Everyone has a story. In fact, everyone has a story that could get published in a newspaper, journal or magazine.
Like others, the print medium is desperate to find stories to fill the space around their ads, especially in fast-growing
markets where advertisers have bloated the newspapers so full they are belching over into a myriad of start-up newspapers
and niche publications which have become ubiquitous. There are free "newspapers," in every shop and restaurant, free "journals"
delivered right to your driveway, and even "magazines" printed on everything ranging from newsprint to slickly-varnished,
cast-coated paper delivered for free to your mailbox and sent home from school in your child's backpack. Put simply, this
is a matter of demand for advertising space outpacing the supply of what we used to call news at a time when printing
presses have ever more time available to run.
It has become absurdly simple to get your story, whatever it may be, published. If you want to get some ink for yourself,
launch Microsoft Word right now and type up something that describes what your friends and family have told you is
one of your most interesting attributes or hobbies, print it out in the format of a "Press Release" (If you Google those two
words, you'll practically get a step-by-step guide on how to write one), and mail it off with a photo or two to as many local
newspapers, journals, and magazines as you have stamps. Once it gets published, and it will get published, cut it out
and take it to Kinko's to have laminated, then keep it long enough to pass on to your grandchildren. In the meantime, you'll
get to bask in your Warholian 15 Minutes of Fame and no one will be the wiser.
I have dedicated the majority of this page to exposing some examples of what I mean. The select few clippings displayed here
are as old as they are fun because the publishing rose lost its blush for us right up against the backdrop of easy and cheap
color printing. Nonetheless, a few years ago we began to get some splashes of colored ink. We have made the full-color
cover and back page of the the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group's daily newspaper in our city multiple times, as well
as the full-color, above-the-fold, cover-story of one of those weekly, delivered-to-your-driveway-for-free, start-up journals
I mentioned. Trust me, there is nothing that special about us other than the simple fact that we live in a large and growing
market with more advertisers than there are journalists working for the stories that actually matter to, let alone inform,
the public. Editorial content has become heinously market-driven. Of course, this is also a national problem but, like cheap
local ink, it is one that cannot be solved here. -Brian
Click any news clipping to enlarge:
This is a classic example of a press release-inspired news story. We have dozens upon dozens like it because Donna and I have
each worked for companies with aggressive marketing and PR departments. What is interesting about this story is that it is
one of a few written about us by the Ivy League-educated "staff writer," A.W. Hauslohner who, when we lived in Galax,
was a friend of ours named Amy who eventually became the editor of the newspaper (the triweekly paper's very nice publisher,
Chuck, was a member of our church, a fellow Rotarian and a charity poker-buddy). Amy has also since married 13-term United
States Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Va). There is much more to the story behind Amy and Rick, but I save the fun parts for
dinner parties.
Dressing the fool for a charity is always a good way to get ink. This is not why I did it, but the local papers couldn't ignore
the opportunity. Donna hand-made the jester's outfit which was subsequently donated to the local High School's drama department.
Nice tie.
What a shame. Who's Who used to be the premier biographical database used by libraries, journalists, colleges and many more,
at least until the the internet came along. In the final throes of print publication, Who's Who became a marketing tool for
exploiting the naively insecure among us. From 2001 through 2005, Marquis Who's Who hounded me monthly with biographical questionnaires
and grandiose pronouncements of my elite status among the world's most prominent high achievers. Intermingled among the biographical
updates came ever more solicitations to purchase volumes of leather-bound books and catalogs of recognition awards--all overpriced--to
commemorate what had become this most dubious of achievements. While I never bought in to the scheme, I did complete every
biographical update for each publication in which they felt my meriting would induce a purchase. During those years I was
profiled a total of 17 times in "Who's Who in America," "Who's Who in the World," "Who's Who in Medicine
and Healthcare," and "Who's Who in Finance and Business." Then, after five years of not purchasing any of their
goodies, I was dropped from their ranks like a hot potato.
Along the way I had some fun, though. Just for kicks I issued a press release without any photo to a couple local newspapers.
