Page Two

What was most surprising about this year's Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) annual convention, held at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix (see last week's "Page Two"), was its lack of contentiousness. Previous conventions have had deeply controversial themes. If there was any pressing association issue, it was the ownership of weeklies by the dailies. A couple of years ago, at the AAN convention in Montreal, we began the final business meeting by voting to give our host paper a warm, heartfelt "thank you." Sustained applause followed. Almost immediately after, a motion was made to throw the paper out of the organization. They had been bought by a conglomerate that owned many dailies. AAN bylaws very explicitly deny membership to weeklies owned by dailies. The issue was what to do retroactively. The paper's leader eloquently defended what she had been assured was her paper's independence. No decision was reached. The dialogue would be continued. Before the next convention, the conglomerate had axed her and changed the paper. As weeklies have become more popular and successful, our very identity has come into question. Chains of weeklies and dailies have bought many once-independent weeklies. Soon Internet and investment firms will get in on the action. I was with the majority of the members in voting for a mechanism that involved either a petition among the membership or a commitment from the board to re-examine the status of any paper whose standards dramatically change. I voted with the majority in defeating several proposed amendments that specifically targeted dailies. I had many friends on the other side.

In thinking about it afterward, I realized that many of the alternative press founders came out of daily journalism. These more traditionally trained writers have a hostility toward the dailies because the dailies have so failed in their mission. Certainly, this is not the only distinction, but an important one.

When we started the Chronicle, we were working at The Daily Texan. I don't think we really started it to be an alternative to the American-Statesman -- that would be hunting a silly target. We started it because we thought there was a community here that wanted to talk to each other, and we saw no medium fulfilling that function. We started this as a series of ideas and passions. More often than not, rather than our following the daily's lead, it has followed ours -- from expanded arts and local politics coverage to "News of the Weird" and "Car Talk" to XLent. This isn't to brag about how smart we are; we aren't. It is to explain that this publication has always come out of the community that reads it. Our ideas are their ideas (notice I did not say opinions).

Calling the Chronicle an alternative has always been a convenient handle, but it defines us in terms of the daily. A recent editorial in the New York Press (www.nypress.com), a brilliant contrarian weekly, rejected the notion of an alternative press. Which got my mind wandering. Anyway, the point is, whatever we were, we still are, but I'm not sure what to call us.

Publisher Nick Barbaro would answer, "The Chronicle, stupid."

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There are those who get to be on TV, who get their pictures and names in the paper or the chance to be heard on morning radio talk shows. Then there are the armies of those who work in relative anonymity but contribute amazingly to the community. Recently, our Ginny's Printing rep, Chris Houston, was killed in a car wreck. We worked with Chris both at SXSW and the Chronicle, but he was also a friend, someone to spend time checking in with and talking to when there was a chance. The SXSW staff offered us these thoughts:

"We met Chris Houston during the first few years of SXSW when he became our rep from Ginny's Printing. Chris was the kind of printer you're lucky to find when you have a new business. Reliable, willing to work on a crisis schedule, offering the best rates possible, willing to teach you how to save money.

After a while, some of the SXSW jobs were too big for the Ginny's presses, and even Chris' interests grew outside Ginny's as he developed his collectible music poster business. But he kept a consulting role with Ginny's and retained SXSW as a client. SXSW continued to work with Chris and Ginny's for most of our day-to-day print jobs. He continued to run the Ginny's business center in the SXSW trade shows every year. The sight of Chris running in and out of the office picking up and delivering jobs was part of the regular routine. Hugh Forrest was on the phone with him just last Friday getting a bid on the NXNW 2000 directory.

Chris loved music a lot, and it was a big part of his life. He was a regular at Toni Price's happy hour and at Leann Atherton's barn dances. This past Sunday, he was on his way to a concert in Dallas when his front tire blew, causing his car to roll and killing Chris and his girlfriend Dana Willenberg. Austin is a poorer place without them."