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I just wanted to put out there that I'm usually disappointed with what I read in the local papers that pertains to our industry. Of course there's always exceptions, but the good info/voices/ideas/critiques seem to mostly exist exclusively in the land of blog. The PSU school paper is a big offender, but examples of bad, superficial, ill-researched literary poop crop up in the Willy Week, the Mercury, and the Oregonian is usually just so safe it never says anything interesting. That "perfectly Pearl" mag that comes out is pretty bland, too. Maybe I'm just a cranky critic, but I wanted to say I wished the OBG had its own paper or magazine full of the passionate, moody, brilliant, geeked-out, capable voices I hear so often from all of you.
That said, I tried to do my part keepin' it real last week, and my critique of a Mercury food/bev writer got published in this week's Letters to the Editor. They titled it and added an unnecessary hyphen, but hey, I'll take it.
If anyone else is interested in quantifying some of this OBG stuff into print-literature form, I'd love to chat with you about it. Most of the folks here are such better writers than the ones getting ink time in established papers.
Cheers!
~Aimee
http://aimeescarlett.livejournal.com
Aimee, your observations echo those that beer lovers made about regional coverage for many years. In the early days, the Oregonian published Fred Eckhardt's work (buried in FoodDay as I recall), then canned him. WW had an on-again, off-again beer column but at one point made it clear they weren't interested in hiring anyone with any real industry connections. The current writer at the O has been very open to learning from the brewing and beergeek community and was at least open about the fact that he knew nothing about beer when he was originally given the assignment.
Newspapers and magazines are willing to be "serious" about wine, period. Clearly, the local papers need a knowledgeable and enthusiastic columnist to cover cocktails and the industry, but their track record leads me to doubt it will ever happen. And, who knows, maybe we've really moved beyond print entirely. There's certainly plenty of good and entertaining work done online.
Good thought Aimee.
It would be a great way to up the ante on OBG awareness for the fans of spirits. Perhaps an OBG column that focuses on certain events, drinks, techniques and new local products that all of us are bringing to the plate in the name of career improvement.
You're right, all of us take our jobs very seriously and could have quite a bit to share with the public.
Perhaps even break a few stereotypes in the process?
Hmm, I think that those of us who enjoy writing tend to have blogs. Having been published, I have a lot of respect for the challenges and effort that goes into writing a piece, especially considering deadlines and space. On a personal note, I'd also like to keep my relationship (and that of the OBGs as well) as friendly as possible with both local and national media, as they can really help us to partner and promote the quality of cocktails in our great state.
Do it Aimee! you have my support I love your writing style
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