Kita and I, circa 1993

It's hard to believe she's gone

Saying goodbye to Kita

a few words on meat

We have, of late, had several letters in SFR from angry vegetarians, specifically angry at our food writer, Gwyneth Doland who, as faithful readers know likes her meat.
I have been a vegetarian since I was 13 years old (so that's more than 20 odd years in human time; at least five in emotional development). Nonetheless, I really could care less about other people's meat-eating habits. This could be because I am a nonjudgemental, live-and-let-live, compassionate, almost saint-like being. Or it could be because my own raison de vegetarianism is so typically random that it is, really, no reason at all. The boy describes the philosophy for my vegetarianism as such: "You don't eat meat because you just don't eat meat." Yes, as with many of my major life choices, it all comes to tautology. And boys. To wit:
Back when I was 13 (I'm not handing out years here. But there was no Internet, feathered hair was OK and David Bowie was the God of my universe), I attended a Quaker Camp that featured, among other oddities, a "vegetarian table." And there was a cute boy at that vegetarian table so, quick as you like, I, too, became a vegetarian. Post-camp, either one, or both, of my parental units made the mistake of either saying, implying, or looking like they were thinking "we'll see how long this lasts" and, thus, no more red meat or chicken.
Perhaps this is why I really don't care if others eat meat around or near or in front of me. And perhaps this is why I haven't really minded boiling ground beef daily for the last two weeks in an attempt to talk Kita into eating. The recommended diet, when she gets on one of her "my kidneys are failing and I don't want to eat" kicks is to boil white rice and meat and see if that can coax her back into chowing down. Thus, my vegetarian house mostly spells like boiled meat, or dog sick, which is fine because it gives me just one more good reason to never have anyone over (except the boy who, among his other excellent qualities, can't really smell anything). For the last few days, though, boiled meat hasn't been tempting to Kita. Nor has the tuna, which is the backup. I just got off the phone with the vet who thinks it's time to try boiling a chicken (I assumed he meant one that was already dead...maybe I should call back?).
So that will be my next adventure when I get out of here: boiling a chicken. Something I've never done in my entire life. But, truth be told, I'd probably sacrifice a goat if it would help Kita (who am I kidding? I'd probably perform human sacrifices on almost everyone I know if it would help).
Besides, think of all the meat I didn't eat the last two decades or so.

yuck

A thunderclap on Friday sent our lights out and our Internet into a scramble. It was all back to working this morning, but I was a little behind. The day did not get better. Well, I guess there were ups and downs. To recap:

1. We did not win the prestigious IRE award for Dan's Wexford series, although we were one of three finalists in our category, and given the immense competition, I think that's pretty good.

2. The AG ruled on our complaint against the Department of Corrections. However, they ruled Corrections did not violate the Inspection of Public Records Act and also commended them for going out of their way to provide records (What?!). This led me to feel that either I was on crack, someone else is on crack or, perhaps, I should go get some crack to relieve my suffering. Since that isn't feasible (I have no idea where to get crack, nor do I think it relieves suffering), I guess I will have someone from FOG look this over and see what they think. Or maybe I should just have our lawyers look at it…that's worth $200 an hour right?

3. Barry Massey has not responded to me. I don't think he ever will.

4. Mark Oswald, however, has agreed to run a correction of the spelling of Zane's name. Victory, she is mine.

Ugh, so ready to go home. This extended daylight doesn't do much for me when all I want is to put my head under a pillow. Or in an oven.

I'm sure I'll be more cheerful tomorrow, ready to fight the good fight, yada yada yada.

Overheard at the bank

Me: Why are there all these ketchup bottles? (Gestures to ketchup
bottles at all the teller stations.
Teller: It's our new way of telling customers we can help them catch up
on their bills. Get it?

associated press ripoff

Well, no word back from Barry Massey in the SF AP bureau on the way they hacked the Journal story and left out crediting SFR for its work on Wexford.

