The grumpy guy was frowning as usual. Unless he was sarcastically bashing liberals, he never seemed happy.

A more promising day at Pitch. Joe Miller, reporter, came over, introduced himself and we chatted for a bit. I told him I had read some of his stuff. He said he learned about me at some meeting they had.
Explaining the survey on light rail, I told him about the Florida conference coming up. Joe seemed a bit shy, had an earring and dressed mostly in black. CJ observed us as she walked by. She seemed pleased. Maybe she had encouraged the others to talk to me a little? I don’t know.
Jen Chen is fun to tease. She has stuff all over her desk and walls: pop culture stuff, photos, and posters. I told her I had the perfect pop culture item for her. I’d bring it in. She said, “Oh, that’s very sweet of you.” I replied, “Yeah, but you haven’t seen it yet.”
Mingling with the group had not been easy. Most of them stay in their cubicles and have their own set of friends. One of my proposals to CJ had been a wish to travel with the writers, to sit in on meetings, but she just stuck me with writing the “best” blurbs. Now that’s a lonely task, and not one that is much fun. But maybe that’s journalism? So far, no one’s invited me to lunch or for coffee or talked to me about anything until Joe Miller introduced himself. New guy on the block syndrome seems to be affecting me.
After Joe left, I wrote a blurb: the 25th anniversary of the River Quay Mafia reporting done by “The Star” ending in the bombings in 1978 at the River Quay. Later, I e-mailed The Star, urging them to do a follow-up story on the gang warfare of that time and the defeat of the mob in Kansas City.
Then it was on to KCPT where Lois and Linda hog-tied me and forced me to tear apart some of the 1,000 name tag stickers they have to prepare for Saturday’s Women’s Health Conference. Doing the tags was fun, the kind of work I expected but never proposed until today.
I did maybe two hundred before I had to leave for the Ruckus taping. Warren Maus was not there. He had called in sick, but Lois said she didn’t know what kind of sickness. He hadn’t told her.
Again, the old building and the construction area were hazy from debris in the air, the “Danger: Asbestos” sign a constant warning. Was Warren getting sick from asbestos in the air?
I have a real quandary with that asbestos. The construction doesn’t seem to be protecting anyone from the fibers. When Johnson County Community College tore out its asbestos, whole areas were shielded off by plastic sheets and workers had to spray themselves down and keep the fibers wet so they wouldn’t blow around. None of those precautions could be seen at KCPT. It might be they had finished the asbestos and had the plastic sheets up before and had taken them down, or else they were doing very shoddy work. Something needs to be done on this issue. At least questions should be raised, but Warren, Lois and others don’t seem concerned.
In the back room of the TV studio, I told the techies about the book I had just finished, “Mysterious Lights and Crop Circles.” Mitch wrote down the title. He said he had seen a special TV program showing how men could do that with boards and string. I told him to look at the 3-D creations made in the British fields. No men could make them that easily.
Trudie, Nadler, Rose, Yael and Shanin were ready, their make-up put on by Matt, and 35 minutes late, as usual, the program was ready to be taped.
Sitting again at the Teleprompter, watching how it’s done, I practiced with it after the taping. Matt says I’ll be responsible for it next time.
An old TV effects generator and control board, not in use any more, sat right in front of me. The little toggle switches were calling out to me to push some of them, but I wasn’t sure the board was completely unplugged, not wanting to create some sort of disaster by touching something. There must have been 100 different switches on the board.
Afterwards, Yael and Steve Rose walked out of the studio together. They seemed to share some liberal views, in contrast to the conservative views of Rich Nadler and Mike Shanin. Nadler himself walked across 39th Street and got into a small black car, decorated with many conservative bumper stickers and window stickers. The grumpy guy was frowning as usual. Unless he was sarcastically bashing liberals, he never seemed happy.
Southwest Boulevard was home to a great barbecue place, and I was determined to finally taste some Rosedale Barbecue. Living in KC since 1978, I have driven by the busy restaurant hundreds of times, but today was to be my first taste of pork on a bun. I bought two sandwiches, ate one in the car and the other later that evening at home. Too much of a good thing. On Friday I would pay for it. Severe stomach upset.
Son Doug seemed to be having a fun sabbatical in New York. Ruth and I often wonder if he’ll ever come back. He was supposed to be back in KC for a visit with Starr some time in late August or September, but from his most recent e-mail, that obviously was not going to happen.
Date: 9/7/01 9:31:21 AM Central Daylight Time
How’s it goin.... heather workin at I Hop?...sounds like a step back...did she quit her other job?...no school this semester? ...I hope she has fun and makes lots of money! ...I’m still . 7A...makin’ $...having fun dealing with the crazies.... someone tried to pay with funny money the other day...no fights lately.... labor day was busy.... Starr’s back in school.... we did Coney island for the last time on Tues ...art is goin good...job is goin good.... no love interests lately, still hangin with the wannabe actress, Nikki...she’s fun, …still planting seeds waitin to see what happens.... Starr likes school...her friend Helena is in her class.... Starr is getting real good at the card game speed.... she also plays a lot of game boy.... I’m thinking of visiting the Florida Keys in Oct....maybe we can hook up where you guys are going to be.... I kinda want to visit some place new...I have a friend living in the keys...(Courtney) from KC....the trains are running well.... that lady who read my palm a while ago gave me some flowers last night...orange roses and sunflowers...weird combo...my favorite color and a flower that represents Kansas...I think it's a sign.... had Chinese Thurs last night at Cheri's apt.... was fun played cards, drank wine, watched a little MTV music awards.... going to sketch in Soho today at 1 PM....trying to make some connections...good show at Guggenheim coming up, art from brazil...also Giacometti comes soon...met another artist at work, her name is Felicity, she's from Colorado,...found some one to take my headshots and slides of art if need be,...found a good place to get monologues for acting, and a good acting school to go to...I’m putting the pieces together....got a new CD that I like a lot called, "Gorillaz", you can check it out at www.gorillaz.com...I especially like the song "Clint Eastwood", I saw the video on cartoon network...JC's job is going better, she seems a little less stressed, plus she has vacation next week,....I miss hangin’ with the family esp. on labor day....I miss KC and my friends, lunch with mom, hangin with Hebs, driving that blue car, that bastard Gizzy, my own apt, etc, etc......any way I’ll write again soon!....bye Doug
It’s amazing how much stuff Doug can do during a regular twenty-four hour day.
Since I was scheduled for a celebration at KCPT on Wednesday and Ruckus on Thursday, I went to Pitch today, driving through very heavy, backed-up traffic on I-35. I took the northbound exit at Rainbow, then doubled back to go the right way. But the Boulevard was also busy. Strange, I thought, because it was already after 9 a.m.
Lounging near a liquor store and gas station on the boulevard, two groups of maybe thirty Mexicans stood up and began running toward a gray SUV as I drove by. They were haggling with the driver, a larger white male sipping a big gulp drink. A few Mexicans got in the SUV, and others left, looking disappointed. Were they illegals looking for work?