ICOSA
Hopes He Dies Before He Becomes Michael King (But How Will He Know?)
RECEIVED Tue., May 9, 2006
Dear Editor,
The Chronicle's quixotic endorsement of Brewster McCracken notwithstanding [Endorsements, May 5], I've got a couple of dumbbells I need to get off my chest.
Never mind your capricious and damned near libelous take on my knowledge of city issues. Everyone I've talked to (other candidates included) has dismissed the Chronicle's off-base character assassination attempt as “a cheap shot” that “pissed [them] off.” I was willing to dismiss it as well.
Never mind the gruff and bullying advice handed down from the grandmaster of all things Austin, Michael King, that I had better stop saying water treatment plants were in East Austin – which I've never said.
I have said on numerous occasions, and I will continue to say, that most of the facilities “similar” to what a water treatment plant would be – that is, definitely undesirable, possibly dangerous, and likely an eyesore – are already in East Austin.
Mr. King: Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, USA
0198614373 $10.95 at BookPeople. Or, www.oed.com, as you aren't receiving any hefty city contracts (yet).
One thing I cannot abide, however, is the sloppy journalism that the Chronicle has employed throughout the council race.
It kind of cheese-grated on my nerves when I was written off as a “student wannabe,” but I understand; you're all a bunch of ageist geriatrics who shouldn't be allowed to drive or hold sharp objects.
However, I'm studying journalism, and May 5's "Election Notes" took the cake from my messy preschool fingers and used it to dress the teat of power from which the Chronicle seems to be suckling as of late.
I was the second biggest fundraiser for the Place 5 seat, but you wouldn't know that by reading the Chronicle. I raised more than a thousand, spending very little of my own money – generally, the sign of a well-functioning campaign.
Facts are facts – even the ones you leave out.
Daryl Slusher was castigated for losing his soul after leaving the Chronicle for a career in public service but if Michael King is any indication, you don't have to leave journalism for the vacuous stench of entrenched complacency to suck your spirit down the tubes. Just hang around. It comes with age.
I'm a 20-year-old student newcomer-wannabe with almost no knowledge of Austin government. Well, that's half right.
But Billy Joel was all right: “Only the good die young.”
I hope I die before I become Michael King.
The Chronicle's quixotic endorsement of Brewster McCracken notwithstanding [Endorsements, May 5], I've got a couple of dumbbells I need to get off my chest.
Never mind your capricious and damned near libelous take on my knowledge of city issues. Everyone I've talked to (other candidates included) has dismissed the Chronicle's off-base character assassination attempt as “a cheap shot” that “pissed [them] off.” I was willing to dismiss it as well.
Never mind the gruff and bullying advice handed down from the grandmaster of all things Austin, Michael King, that I had better stop saying water treatment plants were in East Austin – which I've never said.
I have said on numerous occasions, and I will continue to say, that most of the facilities “similar” to what a water treatment plant would be – that is, definitely undesirable, possibly dangerous, and likely an eyesore – are already in East Austin.
Mr. King: Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, USA
0198614373 $10.95 at BookPeople. Or, www.oed.com, as you aren't receiving any hefty city contracts (yet).
One thing I cannot abide, however, is the sloppy journalism that the Chronicle has employed throughout the council race.
It kind of cheese-grated on my nerves when I was written off as a “student wannabe,” but I understand; you're all a bunch of ageist geriatrics who shouldn't be allowed to drive or hold sharp objects.
However, I'm studying journalism, and May 5's "Election Notes" took the cake from my messy preschool fingers and used it to dress the teat of power from which the Chronicle seems to be suckling as of late.
I was the second biggest fundraiser for the Place 5 seat, but you wouldn't know that by reading the Chronicle. I raised more than a thousand, spending very little of my own money – generally, the sign of a well-functioning campaign.
Facts are facts – even the ones you leave out.
Daryl Slusher was castigated for losing his soul after leaving the Chronicle for a career in public service but if Michael King is any indication, you don't have to leave journalism for the vacuous stench of entrenched complacency to suck your spirit down the tubes. Just hang around. It comes with age.
I'm a 20-year-old student newcomer-wannabe with almost no knowledge of Austin government. Well, that's half right.
But Billy Joel was all right: “Only the good die young.”
I hope I die before I become Michael King.
Colin Kalmbacher