Local Demise

Ernest Hemingway famously wrote in "The Sun Also Rises" that there are two ways to go bankrupt: gradually, then suddenly.  And while the loss is in information as opposed to dollars, it was that second way for our local community, indeed, three different local communities. You may or not be in one of the affected, but if you are reading this in the ether, you have your feet in two worlds, and so the tsunami might have escaped your notice. Actually, tsunami may be too strong a word, as it implies impact over a wide range of territory. Were we talking New York City and its Times, Houston and its Chronicle, or Miami and its Herald, the fallout might indeed be far reaching. But we are talking small communities in New York like Bedford and its Record-Review, Scarsdale and its Inquirer, and the Rivertowns and their Enterprise. And overnight those three weekly community newspapers are no more.

When I asked the editor of one (indeed the home base for this very column) what happened with the publisher of the three papers, he said simply "she ran out of money." He offered no insight beyond that fact. But it's not a difficult concept to grasp. Indeed, anyone who has ever run any commercial venture from a lemonade stand to a multi-national firm gets the drift. Add up the cost of reporters, office space, printing fees and the rest of it, and match that against subscriptions, advertising and newsstand sales. If the second exceeds the first, you make a profit. If it's the other way around, well, demise is eventually going to be the outcome, unless you're the government. 

It is no secret that the press, like many institutions that people used to look up to and depend on, is under attack and stress as never before. To be sure some of it is self-inflicted, where in some cases editorial standards have been bent or sacrificed in pursuit of agendas or profits or speed. Market forces also play a huge part, reshaping the underlying economics in the business models that worked for years but which didn't adapt to the changing media landscape. And in a world where governments and leaders relay their decisions and rationales in bits and bytes, anything over 240 characters long is considered practically book-length, and struggles to find an audience.

The problem is that the press, and more specifically a local paper, isn't just another grocery store or carwash or dry cleaner in a community. It serves a higher purpose befitting its designation as the fourth estate, offering a window and a billboard, a sounding board and a town square. Like water and power, they have become singular resources that many rely upon for updates on school sports and town meetings and local get-togethers. And while larger towns and cities might have multiple avenues for citizens to get their information, the same cannot be said for many of the places we call home.

That's why in each of the affected communities there has been an anguished cry from many. As of this writing, while the print editions have been shut down, the online sites are at least functioning as zombies if not being updated with news. That has allowed some users to post comments. One reader: "I would feel disconnected from the community without it. I rely on it, I would be at loose ends without it." Another: "This is awful news. We would be willing to pay over four times the current subscription rate - we get such value out of it, and it is such a critical part of this community." One more: "It's where we turn to the Letters to the Editor section to see what our neighbors are sounding off about, where we get information on new local laws, grants awarded to our towns, decisions made by our school and town boards, and much more." Or the most succinct one: "Please do not allow this community jewel to disappear."

In each community some readers and residents are seeking ways to help and keep them going. The publisher has been publicly silent as to the situation, so no telling if there is movement behind the scenes with investors or partnerships, or if it is all just wishful thinking. However, even if you weren't a reader, as an objective matter, the loss is a real one which is one more in the death-by-a-thousand-cuts that helps contribute to the ongoing degradation of neighborly society. It might be too much to invoke the words of John Donne, but you be the judge if this bell tolls not just for others but for each of us. 

In the meantime, astute regular readers of this space might notice that at the top it no longer says "As published in The Record-Review and The Scarsdale Inquirer" because, well, it ain't. That situation might be restored, and I hope it is. However, for all of you who get it electronically, with either thanks or apologies as I continue to invade your space, my parade shall continue. I can only hope that you will continue to come to the curb and watch the show, and if so inclined, occasionally wave back so I know you're out there. 

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Marc Wollin of Bedford plans to keep this effort going, if you'll have it. His column appears weekly via email and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ready, Set, Click

Blame ESPN.

In 1979, the then upstart cablecaster went on the air with "SportsCenter" and anchor Leonard Lee saying "If you're a fan, what you'll see in the next minutes, hours, and days to follow may convince you you've gone to sports heaven." In those early days it was not so much heaven, but something a bit lower: their first exclusive sporting event was game one of the World Series in men's professional slow-pitch softball between the Milwaukee Schlitz and the Kentucky Bourbons. 

Fast forward to today, and ESPN is no longer a wannabe but one of the major players in sports broadcasting, with rights to NFL, NBA and MLB games. They have a radio arm, a streaming service and 8 US television networks. Far from merely surviving on second tier sports, they carry the NFL's Monday Night Football, finals in professional basketball and hockey, tennis' Australian, Wimbledon and US Open competitions, and The Masters golf tournament. 

