Category: default || By jt3y

Spanning the glob to bring you the constant virility of news ... the thrill of viscosity and the agony of sore feet ... we are Tube City Almanac.

Our first item comes via Peter Leo in the Post-Gazette:

In his new book, "The Flight of the Creative Class," former Carnegie Mellon professor Richard Florida calls Pittsburgh a microcosm of what could be in store for America. You remember Florida, the Pittsburgher known for most bluntly pointing out the region's faults -- until The Andy Warhol Museum's Tom Sokolowski came along and Florida had to move. If you know his work, it comes as no shock that Florida postulates that Pittsburgh is ahead of the curve in an undesirable way. He writes about how close-minded attitudes have caused Pittsburgh to lose many of its most creative, intelligent, artistic, high-valued talents in recent times: "Its great export, local residents like to say, is no longer steel, but its young people, the very talent it invests so much in creating. ... I saw firsthand what being a less open and tolerant society led by squelchers did to Pittsburgh's economy. I fear this may well be a microcosm for what is now beginning to happen to our entire country." Maybe he's right, but geez, did he have to tell everybody?

Richard Florida: How can we miss him if he won't go away?

There is more than a germ of truth in Florida's basic theories. Americans have become anti-intellectual and anti-diversity at precisely the wrong time, when those attributes are needed most to compete in the global economy. He's also correct that there's a strong class divide right now, which is being skillfully exploited by the party in power.

But Florida long ago crossed over from being a voice of reason and conscience into being an obnoxious scold. I also think he underestimates the "enemies" of the so-called creative class and fails to make any attempt to understand the culture of middle America. At times, he seems intolerant of other people because he considers them intolerant. (To quote Tom Lehrer: "And I hate people like that!")

As for his comments about Western Pennsylvania (or what we like to call the "Greater McKeesport Area"), Florida is quickly becoming a one-note song. Yes, yes, we're insular and parochial and we spend too much time watching sports and not enough time drinking latte and going to gallery openings. We get it, already. Now flake off.

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In other news, I've mentioned before that I love to read the funnies, and one of my favorites is Darby Conley's "Get Fuzzy," which thankfully is finally being carried by both the Trib and the P-G. I like dogs and cats, though I'm terribly allergic, and I'm convinced that if they could talk, they'd sound like Bucky Katt and Satchel Pooch.

The setup of "Get Fuzzy," for those of you not in the know, is that struggling Massachusetts ad agency executive Rob Wilco shares an apartment with his sweet-tempered but naive dog Satchel (named for Satchel Paige) and his nasty and stand-offish cat Bucky, both of whom behave like typical cats and dogs, except for the fact that they talk. (And this being the funnies, no one seems to think this is a bit odd.)

You may remember Conley from when he cheesed off our local chattering classes a few years ago by doing a joke about how Pittsburgh "smells," and then later on rubbed the joke in by doing a strip about how Pittsburghers were hypersensitive. (Us? Hypersensitive?)

I was so offended, I bought that strip on a coffee mug. But then again, as a former boss told me, I have an "attitude problem."

It's funny that Conley (who has never lived in Pittsburgh, to the best of my knowledge) was able to make much the same point about Pittsburgh in two comic strips that it's taken Richard Florida two books and countless op-eds to make. But I digress.

Anyway, according to The Boston Globe, Conley and his syndicate are now being sued by Boston TV sportscaster Bob Lobel, who claims that he was libeled by the May 13 "Get Fuzzy":

The four-page complaint and demand for a jury trial was filed Thursday in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham by attorney Harry Manion. The complaint charges that the May 13 version of the comic strip, by Conley, ''constitutes a false and malicious libel of and concerning Lobel. The cartoon, read in its totality, is a smear of Lobel.

''It implies and asserts that Lobel is intoxicated when appearing on television. During his entire 34-plus-year career, Lobel has never appeared on the air intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol. The statement that Lobel is a drunk is false and is intended to injure him personally and professionally, and was made at a time when it was common knowledge that Lobel was in negotiations with his employer for a contract renewal."

Since the syndicate has now yanked the comic strip in question from its website, here's a transcript. In the first panel, Satchel, Rob and Bucky are watching TV. "Is this sportscaster drunk?" Satchel asks.

In the second panel, Rob responds: "Lobel? He's like some TV outreach program or something."

Bucky and Rob then get into to argument, to which Satchel responds: "Guys, how can you fight when there's a drunk guy on TV?"

Granted, it played better in cartoon form, but it was a mild chuckle at best. A little cursory research on the Web reveals that fans have often accused Lobel of being intoxicated, apparently because of his wild, rambling commentaries on the air. I had no idea who Lobel was (I rather assumed he was an ESPN sportscaster), and if the joke fails at all, it's because it's too Boston-centric. "Lobel" could have been easily replaced by "this guy" and it would have been just as funny (or unfunny) to most Americans.


Nevertheless, this is an interesting lawsuit. Lobel is basically in the position of suing over what a cartoon dog said in a fictional setting. I am not a lawyer, but my shaky understanding of libel law indicates that the standard for libel against a public figure is very tough. He'd have to prove that the libelous material misrepresented the actual facts in such a way as to deliberately defame him.

In other words, he has to argue that people believe that there is an actual dog named Satchel who watches TV, talks to someone named "Rob Wilco" and a cat named "Bucky," and comments on what he sees. And then the jury has to believe that people reading the comic strip at home are saying, "Well, if a talking dog in a comic strip says he's a drunk, it must be true!"

On the other hand, we're talking about American jurors, who also believed that O.J. was going to go out and look for the real killer. Your mileage may vary.

...

Finally, it looks as if West Mifflin's James Lavelle Catholic School is going to close, as Jennifer Vertullo reported last week in The Daily News. There was more in the Trib last night, where Maggi Newhouse pointed out that James Lavelle was closed for more than a year after severe storms swept through the Mon Valley in May of 2002, tearing the roof from the building.

Enrollment at James Lavelle, which is attached to Resurrection Parish, was down to about half of what it was during the 1997-98 school year, Newhouse wrote.

There are many reasons why Catholic schools in the Pittsburgh area continue to close --- an aging and shrinking population top the list --- but I suspect that many Catholic parents no longer think it's important to send their children to Catholic school. Perhaps that's because of the expense, but then it becomes a vicious cycle --- there are fewer students, so tuition goes up, so there are fewer students. Lather, rinse, repeat.

With fewer Americans entering vocations, Catholic schools are also more dependent on lay teachers than they used to be, and that costs money as well. And finally, American Catholics are fairly stingy with donations; though Protestants are familiar with the concept of "tithing," many Catholics are still putting the same dollar-per-week into the collection plate that they always have.

There are many problems facing the Church worldwide, so perhaps the plight of Catholic schools isn't at the top of the list of concerns. On the other hand, given the old saw that "children are our future," perhaps it should be.