The importance of refreshing, by George Fiala

A very long time ago I tried to keep my marriage going with counseling. The main effect of that was to make me stop talking to her during the week, saving it all up for the weekly session.

I’m not saying this was a good thing, what I am saying is that this monthly column reminds me of it in a funny way.

I get ideas about my next column every day. For example, this past month I might have written about the new Civic Association, and how I hope it’s success will emulate that of the former association run by John McGettrick.

Or I might have written about how great it has been to notice the return of the in-person community meeting. During one week last month, I attended a transportation meeting at the Miccio Center (the community building for the Red Hook Houses), a farewell meeting at the Red Hook Library (farewell for possibly two years while they make it look as fancy as the nearby ballfields that just recently reopened); and finally, not exactly a meeting, but a St. Patrick’s Day  celebration at the Van Brunt Street VFW featuring some delicious corned beef and cabbage (with good rye bread and mustard). The following week I saw many of the same people at PS 32 at a public meeting for the mandated community group overseeing the Gowanus rezoning.

Or I could have spoke about another in-person meeting I had with members of the Red Hook Mutual Aid, where I learned about their spirit of volunteerism. However, that will wait until next month as reporter Brian is preparing a story.

Or how it is that the 76th Precinct celebrated the retirement of their commanding officer right after we published an interview with him that never mentioned an upcoming retirement. In addition to lots of other foods, they prepared a donut display which reinforced the cop stereotype that we in fact also reinforced in last month’s issue. (I helped myself to two, but don’t tell my girlfriend who thinks I should stick to broccoli.)

Or maybe I would have taken a less local view and written about the ongoing spread of dictators around the world, or the splintering of the world into multiple poles, reminiscent either of WW II or the Cold War, depending on the depth of one’s pessimism.

Or maybe something about the Democratic lawyer I have learned over the years to hate, Frank Carone, leaving the mayoral administration after a year in order to make some REALLY big money for himself.

But what generally happens is that I leave it to game time—the time I actually write this ends up always right before going to press. That’s when I see what’s on my mind which I will save for posterity.

And this month’s it’s about the newspaper industry event in Albany that I just attended. The Star-Revue has been a member of the NY State Press Association since 2011. In another life I attended conventions in the 1970’s and 80’s as General Manager of the Villager newspaper (Greenwich Village), and the Phoenix (covering Brownstone Brooklyn including Red Hook).

When I was a kid, I loved going to Asbury Park with my parents and sister for the medical convention my doctor dad would go to. I loved all the free samples they gave out at the booths, little gadgets like collapsible plastic cups with the name of a tranquilizer on it, and other cheap promos that the pharmaceutical industry has always loved giving out. The Asbury Park Convention Center had walls and walls of pinball machines that I still love to play. The other huge draw was a boardwalk that was much bigger than Coney Island’s.

The newspaper industry’s convention is held in the center of the state, either Albany or Saratoga Springs. Publishing awards are a big draw. The larger media groups bring many of their staff to get the convention experience. Winning an award is a huge perk for members of a sometimes underpaid industry.

The Star-Revue has gotten awards just about every year since 2011 and this year we ended up with another—an Honorable Mention for a story that Erin DeGregorio wrote a year ago, “New Votive Ship Sails Aloft in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.”  It just so happens that Erin wrote a great story this month, which I put on the cover and you can be sure I’ll be entering her pigeon story next year.

So yes, the contest is a big draw. It’s great to see talent rewarded.

But the biggest benefit to me is the renewal one gets from being reminded that they are part of something bigger. At the seminars and in get-together’s at the bar and the Friday night party, you are reminded that you are not alone. That people all over the state are doing what you are doing—which is being part of a noble profession.

Just like my dad loved being part of the grand history of medicine, and loved being able to help people with the most important thing we have, our health, my newspaper peers and myself are all reminded why we do what we do.

Which is of course to help explain the world in which we all live–in the case of community papers like the Star-Revue, the neighborhood we live in.

Freedom of Speech is in the very first amendment to the Constitution—and a free press defines the USA.