The bit about our dog is a true one and became the subject of a column for yet another newspaper. Not only did the papers
once again give me ink, but they also used file photos for the stories. Kathy Price, the delightful Executive Director of
the Chamber of Commerce, was wise to my ink-seeking shenanigans, and mailed me the following to prove it:
This is a photo of the first time Sander and I got to have our vote not count. We served as Student Government Association
Senators and Vice Presidents at both Spartanburg Methodist College and The University of South Carolina at Spartanburg. Sander
even received special recognition for his superlative and exemplary service as a Senator at SMC.
This is one of my favorite clippings. Not only is my fiancée dissing me here (I was an SGA Senator at the time), but the clipping
also has my hero and favorite philosophy professor of all-time, Dr. Jim Griffis, being appropriately diplomatic, and it has
Wofford College's Dean Thomas being, well, himself. This was published about the same time that my long-established relationship
with Dean Thomas took a turn toward the ironic, if not the surreal.
This was published about the same time I was interviewed on WSPA's "Awareness" television program. The article was
distributed on the front page of The Greenville News' weekly TMC (Total Market Coverage) newspaper on October 20th, 1982.
A TMC is distributed to all market residents, whether they subscribe to the newspaper or not. As an indication of how much
the "total market" has grown, Greenville's TMC had a circulation of only 70,000 back then.
Thin Air
Two years before the FCC deregulated commercial television, the airwaves also had plenty of time to fill around their commercials.
Edward Valenti's Ginsu Knives became cutting edge as infomercials sliced deftly into the thin air left behind by the demise
of yawn-inspiring, community-based shows like WSPA's "Awareness." This episode was broadcast in the Autumn of 1982
and was a full 30 minutes long. I have edited it down to just nine minutes of concentrated sleep inducement, and replaced
all the commercials with a time-warped one of a pregnant Donna, shot after our ages had more than doubled.
Just 90 minutes before this was taped, I did not know I had a future in television. I was about to sit down to dinner
when I got a call from Sharon Crenshaw asking me if I wanted to be on TV. When I agreed, she said she and Mike will be over
to pick me up in 30 minutes. An hour later I was in her car about to arrive in Spartanburg for the first time since I touched
down at GSP from Califorinia (via Iowa) in 1978.
If you choose to watch this, which I cannot recommend, you'll notice second and third person references to one another
which were introduced by the host, Tony Bell, and continued to litter the conversational landscape. I'm not sure, but I think
Tony went on to become the Director of Human Resources for Spartanburg County.
My favorite part of the whole show happens right after it ends. There is a fragment of a gubernatorial re-election (SC's
first) campaign commercial by Richard (Dick) Riley. It not only provides a delicious time stamp to a piece that could put
Heidegger to sleep but also seeing the former US Secretary of Education still on his way up is a reminder of what a visionary
leader can accomplish. -Brian
More on Dick Riley and Marshall I. Pickens Mental Health Center:
Color Above the Masthead:
Have We Crossed The Finish Line?
Please don't think we don't appreciate the talent of the Fourth Estate. Tim Kimzey is a photographer of exceptional skill
who would have otherwise never directed his lens toward our girls. For this we are grateful. We are also heartened by stories
of diversity and hope to offset the constantly bleeding leads. The issue of where better to point Kimzey's lens is yet another
one that won't be solved here. What a great picture of MinMin with an aphid:
The ink used for Tim Kimzey's photography may be cheap, but his rare skills certainly are not as they often make for stunning
photojournalism. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Kimzey at a Spartanburg Day School 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2007. He
impressed me as a soft-spoken gentleman who is a true asset to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal newspaper.
Below is another picture he took of Sage. This time it was at the Glendale Outdoor Leadership School's Adventure Camp,
sponsored by the Palmetto Conservation Foundation and the Spartanburg County Parks and Recreation Commission. Please click
the photo of Sage in the kayak to see more from Mr. Kimzey's visit to the camp. You can also click the links under the photo
to learn more about GOLS, which is located just downstream from Hidden Falls on Lawson's Fork Creek. Initially directed by
poet John Lane, Wofford College's Glendale Shoals Environmental Studies Center shares the historic site with GOLS and the
Spartanburg Area Conservancy (SPACE).
