Lynn Hoppes: Keep your passion alive

some people choose to lead. some don't. this guy doesn't. so what?

he's the APSE pres. so what?

if you want the position to mean something, hire joe williams next time.

 

Write-Brained has nailed it.

 

Revolutions have to start somewhere.

 

And the revolution will not be televised. At this rate, it won't be covered in newspapers either.

 

all i'm saying is you don't ask your dog to pour you a beer.

 

All I want at this point is honesty. Tell me what I'm worth.

If I feel your expectations of what I can do and my expectations of what I can do are too far apart, then let me walk now and save face.

 

Hoppes' column was that of a company man, and maybe most sports editors these days feel they have to be company men. They want to keep their jobs, too. He makes a convenient target for our collective bitterness, but he's just the (well-coiffed) face of APSE right now.

Now, on the organization's part . . . . I would like to see some kind of movement, some kind of grand gesture on the part of APSE (with not-so-grand publicity for it), something that shows they're concerned with the state of the business. Some kind of concession that this industry is circling the drain. Some indication they are paying attention, and want to do more than just have parties with pretty awards.

But they are likely too busy concentrating on staying employed to think of what to do about the situation. Honestly, I'm not sure what can be done, since the robber-barons control our lives and our profession now. And they cannot be moved . . . except by dollars and mistresses.

 

Hoppes felt it necessary to give a halftime speech.
Problem is, we're all in the same lockerroom. We're down, 35-3, and we're kicking off. He knows it. Everyone with one eye, and one functioning lung knows it.
Did you guys really expect the APSE President to use the APSE website as a forum to tell you to run for the hills?

 

Then the next regionals or even nationals should dump the self-congratulatory "How We Did It" seminar about a paper covering a big event in place of a "How We Did It" with SEs explaining how they dealt with major layoffs.

 

Last APSE regional I attended (November, maybe?) ... we had one of those type of seminars. "How to Deal With Smaller Staffs/Newshole/Etc."

Turned into a therapy session, for the most part. And at least one of the SEs on that panel was laid off recently.

 

Earth to Hoppes:

The passion is not alive, at least not for the feeble, pedestrian drivel you're spewing and a business on its death bed. (Take a writing class, will ya?)

On a brighter note, Missus Flicker constantly notes with mirth and zest that I am back to the man she married 17 years ago, since I ran for the exit from the Hoppes-type circle jerk express and went to work writing for a special interest publication and teaching social studies. The passion indeed lives again chez Flicker.

(We always thought that APSE stood for Asswipes Permitted Sumptuous Eats... Did you ever get a load of some of those guys when they returned from those conventions? Burp City for weeks...Not a glazed donut remained unmolested at their convention site. Geez, no wonder their business tanked.)

 

Interesting. I've not seen that seminar at my regionals or the nationals I've attended.