How Do Willie Nelson, Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg and the Hudson Valley Writers Center All Get a Shout Today?
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One of my favorite aspects of this job is that almost every day, my phone rings or my email rattles with some unexpected interesting person introducing themselves.
Two quick examples from yesterday alone.
I received an email and a call from Steve Ditlea, who bills himself as “the most widely published print and online journalist you’ve never heard of, proud of it.”
Steve will be teaching a new local course in journalism, and was reaching out with a related request — more on that eventually to come, maybe.
He regaled me with several fascinating stories from his time in the field but, perhaps most noteworthy, shared how he helped make Willie Nelson famous with a Rolling Stone review in 1973.
Anyway, for any of you budding journos out there, check out details about Steve’s upcoming class at the Sleepy Hollow-based Hudson Valley Writers Center, starting September 29 at 6 p.m., for six consecutive Thursdays.
I also received an email yesterday from
an editor at Nieman Lab, part of The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. She was asking about our experience in the Substack Local program over the past year.
We had ups and downs, twists and turns, some of which I’ll be writing about in more detail when we unveil our enhanced membership program. (Taking a little longer than expected — surprise, surprise.)
Assuming a piece on our participation eventually publishes, I’ll be sure to share it with you here. The short story is that our year-long experience produced a happy ending, tons of lessons learned, and we’re now better positioned to deliver higher quality local news in a sustainable fashion. How to execute, from a technical standpoint, is part of what we’re seeking to improve.
Speaking of our local community news coverage, Examiner Editor-in-Chief Martin Wilbur wrote a fun piece this week about a North White Plains gas station that is the site of a short film shoot.
Martin spoke to writer and director Levi Wilson, who was hard at work Saturday and Sunday at the Route 22 site. “Luke & Emma and a Gas Station on Franklin Ave.” is a semi-autobiographical account of a young biracial boy growing up in small-town America in 1986 and having his first crush on a local white girl. Here’s his piece.
You might or might not be aware that Westchester has become a significant site for film shoots. In fact, Westchester County Film even has its own Facebook page if you want to check it out.
To give you an idea, an obscure director named Steven Spielberg and some actress named Meryl Streep might just grace the Facebook cover image.
Anyway, that’s all for today.
Till tomorrow,
-Adam
Adam Stone is the publisher of Examiner Media. When not running local news outlets or chauffeuring his children, Stone can be found on the tennis courts at Mt. Kisco’s Leonard Park, on his Ipad playing chess, or on the floor cleaning after his two dogs.
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