Who Tells Your Story

(Photo: David Weir and Howard Kohn on "The Today Show" 1975)

At the top of today's list is a piece by Times media critic Ben Smith about all of the positive things happening in the news business, especially on a local level.

This offers a dose of hope at a time when "hopeful" and "journalism" are two words infrequently found in juxtaposition. But enough people in enough places are sensing opportunity in the crisis that besets our industry to take note of the trend.

All news is local and all news is personal. It just revolves around different people in different places day by day. That's called a news cycle; you could also say everything comes around again sooner or later.

As it happened, Smith's article hit my inbox just as I was chatting with my old friend and writing partner Howard Kohn about new interest in our Rolling Stone years by various parties. We both get contacted by writers, producers, students, historians and old friends on a regular basis.

Recently, a study of the magazine's half-century-plus of publishing named our article, "The Inside Story" of Patty Hearst and the SLA as the biggest scoop in its storied history. That's fine by us -- just tell it, please, to our grandchildren, who see us as anything but the picture of cool.

We agree that as we've aged, like almost everyone else we know, we've become far less inhibited about telling our own stories. When we were younger there were our careers to consider, not to mention the concerns of others, including our bosses and the people we wrote about.

Many, many lawsuits, death threats, awards and acclamations since, all that remains really is our collective memory and the ability to tell a story that more or less conforms to the known facts. Because much like the fish that got away, some of our feats grow in size with the fuzzy benefit of hindsight.

This much is true: I really made only one real friend in high school but he was a doozy. When Howard, who grew up on a farm outside Bay City, where I lived as well, also won a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan, our friendship continued down in Ann Arbor.

He  is the person who convinced me to give journalism a try when I was foundering in school as an unsuccessful math student. He'd already figured out that it was his passion and he sensed that it might be mine as well.

Together we achieved things we never could have separately, at least I could not have at a young age. But Howard was instinctively a great reporter and writer from the start. Everyone who got to know him as early as age 16 could tell that.

In person, he's the silent but deadly type who speaks softly but wields a massive hammer as an investigative wordsmith. There are a trail of bad guys out there who can testify to that.

Many decades after our work at Rolling Stone and in many other venues beyond, both together and apart, we remain friends. And you know, if it came right down to it, I'd trust him to tell my story, and that is what friends are for.

(Note: Thanks to Laurie Sigillito for pointing me to the good news about news piece. As CEO of the Local News Network, she is part of that good news!)

***

Continuing my inexplicable bingeing, I watched "High Strung Free Dance," starring Juliet Doherty, with Harry Jarvis, Jane Seymour, Thomas Doherty (no relation to Juliet), Ace Bhatta, and Kika Markham (Netflix 2019). 

In case you think you wouldn't normally be interested in a movie about the world of dance, give this one a try. It is as emotionally satisfying a film about creativity, love, betrayal, and resilience as I can imagine.

And the dancing is pretty terrific as well.

THE HEADLINES:

* 5 Pieces of Good News About the News -- in the United States, there’s a generation of ventures growing up in the cracks in the media sidewalk, fueled by a new sense of mission in American journalism and by the sheer quantities of money, private and nonprofit, floating around. < https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/11/business/media/good-news-media-sites.html > (NYT)

* In D.C. visit, Egypt spy boss claims U.S. agreed — in writing — to jail American activist. <https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/12/egypt-spy-boss-jail-american-498983?fbclid=IwAR17hQd6Yba7HN22b6mG6R2rZ9Evwtb7E5bDdktV4QQG2Mm9Aex8xoFgH-s> (Politico)

* Governments World-Wide Gorge on Record Debt, Testing New Limits --An enormous pile of savings makes it possible for nations to borrow heavily at low cost. Encouraged by new economic thinking, they are doing just that, defying worries about inflation and sustainability. (WSJ)

* Untethered to reality, Trump lies over and over about the 2020 election at CPAC (CNN)

* Trump handily won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday as attendees overwhelmingly said they would like to see him run for another term in the White House in 2024. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) came in second with 21% of the votes and former Vice President Mike Pence received zero percent. [HuffPost]

* This Christian movement wants a nation under God’s authority and is central to Trump’s GOP (WP)

* Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office and state police are investigating fundraising scams linked to lies that the 2020 election was rigged. State residents can be assured Joe Biden’s victory was legitimate, and should be wary of those pushing lies, warned a report backed by GOP lawmakers.[HuffPost]

* Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) slammed some of his GOP colleagues for comparing the Biden administration’s latest COVID-19 vaccination campaign to Nazism. “This is outrage politics that is being played by my party and it’s going to get Americans killed." (CNN)

* Death Valley hit 130 degrees over the weekend, and more than 31 million people were in areas under excessive heat warnings. It’s climate change. (California Today)

* Bootleg Fire in Oregon Scorches 143,000 Acres as Heat Wave Continues in the West (NYT)

* Firefighters working in searing weather struggled to contain a Northern California wildfire that continued to grow and forced the closure of a major highway, one of several large blazes burning across the U.S. West amid another heat wave that shattered records and strained power grids. California officials asked all residents to reduce power consumption quickly. [AP]

* California And Other Parts Of The West Broil And Burn Under Triple-Digit Temperatures (NPR)

* Heat Wave Spread Fire That ‘Erased’ Canadian Town -- Busloads of residents went to tour the charred town of Lytton, British Columbia, this week and found it almost unrecognizable. (NYT)

