N&O Life Stories at rduwtf.com

There’s an abundance of annoying crap in every issue of the News and Observer but I read it every day. I don’t envy publicly traded companies trying to survive a dying industry. The most annoying features of the N&O are the “personalities” they employ to entertain and and convey snarky attitude without offending anyone. Well, it offends me. I think they’re trying to compete in a game they can’t win and it’s painful to watch. The Vice Magazine DON’Ts once displayed a photo of a guy playing saxophone while riding a skateboard and the caption was something like; “This is what your aunt envisions when you use the word “cool”. She’s not thinking of swimming on acid or having anal sex while listening to Black Flag.” Vice can write that. We just wrote about that. The N&O cannot and has to appeal to the boring Aunt. They fail when they try to sell “attitude“.

But here’s an area where they excel: The obituary. The Life Stories feature of the N&O is consistently great. Nowhere else in the N&O will you see writing as compelling as this:

Cora Mae Teander lived 10 years with the circus, adopted a son as a single mother, drove a taxicab and ran an arcade back when that meant balls pitched at milk bottles rather than neon-lit video games. She was 95 when she died May 14 in Cary.

Or this:

Dietrich von Haugwitz loved animals, and he loved sausage.

The Willie “June” Watkins and Hazel Watkins (probably not related) stories are exceptionally good. The Life Stories are interesting because they’re concerned with writing a short and interesting piece about a life and not about failed attempts to entertain with affected attitude or folksy musings. And yes, I realize how uncool it is to mention Vice Magazine but being uncool is a privilege of writing without an editor who wants your company product to seem “cool”.

5 Responses to “N&O Life Stories”

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1 Nunya Oct 2nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm

I guess we can’t all be as witty as you my friend.
2 Robert E Leebowitz Oct 2nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm

I’m arguing that less “wittiness” and more writing would be a good thing for the N&O. There’s a glut of wit available to anyone with a computer.
3 The Furry Geezer Oct 3rd, 2007 at 1:58 am

I don’t think Nunya quite caught the very first sentence of the post. Mr. L., like most of us, reads the Nando every day. Of course he does. And of course he is often annoyed. People don’t call it the Noise & Disturber for nothing. I myself am amazed, as a Raleigh native, at how much of Josephus Daniel’s progressive voice for the common citizen is still left in this franchised link in a huge media chain. I remember when the current editor wrote entertainment features, and certainly the uncertain times have got that staff eager to please the Public. Ole Fred has retired from literary reviews, and the book review policies are slowly falling in line with Tom Moore and the Wake County Library (i.e. big numbers from fluff). They ignore the truly radical items like thay always have, but they kick state government’s ass about twice a year, they expose bullshit that then gets worked on, and I have to have it with my coffee. I re-scan an e-version at work, and sure, the Independent is more in line with my positions, but the N&O is a part of my daily life. It is fascinating to watch the paper position itself in the flux of the new media paradigm, and painful indeed to watch this particular print media face doom. So for the paper and Mr. L as well: rage, rage against the dying and the annoying spasms of slow death.
4 A Loud Arcane Toad Oct 3rd, 2007 at 2:24 am

I don’t “take the paper” anymore but I do click through it every day online, which means I rely more than ever on well-written headlines. The less said about the wannabe edgy fluff in there, the better. They are making some moves in the right direction with opening up the archives on their Web site, with blogs and triangle.com and share.triangle.com, but I’m not sure they have the resources to really make these significantly more useful and attractive to advertisers than similar sites that don’t carry the N&O brand.
5 The Furry Geezer Oct 5th, 2007 at 3:25 am

The obituary lines really are quite are beautiful.. There should be a book..Art Linkletter trolls the obits…

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N&O Life Stories

5 Responses to “N&O Life Stories”

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