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| Clare Booth and Henry Luce |
In the world of journalism the New York Times, somewhat respectfully, is known as the Grey Lady. In our neck of the woods that title belongs to the Eccentric Newspaper whose origins go back more than a century. Last night Editor Greg Kowalski attended the the League of Women Voter's candidate forum held at City Hall and invited candidates to call to arrange an interview.
The publication you are now reading or tuned to keep the baby quiet, is one whose origins date back to June of last year. It is not the grey anything and does in fact (assuming the presence of a color monitor) come in color. Since the editor,publisher, and sole unpaid employee is all one and the same and also running for City Commission,
William Randolph Hearst or
Clare Booth Luce's husband (
Henry Luce) who founded Time and Life Magazine come to mind.
All of the above had political and spouse centered theatrical ambitions. Hearst who became in the film of Orson Wells
Citizen Kane, is alleged to have hired a photographer to take pictures of the War in Cuba (
Spanish American War). When the photographer pointed out that there was no war in Cuba, Hearst is said to have replied "I'll get the war.You get the pictures."
Luce who was born to missionary parents in China was fervent supporter of
Chaing Kai-shek and vehemently opposed
Mao Zedong and Communism. In the early fifties his publications supported Wisconsin's Senator's
Joseph McCarthy's Anti Communist campaign which asked how many communists there were in the State Department and
who lost China.
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| Joe McCarthy |
While the Clair Booth's play
The Women has been remade into a movie on two occasions and
remains popular to this day, critics of her era claim she benefited enormously from her husband's publications.
I assure you my wife is not planning on writing a play and when it comes to getting, retrieving, or fetching anything I will have to defer to to family dog. In our house the successful identification and purchase of items on a grocery list is high drama.
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| Chairman Mao |
That being said, Citizen Kapel, like Citizen Dul, Citizen McClure,Citizen Monaghan, and Citizen Salloum have issues they want to raise and and points they choose to make. That is why they are spending their time and money to run for office. It is a rite and right that every City resident who is has been a registered voter for at least a year may partake in. This publication can not help the Candidates with the time requirement but it can help with need for presenting their platform which costs money. Lots of it. A direct mail single sheet letter mailed to all city residents that arrives in an envelope cost an estimated $1300 or more. That does not include the cost of printing. A color postcard sent citywide is estimated at $800. An ad in the newspaper possibly $200 to $300 with no guarantee the newspaper will like you or say nice things about you. To help defray that cost and give every candidate unlimited access to our readers we have created a blog for each of them.
In the upper right hand corner of this page, directly below the link to city hall you will see two candidate names. That of Michael J. Dul and Mark Kapel. The names are listed as they will appear on the ballot. By clicking on them you will go directly to the candidates own blog which we created and will maintain for them. Beneath the two names is a listing for Candidate 3, Candidate 4, and Candidate 5. This publication made the offer of unlimited blog space to all five candidates in writing and copied the City Clerk. So far only Mr. Dul has accepted our offer.
In fairness to the other three, Mr Dul has experience with our publication having previously submitted a letter about the Woodlands Ordinance which attracted a large audience. The others may join us at any time. After they see what we are doing, it is hoped the they will. Meanwhile they are perfectly in their right to think this is some sort of Citizen Kane inspired scheme. Politicians are not a trusting lot. This publication does admit to an ulterior motive. We are testing the system. When the election is over we will replace the five candidates names with that of our five city commissioners and give them the the same opportunity to communicate with us. Then if the elected have nothing to say to the people who elected them we will have more to say.
We also realize that some may be reluctant that to write or contribute to something that sounds as ridiculous as blog. Most people's familiarity which the subject probably comes from watching Real Housewives of Orange County (or is it New Jersey ?).
Few realize that blogs are the new Life Magazine (Sorry Henry) that can be published at a kitchen table with a push of the button. Blogs offer unlimited words, pictures, graphic arts, or even motion pictures. We don't expect our candidates to be up on all that so we have offered our assistance in layout and design. Yes there is a catch which we will explain now. If it is going to require a couple or more hours of sitting at the candidate's kitchen table, light refreshments of say Chocolate Cake and Iced tea would be a appreciated.
Last but not least we want more from the candidates than blah, blah, blah.. Of course you have great ideas and love the City of Bloomfield Hills. The latter we'd like to see in pictures or even home movies. Maybe you were married here. Maybe your dog is delightful. Maybe you built the extension over the sun room all by yourself. Maybe you traveled the world or read the Complete Works of Shakespeare. Tell us and show us.
For our readers we will continue to cover the news of the City and City Commission in straight news fashion until the polls close. Regrettably it is news that is often not available elsewhere. Candidate submissions are not limited by length or media. By putting them in a concise, easy to access file that is logged by date (Blog. Short for web log.) the voter can follow the candidate through out the campaign and have all material the candidate thought relevant at one's finger tips. This publication, as has been it's practice in past elections,will not make an endorsement.
In the 1920's Henry Luce was a fresh out of college boy wonder who scraped together $86,000 to start a magazine. In the 1940's Orson Wells was a boy wonder who may have made the best movie in history The technological wonders in communications expressed in this post were made possible by boy wonders Mr. Jobs, Mr Gates, and Mr Google.
The median age of the candidates in this election starts with the number 6. Surprisingly all the candidates have displayed a maturity worthy of the inclusion of a second digit. They may not be wonders by themselves but they may be raising or at least inspiring a new generation of boy and girl wonders who will be written about a century from now. If so let us know in your Candidate Rant, Bio, I heart Bloomfield Hills, Now seeking babies to kiss, blog.