Whether they created it or merely unearthed it, ESPN's existence is owed to our seemingly insatiable appetite to watch competitive events. And while the network may have moved upscale, that demand has proven to be incredibly wide and resilient, and others have sprung up to carry those up-till-then nearly invisible competitions. And so punch around and you can now watch women's volleyball in Kansas and horse racing in Louisiana, tennis in Hong Kong and martial arts in Wisconsin, bull riding in New York and lacrosse in Philadelphia. 

But even that's not enough to quench the appetite of the viewing public. A multitude of head-to-head battles have been created in what can only be described as "non-traditional" areas. These are arenas where it used to be we recognized and celebrated those who were better than others. but never thought to place them on a field or court. And while that space might not be green or have markings or goals, there are rules and refs, winners and losers.

For example, you might be guided by stars or ratings to find those chefs that rise above the rest. But if you want to see cooking "battles" there is "Iron Chef" and "The Great British Bakeoff" and "Beat Bobby Flay." You might choose a tour based on its Yelp rating, but never thought of racing from place to place as in "The Amazing Race" or "Expedition Impossible." And who would have believed that an audience would tune in to watch adults battle to the "death" in "Red Light, Green Light" on "Squid Game."

It shows no signs of stopping. Had you been watching the CBS Sports Network in December you would have seen the ETC Series. If you're unfamiliar with the league those initials represent, it's not a college or regional grouping. Rather, ETC stands for the Elite Trades Championship, and includes the US Auto Tech National Championship for the best mechanics, the Ideal National Championship for the top electricians, the ServiceTitan HVAC Championship spotlighting outstanding heating and air conditioning techs. And then there's the sump pump of them all, the Plumbing National Championships. There as in the others, play-by-play announcers walk us through the action, and color commentators highlight what is right and wrong: "Well, Joe, is that spanner that right way for Smitty to go?" "Bill, I tell, ya, I've never seen a such a masterful use of a quarter hex drive to tighten up a flange valve. We are seeing greatness here!"  

Perhaps your preferred tool is a mouse as opposed to a monkey wrench. If so, then head to Las Vegas for an eSport competition like no other. Not Fortnite or World of Warcraft, but the Microsoft Excel World Championship. Think you got the stuff? A sample case: "You have been hired as a financial modeling consultant for GreenEnergo (GE), a fictional electric utility company that operates in a fictional country of Bublijan. Your goal is to create a 10-year monthly financial model, forecast the financials, calculate the project's NPV and IRR and determine the required level of state subsidies for the project to be economically feasible for GE." Ready, set, click!

Whether you call them sports like tennis, boxing or basketball, or competitions like golf, surfing and running, they all have their fans. There is almost nothing that can't be turned into a contest and garner an audience. Downhill skiing or crab racing: the choice is yours.

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Marc Wollin of Bedford rarely cares who wins anything. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Past, Present, Future

The wonderful writer Paul Theroux has written nearly 30 novels, some of which have been made into feature films. He has written hundreds of short stories and reviews which have appeared in magazines and book form. But he is probably best known for his travel writing, with more than 20 books and collections covering every corner of the globe, from Mexico ("On the Plain of Snakes") to the Pacific ("The Happy Isles of Oceania") to the Far East ("Sailing Through China").

One that sticks with me is his collection of short essays on wandering called "Sunrise with Seamonsters," and specifically one of the earliest pieces written nearly 60 years ago called "The Cerebral Snapshot." In it he laments how the taking of pictures takes you away from the act of observing the thing you are photographing. He relates a situation he encountered in Africa where he watched a herd of giraffes running while his friend snapped shot after shot. After they were gone, his friend turned to him and said he didn't get a good look at them. Why? Theroux asked. His friend responded, "See, if you take pictures of things, you don't really see them."

The proliferation of smart phones with built in cameras has only exacerbated that conundrum. Photography has become easy and accessible to everyone all the time with no need for big and expensive equipment. Theroux presaged what that means: we all take way too many photos as opposed to just looking at the world and absorbing the moment. If you've been to any concert, you can't help but notice the bevy of people who have their phones out recording the event, and not actually watching and listening. 

Still, as records of the past pictures have no equal. You need no literary or journalistic skills to capture a moment in time and share it with friends and family. But pictures have gone on beyond being simple articles of record. With tools accessible to everyone, it is now possible to transcend time, showing us not just the past but helping us envision the present, and indeed, see into the future.

Two simple examples.

