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Brown bag lunch, hold the sandwiches
When Diane Farrell was Westport's first selectwoman, she routinely held "brown bag lunches" every Wednesday at Town Hall. They were routine for Farrell, and they were so routine for the townspeople who attended that they actually brought their lunches and munched on sandwiches while Farrell answered questions about the variety of topics that were on people's minds.
The current first selectman, Gordon Joseloff, holds these events less often, and thus they're more newsworthy when they do happen.
And the "brown bag lunch" in the first selectman's conference room last Monday was anything but routine. By my count, about 60 people attended, but a good dozen were journalists: newspaper reporters, editors, TV people. They all came to see and hear a guest speaker whose mere presence was very newsworthy under the circumstances.
Fourth District Congressman Jim Himes held forth on a variety of topics for an hour: immigration, the environment, budgets, the usual. But the newspeople were most interested in hearing what Himes had to say about tragic events in Arizona that occurred just 48 hours earlier: the shooting of some 20 people at a shopping center in Tucson. Six people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge; another dozen people were injured, including one of Himes' colleagues, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Himes was measured and thoughtful in his remarks about the events: there's a story at minutemannewscenter.com.
But the "lunch" was newsworthy because it was a constituent event rather like the sort that "Gabby" Giffords was conducting when she was shot and gravely wounded. Himes, a friend of Giffords, said he was a little nervous under the circumstances, and he imagined that the participants at the "brown bag lunch" might be a little nervous too.
But Himes was there, meeting the public, the public was there, asking him questions, and the reporters were there, covering the whole thing. That's America, and Himes was absolutely right in holding to his previously announced schedule by attending.
But it was the last thing from routine. Nobody even ate lunch.
The current first selectman, Gordon Joseloff, holds these events less often, and thus they're more newsworthy when they do happen.
And the "brown bag lunch" in the first selectman's conference room last Monday was anything but routine. By my count, about 60 people attended, but a good dozen were journalists: newspaper reporters, editors, TV people. They all came to see and hear a guest speaker whose mere presence was very newsworthy under the circumstances.
Fourth District Congressman Jim Himes held forth on a variety of topics for an hour: immigration, the environment, budgets, the usual. But the newspeople were most interested in hearing what Himes had to say about tragic events in Arizona that occurred just 48 hours earlier: the shooting of some 20 people at a shopping center in Tucson. Six people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge; another dozen people were injured, including one of Himes' colleagues, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Himes was measured and thoughtful in his remarks about the events: there's a story at minutemannewscenter.com.
But the "lunch" was newsworthy because it was a constituent event rather like the sort that "Gabby" Giffords was conducting when she was shot and gravely wounded. Himes, a friend of Giffords, said he was a little nervous under the circumstances, and he imagined that the participants at the "brown bag lunch" might be a little nervous too.
But Himes was there, meeting the public, the public was there, asking him questions, and the reporters were there, covering the whole thing. That's America, and Himes was absolutely right in holding to his previously announced schedule by attending.
But it was the last thing from routine. Nobody even ate lunch.
posted by westport minuteman editorial at
12:21 PM
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