For the record, here's an email I sent to Barry Massey in December, to which I never received a reply:

Dec. 13
Hi Barry,
I wanted to follow up on the conversation we had at the governor's wing ding last week. As I mentioned, SFR has conducted a five-month (and still ongoing) investigation into Wexford Health Sources, the private contractor that runs health care in the state prisons. As a result of our reporting, the legislative courts and corrections committee ordered an audit into Wexford and the Department of Corrections.
Today, SFR has an exclusive on the governor's decision to end Wexford's contract. The governor's office cites our series as the catalyst for this decision. We are, as yet, the only media out to report on the problems with Wexford and our story today on the governor's decision has yet to be reported elsewhere (except by Joe Monahan, citing our story).
I hope, Barry, you will pick this up for the wires and credit SFR appropriately. As you know, we are a small paper with limited resources. We have been, nonetheless, able to make a pretty huge impact with this series. You can find the entire series on our website (www.sfreporter.com) by searching "Wexford." Here is the link to today's exclusive about the governor's decision: http://sfreporter.com/articles/publish/outtake-121306-wexford.php
Please feel free to call me on my cell if you have any questions: [phone number edited out]

Best,
Julia Goldberg
Editor

Here's the email I sent him yesterday:
Dear Barry,
I hope you will find a way to redress what I consider to be inappropriate exclusion of SFR's role in the Wexford Health Sources story produced by the AP. (below). It has been widely acknowledged by numerous public officials and The Columbia Journalism Review, that SFR's six-month series was integral in the ending of Wexford's contract with the state. Even The Albuquerque Journal acknowledged this fact in its report. However, the AP story being run by The Santa Fe New Mexican does not. I do not know if that was edited out by AP or by The New Mexican, but I would appreciate clarification.
link to New Mex online story, with comment from New Mex web editor that the edit was the AP's, not the New Mex.

So, dear readers, we now can see that the AP was well aware, assuming Barry even reads his emails, of our work on this topic. In fact, when he and I talked at the guv's mansion, he acknowledged that the AP hadn't been doing much work on Corrections news and ENCOURAGED me to write him with our story.
As those who read this blog know, I've been doggedly tracking anyone and everyone on this story, but to this day the only reporter who ever wrote me back was Mike Gallagher at the Journal, who wrote me a rather irritated note when I contacted him to say I'd heard he was working on prison health care issues and wanted him to be aware of our work on the topic. But irritated or not, Mr. Gallagher quite ethically and appropriately cited our work in his story, (although he really should have noted that Guv Richardson cited our series as the reason for ending Wexford's contract).
As far as I can tell, the AP has no ombudsman to whom I might complain, so perhaps all I can do is complain here. Or maybe not. We'll see.

my morning set

Here's what I played this morning on KBAC. There were a few call-in complaints, predictably following any hip hop. I guess it's a good thing I didn't go with my initial idea to play only hip hop. I had to abandon that thought when I realized I didn't have enough profanity-free hip hop to fill two hours. As you can see, the stuff I chose is pretty mellow. Also, when I hear something I don't like on the radio, I get all crazy and CHANGE THE STATION. It's hard for me to understand calling to complain. Also hard to understand what could possibly be offensive about Erica Badu. But, I suppose, it is a wide wide world.


Money Changes Everything/Cyndi Lauper/
Mo Money Mo Problems/Notorious BIG
Fight The Power/Public Enemy
Hey Joe/Patti Smith
He War/ Cat Power
Tell Me When/Floetry
Love of My Life/Erykah Badu
Love And Happines/Al Green
Kiss Off/Violent Femme
Joy Featuring Mos Def/Talib Kweli
Minneapolis/Lucinda William
Me, Myself, And I/De La Soul
Your Dirty Answer/Kristin Hersh
Down And Dirty/Shannon McNALLY
Come A Long Way/Michelle Shocked
Bad Reputation/Freedy Johnston
Nothing To Believe In/Cracker
Light Up Ya Lighter/Michael Franti & Spearhead
Big Brother/David Bowie
Complexity (featuring Jill Scott) /The Roots
Be/Common
Show Me/John Legend
Come ON/Hundred Year Flood

juniper is

killing me. and not with kindness. Have yet to hear back from AP. Anyone know off the top of their head how one files a complaint against the Associated Press?
Also, if this blog doesn't fulfull your quotient of ME, I'll be on the radio, KBAC, 98.1 FM, tomorrow morning from 9 to 11 am.

