December 12, 2015

Tom Fiedler – Dean

College of Communication

Boston University

640 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215

RE: I’m not Andrea Bocelli but it’s “Time to Say Goodbye”.

Dear Tom,

Who better than you to be the first to know?

The second day I was in Florida, October 16, 1996, I began the quotidian habit of buying at least 6 newspapers. The Miami Herald, the Sun Sentinel, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

Realizing that I was in a “target-rich environment” I began the habit of skewering both politicians and pundits, be they local or national. Since they were obsessed with fallacy and since they were devoted to wing-nut modern American Liberalism – as if there were any other kind – and since they reveled in “non-malodorous fecal matter syndrome” it shortly became my “happy time”.

I must add that you became an early and frequent target. When you were not on the receiving end of my balistas for a few weeks you sent me a note asking if you had written something right, even if by accident.

I was completely and permanently defanged.

But that’s not why I write.

I am now down to 2 papers a week, the Saturday Wall Street Journal and the Sunday Sun Sentinel.

The Saturday Wall Street Journal is the best newspaper in America. Its 4 sections are filled with things both objective and subjective. Business and culture are both poked in the arena. I read the Sunday Sun Sentinel to see if I am in the obits. If not, I go about my day’s work. Raising hackles and trapping for baby manatees is demanding work.

I left the daily newspapers because there was rapidly diminishing value. Restaurants are only expensive if the high price does not deliver what it promised. I told you some time ago that all newspapers were getting “thin”. There was no “there” there. Ideology did not matter. If anything, sloppy thinking, an aversion to Logic, a belief in gravity defying devices, “eclectic indignation”, and overall smarminess were motivating factors for me.

My use of the word “unlinkable”, a word that my Spell Check does not recognize, speaks to the “value” observation. When I try to link an article or an opinion column I am told that ci can’t do this because I am not a digital subscriber. Pray tell but why should I have to buy the same paper twice?

Am I alone in this?

I have a clear memory of my father reading the 2 Arthurs – Krock and Daley – to me on Sunday.

Should you have any really bright students who want to observe the autopsy of a literate curmudgeon who once had ink stained fingers I will make myself available for their perusal.

Kevin Smith

Board Certified Life Coach

Proud Global Warmer