It’s been an interesting week. I was in West Virginia, reading the Seattle Post-Intelligencer online during its last days in print in Seattle, checking out blogs and Horsey cartoons… On Tuesday the articles of its closing down were so sad. The staff video did me in. Next thing I knew a little voice in my head said, “Who will blow the whistle?” And along came a new song, called “Goodnight PI.” You can find it on my home page… give it a listen.
The Seattle PI has been a whistleblower with its investigative reporting… it’s been a liberal voice and has given a voice to those who deserve one, but are often not heard. I always loved the PI when I lived in Seattle. I still have copies from the baseball playoffs in 1995. Randy Johnson was always my favorite baseball dude. Arts and entertainment writer Gene Stout was a great supporter of local musicians and venues. A small staff of 20 is continuing with the online publication, but they are dropping investigative reporting, which is one of the great losses in this changeover. We need newspapers. It’s not fun to read everything online, even if you print it out, it’s just more and more 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper. You certainly can’t hide behind it in a coffeeshop. We need newsprint!
Just last Saturday I read a clipping my friend Jayne sent me about the old three-masted schooner Wawona. People had given up on ever fixing her up, and the city wanted its prime Lake Union waterfront for other uses. A few weeks ago, they towed her, already mastless (the masts were removed for safety reasons), across the lake where they would start to disassemble her piece by piece. I’ve been to shanty sings on the Wawona. It was a wonderful piece of maritime history where children learned and good pirates from all over could share a sense of wonder about the great tall ships. Now she will disappear board by board…
I didn’t know when I started the song that the Wawona would make an appearance. Jayney didn’t know when she sent me the clippings that I’d use them in some way. Newspaper clippings. From newsprint. The P-I… On my yellow pad, it came together:
“Now my friend just sent a clipping from a paper she had saved.
They towed the great three-masted ship Wawona to her grave.
What is it about Seattle? Is there no honor for her past?
A giant of a masthead now lies beside the mast.”
Seattle PI, rest in peace. Wawona, your spirit will always be on the high seas and in our hearts. Thanks for a great run.
For more information about the Wawona, visit www.nwseaport.org.