* Another ‘red tide’ left 15 tons of dead fish on Tampa Bay’s shore, and experts warn of more destruction (WP)

* Florida Breaks Annual Manatee Death Record In First 6 Months Of 2021 (NPR)

* The drought is pummeling many of California’s varied agricultural industries particularly hard, as farmers and ranchers contemplate a future without — or with much less — water. (California Today)

* Texas police arrested Hervis Rogers, a 62-year-old Black man who waited seven hours in line to vote despite voter suppression efforts during the 2020 presidential primaries. Rogers faces two felony counts of illegal voting for casting ballots before he’d fully completed his parole for a previous crime. His attorney said Rogers was unaware he was ineligible to vote and his prosecution should raise concerns. [HuffPost]

* Thousands of Cubans marched on Havana’s Malecon promenade and elsewhere on the island to protest food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus crisis, in one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in memory. Many people tried to broadcast the protest live but authorities shut down internet service. [AP]

* How Local Guerrilla Fighters Routed Ethiopia’s Powerful Army -- A scrappy force of local Tigrayan recruits scored a cascade of battlefield victories against the Ethiopian military, one of Africa’s strongest. (NYT)

* Haitian police say assassination suspect wanted to be president (WP)

* Florida resident detained as key suspect in Haiti killing (AP)

* Afghan special forces moved in on Taliban, only to find they had melted away (Reuters)

* Afghan special forces move to clear Kandahar (Reuters)

* After weeks of speculation, President Biden officially named Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles as U.S. ambassador to India, unleashing a scramble to replace him as leader of one of the world’s most diverse cities. (California Today)

* More Power Lines or Rooftop Solar Panels: The Fight Over Energy’s Future -- The president and energy companies want new transmission lines to carry electricity from solar and wind farms. Some environmentalists and homeowners are pushing for smaller, more local systems. (NYT)

* Pandemic-driven hunger is making the world more unequal (WP)

* Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was horrified to see attendees at CPAC cheering that the U.S. hadn’t reached its vaccination goals. "I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that it’s a good thing for people not to try and save their lives." (CNN) 

* State of emergency begins in host city Tokyo as Games near (Reuters)

* British Players Face Racist Abuse After Defeat (WSJ)

* As England fails to bring it home, a soccer-mad nation copes with a near-miss (WP)

* The Battle For The U.S. Senate Will Be On Display During Baseball's All-Star Game (NPR)

* Shohei Ohtani Isn’t the Best Two-Way Player Since Babe Ruth. He’s Better. (WSJ)

* The World Health Organization issued new recommendations Monday on human genome editing, calling for a global registry to track “any form of genetic manipulation” and proposing a whistle-blowing mechanism to raise concerns about unethical or unsafe research. (AP)

* The Uneven Odds for Promotions With Hybrid Work -- Those who prefer—or need—to work from home may find co-workers in the office benefiting more.  (WSJ)

* Wolf pups have been spotted again on Michigan's Isle Royale, a hopeful sign in the effort to rebuild the predator species' population at the U.S. national park, scientists said Monday. (AP)

* In 2001, the movie “Legally Blonde” cemented Reese Witherspoon’s status as a Hollywood star for her portrayal of Elle Woods. Today, Elle remains an emblem for challenging stereotypes and embracing female empowerment in the face of misogyny. (NYT)

* Creativity may be key to healthy aging. Here are ways to stay inspired. (WP)

* Treasury Phasing Out All Bills Except $1s and $100s As Income Inequality Renders Middle Currencies Irrelevant (The Onion)

***

"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story"

Performed by the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton

Written by Lin-manuel Miranda

Let me tell you what I wish I'd known
When I was young and dreamed of glory
You have no control
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

President Jefferson
I'll give him this, his financial system is a work of genius
I couldn't undo it if I tried
And I've tried

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

President Madison
He took our country from bankruptcy to prosperity
I hate to admit it
But he doesn't get enough credit for all the credit he gave us

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story

Every other founding fathers' story gets told
Every other founding father gets to grow old

And when you're gone, who remembers your name?
Who keeps your flame?
Who tells your story?
Who tells your story?
Who tells your story?

I put myself back in the narrative
(Eliza)
I stop wasting time on tears
I live another 50 years
It's not enough (Eliza)

I interview every soldier who fought by your side
(She tells our story)
I try to make sense of your thousands of pages of writings
You really do write like you're running out of time

I rely on Angelica
While she's alive, we tell your story
She is buried in Trinity Church near you
When I needed her most, she was right on time
And I'm still not through
I ask myself, what would you do if you had more time
The Lord, in his kindness
He gives me what you always wanted
He gives me more time

I raise funds in D.C. for the Washington Monument
(She tells my story)
I speak out against slavery
You could have done so much more if you only had time
And when my time is up, have I done enough?
Will they tell your story?

Oh, can I show you what I'm proudest of?
(The orphanage)
I established the first private orphanage in New York City
(The orphanage)
I help to raise hundreds of children
I get to see them growing up
(The orphanage)
In their eyes I see you, Alexander
I see you every time
And when my time is up
Have I done enough?
Will they tell your story?

Oh, I can't wait to see you again
It's only a matter of time
Will they tell your story? (Time)
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? (Time)
Will they tell your story? (Time)
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?

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