and

the really aggravating part of this is I've emailed the NM Ap bureau more than once, during the course of the Wexford series, to try to get them to do something or pick up on it. But they ignored me and then finally did something when The Journal ran a story. Which is fine, since they pick up stuff from The Journal regularly, but to edit us out of it is ridiculous.

and then there was one

My comments notating that the edited version omits mention of us is up on the New Mex' site, with a note from the web editor that the ommission was on the part of the AP, not The New Mex. I've emailed Barry Massey, the AP bureau chief (I think he's the chief). We'll see. Barry has never responded to any of my emails before, but there's a first time for everything.

however

The New Mex is running an AP version of the Journal story with all references to SFR removed. And my comment on this fact, which I just posted, is not showing up. And no one from the AP or The New Mex is responding to my emails questioning this. Who wants to place bets? Did the AP edit out the reference to SFR's integral role in the Wexford situation or did The New Mex?

Lookie, the Journal acknowledged our reporting in the Wexford series.

pfew

What a Monday. I'm telling you. Well, I guess I'm not. Might it be time for a list.

10 Things I Want to Share With You (blech, sounds like a terrible Xtian song.)

1. Just wrote Senor Oswald, at Journal North a short, but sweet, letter asking if they might run a correction to denote the correct spelling of SFR columnnist Zane Fischer's name, which is mentioned in this Journal North column. Now, I know everything thinks I'm a paranoid broken-record, on the topic of the Journal and New Mex constantly trying to pretend we don't exist, but isn't it a little suspicious to have an article that references one of our columnists in his capacity as a columnist but not say for whom he writes? Anyway, we'll see what Mark O says.

2. The water pressure in my shower has been increasingly, um, decreasing and the hot water excessively...not excessive. To the point that I brought a bucket in the shower the other day to try to get the shampoo out of my hair (ah my glam life; you are so jealous). The boy suggested that perhaps there was a mineral buildup in the showerhead. I suggested that it was more likely that I had a 10,000 dollar plumbing problem and was probably resigned to just living life with a bucket in the shower. As it turns out, the boy was right; he took off the showerhead, removed the mineral deposits and the shower I had this morning was unlike any shower I've ever had in my house. Conclusions: The boy is a keeper, I am a MORON and you should probably try to wipe out the image of me showering with a bucket. Not that you had one.

3. I and other SFR writers will be hosting KBAC's morning show this week. I had a totally great plan for what I was going to do yesterday, but this morning it didn't seem as great. I don't know. We'll see. I'm sure it will all work out one way or the other. Tune in from 9 to 11 am. Thursday. Wait, no, look at this flyer for the lineup. I hope you listen in. Maybe I'll say something interesting. You never know what you'll get from a woman who showers with a bucket. (Stop thinking about it).

4. My neighbor told me this morning that it looks like the roof on my porch is going to fly off at any moment and crash through my sliding glass door to my living room. (Who relates such thoughts at 8 am? I ask you). I texted this missive to the boy who went to my house and reported he thinks such a scenario unlikely unless we have a hurricane.

There are at least six more things I could blather on about, but I was just interrupted and now I'm sleepy and hungry and wanting to get on the road and, so, I bid you all leave.

Until manana

Lazy sunday

Tgif

Sorry for the lethargic blogging this week. Its been one of those weeks.
Busy at work and kita, my sweet and ageing and ailing dog has been
having a hard time so there's been a lot of running home during the day
kind of thing. Tonight I'm heading to the SF Brewing Co for the KBAC
party. Will I see you there? How wild will it be if Santa Fe ends up
with two independently owned radio stations? Can we supprt them both? I
hope so. I am really rooting for both Indie 101.5 and KBAC. OK folks,
wish me luck. Doggie hospice definitely not fun but, hey, we take care
of th e people and creautures we love, right?

anna nicole hoax

This story makes very little sense to me.. I had seen the link to the story in question when I was perusing Altweeklies.com the other day. And I thought, "huh, I'd read that if I were interested." So they made up a 5,000 word story?

Drawing before dawn

pet peave of the day

PR people from out of state calling on deadline day seeking confirmation you've received an email that is about something you'd never be interested in in the first place that they would know if they had any idea what your paper is, which they don't.

