“Don’t be caught/with your drawers down” — Tom Waits

What was I told was “not a story” during the years I was there? (1990-1998.) In no particular order: the bands Nirvana, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth; the whole “Seattle sound” thing (who? what? They did eventually write stories about Kurt Cobain — after he was dead); the “new hippie children” and the band Phish; methamphetamine and its impact on children and the foster care system; drug houses and hazmat concerns; the rise of autism; ecstasy and raves, anyone? (my friends were a little wild, not me! I swear); moshing; a profile of the band Smegma, a story that would never fly because the O refused to print the band’s name (one of my bosses, copyediting, shouted out, “Is Smegma a bad word?” which made me laugh my ass off; the overuse of Ritalin; the whole ADD/ADHD thing; uh, tattoos? (I finally wrote that one, leading to Much Excitement and 8,000 more stories by others on “the hip, the young, the tattooed and pierced!”); the writer Blake Nelson; suicide — its taboos and impact on families… Honestly. I mean, honestly.

I was Idea Girl, and they shot down probably ninety percent of the stories I pitched. (And I am a team pitcher, by the way — no one person would be capable of writing all the stories I dream up or come across.)

Then they would kvetch about a lack of “hot” stories. “What’s hot?” Me: “Not you, baby.”

Sorry to grouse, but honest to Blog — cyberspace has been a godsend.

We used to have bumperstickers all over the newsroom that said “If it matters to Oregonians, it’s in the Washington Post” (they’re the ones who broke the Packwood story). Now we can say, “If it matters to Oregonians, it’s on the blogs.”

To quote Mark Zusman of Willamette Week: “There are a lot of talented people at the Oregonian … I just wonder what the hell they’re all doing.”

Now we know — they’re taking the buy-out and flying. To-be-replaced with minimum wage clerks, “reporting” the “big news”? (No union = clerks writing stories. That’s how I did it when I was there.)

Good luck at SPJ! Sounds lively.

The only bloggers I know on the program are those mentioned above. Here’s the full list of presenters, mostly editors and reporters.

Good post. I expect you to follow up with a report next week on what transpired at Building a Better Journalist.