For a project I am working on we visited a location just before Christmas. I took many pictures, but every one has wreaths and lights and decorated trees. And while that was certainly an accurate representation on that day in December, it's hard to envision it in the more pristine look we will see in the spring when we return. The venue offered their marketing beauty shots, but they weren't from the angles and vantage points we need. Enter my new phone with its advanced AI toys, including one called "Magic Eraser." Using it, I was able to simply circle or highlight any yuletide decorations, tap a button, and before you could say "Holy Noel, Batman!" the space was denuded of any holiday accoutrements. It appears as it does in its present state, with no need for a return trip to reshoot the pictures.

As to looking into the future, one of our kids is in the process of fleshing out a new apartment. As he was exploring options for beds, he came across one online that he thought would fit nicely into the space, but wasn't sure. However, on the website was a button labeled "View in Your Space." A tap on it, and the bed appeared "live" in the bedroom as he looked through his phone. He was able to place it where he wanted it, walk around and see how it looked, as well as the clearances to the walls, windows and doors. It enabled him to see beyond today to a future point on the calendar where it was set up, and give him the confidence he was making the right choice.

If you are a writer, as Theroux said, the best thing you can do is to watch what is in front of you with your eyes and brain, and not capture it on a piece of film. Or as he put it so succinctly, "a picture is worth only a thousand or so words." But if like most you want to not only memorize that vision, but build on it, then perhaps it's better to remember what the great photographer Robert Capa said: "The pictures are there. You just take them."

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Marc Wollin of Bedford likes to write AND take pictures. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Yours or Theirs

We have all made a pact with the devil, though of a far more beneficent type than the one in the Bible. In this case he/she/it has no horns or tail but offers us untold capabilities and opportunities at little or even no cost. In return we have to promise to stay faithful (netting us even more chances at convenience and goodies) and keep shoveling more nourishment into the maw that is presented 365 days, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This we happily and willing do, regardless of warnings from both inside and out. And while there is but one Lucifer that goes by various names, in this case there are various versions of Mephistopheles which offer sinful pleasure in exchange for our souls. Or in this case our data, which these days is practically the same thing.

Whatever tribe you belong to (and it can be several at the same time), the deal is the same. Sign up and onto platforms from Microsoft or Apple or Google or Amazon (to name just some of the major serpents) and in return the keys to the world are yours. You are given the opportunity to keep names of friends and family, schedule your daily life, shop for gifts, book travel, listen to music, watch movies – the list goes on. In some cases there's a small fee, though it's usually far less than what those capabilities might fetch on the open market. All they ask is that you permit them to make notes about what you are doing, and use those notes to offer you even more. What a bargain!

And in the broader view it is. For sure there are well documented privacy concerns about letting a massive commercial enterprise not just glimpse but stare at your online life. But if you are like 99% of consumers out there, you willingly sign over that right for the ease and capabilities it gives you. After all, we all rationalize, what difference does it make if someone knows where I like to order takeout (Uber Eats) or how often I work out (Strava) or whom I pay on a weekly basis (Venmo)? I've got nothing to hide, my life is basically boring to any outsiders, so look all you want.

But while that data may be worth more than nothing, most agree you should have at least have control over it. In Europe that was recognized in a formal way with the General Data Protection Regulation put in place in 2018. It includes a number of provisions, including the right of access (so you can see what is being collected), the right to be forgotten (so you can make "them" erase whatever they have on you) and the right of portability (the ability to take that info and do what you want with it). Elsewhere around the world those same rights are generally implied to some extent, though not legally required.

It came to roost for me when the notetaking app I have used for years changed its pricing structure from free to a monthly fee. In those files were all the miscellaneous flotsam and jetsam of my life, from recipes to column ideas to jokes. And while they were worth nothing to anyone else, there were, if not quite priceless, at least of value in my world. While the service was worth something, I didn't think it was worth as much as they were asking. There were other options, and I wanted out. But while they froze the program and didn't enable me to add anything new unless I ponied up over $100 a year, they did provide a way to export all the contents. It wasn't easy or seamless, but over a number of days I managed to download it all, massage it into usable form, and upload it into another program that wasn't quite as elegant but was at least functional. The bottom line was that it took a few more clicks, but at least my rugelach recipe was safe.

It's a transactional ledger we keep adding to every time we go online. We gladly give up our online habits in exchange for something of value. Which begs the question: is your info theirs? Or is it yours? Or to repurpose the title of Brian Clark's 1972 play, whose life is it anyway? 

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Marc Wollin of Bedford thinks his online habits are pretty bland. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.