I was wrong

Richardson signed the bloody smoking ban. And that's not all! I'm on deadline, so I'll just reprint the whole press release for y'all:

Governor Bill Richardson Signs Smoking Ban

SANTA FE – Governor Bill Richardson today signed the Dee Johnson Indoor Air Act (HB 283) into law today, banning smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces.

“The advantages of a law like this – dramatically reducing exposure to second-hand smoke – far outweigh any potential administrative problems,” Governor Richardson said at a bill-signing ceremony today. “The exposure to second-hand smoke – and cancer and lung and heart disease -- is a risk that we should no longer take.”

Governor Richardson also signed the following bills into law during today’s news conference:

BOLO TIE
House Bill 115, sponsored by Rep. Tripp.
WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER CRIMINAL LIABILITY
House Bill 507, sponsored by Rep. Keith Gardner
K-3 PLUS PILOT PROJECT
House Bill198, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart
HIGHER EDUCATION DIVISIONS
Senate Bill 248, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Nava
DISABLED VETERANS ACCESS TO PARKS & MUSEUMS
House Bill 210, sponsored by Rep. Nathan Cote
HUNTING/FISHING LICENSES
House Bill 56, sponsored by Rep. Andy Nunez
HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
House Bill 428, sponsored by Rep. Danice Picraux
COLORECTAL SCREENING
House Bill 510, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Barreras
BREAST PUMP USE IN WORKPLACES
House Bill 613, sponsored by Rep. Danice Picraux
CONSERVATION
Senate Bill 461, sponsored by Sen. John Ryan

So glad the Bolo Tie bill got passed. That's, like, really important.

alt.weekly readers

According to a new report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, altweekly readers are growing older and richer.
Present company excluded, of course. I am doing neither.

vvm

Great story by the kickass David Carr on the continued Village Voice fallout.
Plus, a a blog seemingly dedicated to the VVM situation.

Former SFR writer Dan Frosch co-penned an article about David Iglesias' ouster, with some well-placed commentary from Joe. And, notably, no comment from St. Pete. I guess The Santa Fe Reporter isn't the only paper he blows off. Pfew! That's a relief.
Finally, it was bothering me that I didn't remember/think I knew, that Iglesias was the model for "A Few Good Men" so I did some recon in our archives (this is more of a chore than you might realize) and found the following short news item from SFR in October, 1998:

Was David Iglesias, the Republican nominee for attorney general, the model for the Tom Cruise character in the film, “A Few Good Men”? On Sept. 29, the New Mexican wrote that the playwright Aaron Sorkin says the character was based on no one. But it seems to us that Iglesias has a pretty good case. He served as a Naval judge advocate general, defending a Marine private in a hazing case at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. Sorkin’s sister was another judge advocate general, defending another Marine accused of hazing in the same case. Iglesias said Deborah Sorkin sent her brother the trial transcript and that while the film makes no claim to be based on a true story, five sentences of dialogue were taken directly from the transcript and Cruise played the defense lawyer for the Marine most closely resembling his client. “I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and to have a colleague whose brother was an aspiring playwright,” Iglesias said. — T.S.

(I believe the "T.S." was Tom Sharpe, then of SFR, currently of The New Mexican.

sunshine

Julie Ann Grimm has a decent story in the new mex today about the state's sunshine laws, part of a package they ran (it's Sunshine week). There's just a few things about her piece I don't get:
1. She mentions that there are several pending complaints against state agencies for violation of the Inspection of Public Records Act, and that AG King says he'll be acting on them. But she doesn't mention that those complaints are online now, via the AG's office, in case anyone wants to look at them. Which seems strange. I know she knows they are online because Ms. Grimm called me last week, having seen my complaint to ask me about it (I called her back but then didn't hear back from her and assumed I'd missed her deadline). Am I being paranoid for thinking that The New Mex intentionally didn't list the pending complaints with the AG's Office because it would have meant acknowledging our complaint and, thus, having to acknowledge the Wexford story all together. I'm being paranoid, right? I mean, it's not like they are going to do an entire package of stories about the need for transparency and openness in government and then intentionally fail to write about something just because it would mean mentioning a huge story we did that they have yet to mention in any other way. (On the note of competitive journalism, The Times Public Editor tackles the very subject today.
2. The articles don't touch upon the fact that there is no state law compelling the AG to do something about these complaints in a timely manner. I asked both AG Gary King and Gov. Richardson, during the election, if they would support creating a timelimit in which the AG had to act on such things and they said yes. I would have liked to read, in the New Mex package, what kinds of laws other states have regarding the enforcing body in these kinds of things.
But I would definitely recommend reading the New Mex stories today, and you should definitely listen to Mos Def' "Sunshine" while you do it:

