Q. Why are Howard Harris’ letters always first?
A. Because he sends them in first. That’s how it works.
Q. What do you think of his letters?
A. Same thing as you.
Q. Why aren’t the letters to the editor on line?
A. The old print edition needs to maintain some of its exclusivity. Have to keep you buying it every week. Plus, it’s a unique community sounding board, its once a week timing giving you something to look forward to in our world of instant gratification. And to contribute to it, you actually have to sit down and write something with your whole hands instead of just the opposable thumbs, thus preserving what would otherwise become a lost art.
Q. Can you follow the plot of Will Lytle’s comics?
A. Nah. But I’m not sure I’m supposed to. They connect in a sort of abstract way. And I do love the way they look.
Q. Why does Charley Rosen always write about Phil Jackson?
A. You’d rather he wrote about Darryl Dawkins?
Q. Do letters get cut or edited?
A. Letters that are potentially libelous don’t get in. But I’ll usually contact the writer and we can have a conversation about what is and isn’t. I’ll persuade some writers to drop particularly noxious notions (yes, they can be worse than what you see). And I do some occasional editing of atrocious grammar and punctuation.
Q. Who is Philip D’Blanc?
A. Ah, the mysterious Dr. D’Blanc, a person with a very logical, literate and lineal personality…
Q. What’s the policy on endorsing candidates for election?
A. For primaries, library boards, fire companies, etc. I try to stay away from it, unless I can’t help myself. For general elections, I see it as an obligation to write something logical. I am asked a lot who I favor, and we do study and talk about this stuff incessantly all year long around here. Plus, given my own electoral background (2W, 1L, .667, OBP .409, 16.3 ppg, 3.21 ERA, for more advanced stats, see absurdinfinity.nrd) I can plausibly claim some expertise.
Q. How’s the newspaper business these days?
A. You had to ask? Everyone tells us that we have to move faster to digital and social platforms, but nobody is making any money doing that. Well, maybe the companies that sell your metrics do. But we don’t have your metrics and can’t guess your weight. So we do what we have to digitally, and seek to cling precariously to what has heretofore been a solid niche, as most of the dwindling supply of cash still comes from print.
Q. Why does the Saturday Night Bluegrass Band play on Thursdays every week?
A. While we were waiting for Saturday, Thursday came around…
Q. How much of the paper do you actually read?
A. Every dang word.
Got questions for me? Send them in to wtedit@gmail.com. If I can answer them in public, I will, maybe.
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