Writer's Block

Goin' somewhere

Mike Molina saw my story coming a mile away. "So, working on your annual travel story?" he asked when he picked up the line. Yup. Each year we get a copy of the mayor's and council members' travel records and do a roundup of where everyone went and what they spent. There's never been anything jaw-dropping in there -- no $10,000 "research" cruises, no outrageous hotel bills -- just the usual assortment of trips to lobby the Legislature and a smattering of Mainland conferences. So why do we keep doing it? Just to keep tabs, I guess.

With nothing else to go on, it's those conferences people usually end up talking about. Some question whether they're an unnecessary waste of time and money, while others say they're a valuable way to keep in touch with how the wider world is addressing common problems of water, development and infrastructure. So I suppose that's the purpose of doing the story every year -- if people care enough to have an opinion about where and how much county council members should travel, they should be able to get that information from the newspaper.

I don't actually have an opinion about council members' travel -- really. I've attended journalism conferences and seen a direct impact on how I do my job. An Investigative Reporters and Editors workshop in Honolulu I attended in 2003 didn't just change my entire outlook on reporting, it changed my life. That being said, I usually don't manage to attend a conference every year, let alone two or three -- or four or five. And the only Mainland conference I've attended, the 2005 SPJ national convention in Las Vegas, was paid for out of my own pocket. But then again, I'm not running the county.

So I guess I can see both sides -- how about you?

On a lighter note, check out my new favorite blog, the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, documenting my top grammatical pet-peeve-slash-source-of-amusement, quotation marks that attempt to add emphasis but actually create irony. You've seen 'em everywhere -- Maui's "Fresh" Hot Dogs, "Quality" Dry Cleaning, and my personal favorite, You're a "Winner!"

Cringe and "enjoy."