smoking ban

Will Richardson sign a statewide smoking ban? Any bets?
I say no he won't.
Just a feeling. OK, more than a feeling. A hunch.
On the top of the smoking ban, I have to say it's been a pretty dead winter everywhere I've gone, bar wise. Well, the weather has been atrocious. But most folks I talk to, working in the bars, attribute the slowness to the smoking ban combined with the DWI crackdown. Which makes sense. Kind of pointless to go out for a smoke and a drink if the smoke takes place freezing in an alley and the drink could result in cops nabbing you outside the door and making you take a breathalizer (it's called hyperbole folks, although this has been allegedly happening to some degree).
Still, Del Charo was hopping last night. Our server told me that because the food is so cheap there they have remained fairly busy, although he claims that since the smoking ban the kitchen has been outserving the bar, which never used to happen. He said.
Glad I had fun when I was young.

Saturday morning

Oh the bed is comfy but the gym beckons. I really hope I was a
dilettante in my last life. That can't possibly be the right way to
spell dilettante...hey where's the sunny day we were promised?

So this is what you guys do when I'm at work

Let sleeping dogs lie

Day off accomplishment list so far

1. Car washed
2. Oil changed
3. Mile run
4. Dogs walked & fed
5. Nails filed
6. Lunch eaten
7. Laundry started
8. Blog blogged

Overheard just now at jiffy lube

Young mother to squirming screechy child: I can't let go of your hand
because I don't want you to run outside and get hit by a car.
Child, in loud whine: Why nooooot?

AG's online complaints

I received an email today from the AG's Office today telling me that they are now posting pending complaints under the Inspection of Public Records Act on their web site. Even better, my complaint against the Department of Corrections, which relates to Dan Frosch's laureled piece on Wexford Health Sources is on the site. Um, that's great. But can anyone tell me, ever, why a complaint I filed last August (we're hitting month 7 here) is still pending? What are they doing?

SFR acknowledged by Columbia Journalism Review

From this month (March) edition of CJR's Darts & Laurels column by Gloria Cooper:

monday without prep

I sternly forced myself not to work this last weekend. Coming in Sunday to clean up spam, prep cover story, respond to email and other various things is all fine and well here and there, but it's become a very regular part of my week and I've been thinking it's been leaving me less than mentally rested. So Sunday, without work to do, I found myself actually a bit twitchy and confused: What was I supposed to do? What the heck do other people do on Sunday besides get up early, work out and go to work?
My twitchiness was gone after the boy and I spent 90 minutes in the New Ofuro tub at 10,000 Waves. It was the boy's 36th birthday and celebrating it with hot water and sauna was an extremely good idea, although it did, once again, prompt me to wonder about why rich people aren't happy ALL THE TIME? I really think if I could sit in a hot tub and sauna whenever I wanted I would have nothing to complain about.
Jonanna was visiting this weekend, so I got to see her and hear about the fun she's having at her new job (lots, she loves it). Dan also was visiting and I got to hear about all the fun he's having at his new job. It was great to see them, but I really think the highpoint of my weekend was not coming to work on Sunday. I think I may be onto something here, something others already know since usually when I come in on Sunday I'm the only person here.

...Domenici's acknowledgement that he called David Iglesias is just as interesting for what it says as for what it doesn't say. I think Joe has a much better low down than the rest of the media, in terms of the New Mexico implications of this story. Maybe I'm reading this Trib story too quickly, but does it say anywhere in that story what the "courthouse case" is. (Yes, I know what it is, but if I didn't, would I know after reading the story?). Also, doesn't this Chronicle story say in one place that Domenici says he called to ask about the status of the case but in other place have the Justice Department say he called four times but never asked about the case.
Finally, David Iglesias partially inspired the Tom Cruise role in A Few Good Men?. Did I know this and forget it? Because I swear it sounds like new information.
What a world.

