were trained on once typewriters left and clunky desktop monitors replaced them back in the day at the Gazette. Oh, my, how many times we had to call the one (self-trained) expert in the building, Terry, down to rescue us from the latest XYwrite catastrophe. Onwards, Doug PPS: Bars in newspaper offices! Brilliant!!