the city goes electronic

I was pleased when I read I'd be able to pay my city water bill online and when my most recent bill arrived, it included an account number so that I could log on and set up my account. I'm almost entirely electronic these days and, while I retain a bit of suspicion regarding putting personal info etc. on the web, it seems like if you balance that with the Santa Fe postal system, you're probably better off doing the former. Not to mention it's easier. In theory.
It took the city a long time to get this up (too long really) and I was curious to check it out because my experience with the city as a customer, particularly with the water company, has been ridiculous and includes a two-year period in which I had to go to the water company every month to complain about problems with my billing and got so bad that I took to carrying around a huge file of my correspondence. I also began to really understand why some people start to sound crazy after years of fighting bureacracy because bureacracy is usually so mindless that it will drive you crazy, particularly if you try to spell the word beauracracy too often. Why doesn't it ever look right?
Anyway, back to the city's new site: I created a user name, filled out the info, hit send, got an error message and a request to create a new user name. This happened three times and I gave up after realizing that the problem was their system, not my choice of user names (I did a test by picking a very unusual name that I refuse to believe anyone else could already have). When I checked my email, I had three greetings from the system that, after telling me to find new user names, had gone ahead and created three accounts for me, all with the same account number (sent to me in the mail) using the three different user names it had ostensibly rejected. This did not, as you can imagine, inspire me to give the system my banking information. So I went ahead and wrote a check and stuck it in the mail.
I can't help but think six months down the road this system will be in the news, having proven to be full of glitches that are no one's fault but that have resulted in who the heck knows what kind of bureacratic nonsense. I, however, am not going to participate in the immediate future. The other moronic thing about it is that the main pay option given is for credit card payment. Who pays their water bill regularly on a credit card? There is an option to pay using your bank info, but it's in a different spot that I had to look for. Has anyone at the city ever heard of user testing for web sites? Cause this one seems like it could use it. I have no idea why this surprises me, it really shouldn't and I guess it doesn't, but it was kind of disappointing. And, perhaps, story worthy.

a tale of five knitters

Here I am showing off the two inches of the black-lace scarf I was working on last night, with my fellow knitters, at the St. Francis Hotel. I also got put in charge of figuring out the check, which is why there is a bunch of money in my lap.Here is the black lace scarf I am working on again.
Here is Apple putting the baby sock Gwyn knitted on her nose. We are wild and crazy chicks. Here are G and Apple showing off their fine knitting. They are both damn good with the needles. Trisha, like myself, decided to work on a scarf rather than socks. Sylvie is the bombest knitter ever and also a great teacher of knitty things.

thirsty thursday

I'm looking forward to reading The Boston Phoenix' story on The New Times/Village Voice merger. I've remained interested in this subject since it happened a year ago, maybe because I think it kind of signifies a flashpoint in the development of alternative newsweeklies. Or maybe because I am godawful nosy when you get right down to it.
The fifth top emailed story from the Times right now is about women feeling pressured to look younger than they are. Well, not a new topic, but I found it annoying that the woman they profile is just starting to deal with people calling her m'aam. People call me m'aam all the time. They call me m'aam while they are carting me, but still. I think the use of maam might be a New Mexico thing because I've noticed when I go elsewhere I get "miss" a lot more. And prefer it. I really don't know if I will ever feel pressured to get cosmetic surgery. Perhaps I should start with basics, like feeling pressured to brush my hair or not wear the same basic outfit every day (jeans and a black tank top rule!). Anyway.
I spent most of the morning in a staff meeting, then ran some theraflu to the boy who apparently is sick (and must really be sick to be admitting it). I am beginning to understand people who walk around with face masks all the time.
Tonight my knitting group is on. We're doing a group project: socks. And when I say "we" I mean "they." I started my sock, but it's so eentsy it makes me feel like I'm going blind, cross-eyed and crazy when I work on it, and doing that in a dimly lit bar while drinking wine and trying to carry on a conversation doesn't sound all that fun, so I'm going to work on a scarf for my sister and watch everyone else "turn the heel" or whatever.
Apparently The Richardson campaign is giving some credit to former SFR writer Dan Frosch for the fact that The New York Times wrote about Richardson I'm not entirely sure of the logic behind that but, hey, props all around I suppose.
OK, the phone doth beckon