Going local tricky for global writer

SUE CLARK

“Write about local issues,” my editor suggested when I went to get my

mug shot at the Daily Pilot.

However, writing about our area’s controversial hot topics is more

frightening than trying to photograph me. The one time I wrote about

a local issue -- my dislike of Costa Mesa’s Fourth of July and

fireworks in general -- I received angry letters implying that I am

some kind of liberal. That is true, but I still don’t know how they

got that out of my disliking the Fourth.

One woman said she liked the article I wrote on a swarm of bees

much better than when I attempted to comment on more weighty issues,

like the Iraq War. Her implication? Keep on with the creature

commentaries, dear, and let the big boys and girls write about the

heavy stuff.

So, I’m in a quandary. My editor wants me to keep looking for

local political issues, and some readers prefer bees.

“I liked that one you did on the dogs escaping,” said one of my

neighbors. “That was your best, yet.” I feel like Woody Allen --

maybe not the best comparison -- when he tried to make some serious

movies. Everyone begged him to go back to “Sleeper” and “Everything

You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.” Maybe the critics had a point,

though. His funny movies were much better.

I’m blond, thanks to Traci over at Christopher and Company in

Corona del Mar, so maybe I should stick to “Some Like it Hot: Our

Newport Beach Heat Wave”-type reflections.

I’ve been checking the other commentary writers’ columns for how

they do a local viewpoint. I think those authors have as much trouble

as I do. They, like I, tend to introduce a column as follows: “As I

was having a coffee at The Alta Coffeehouse in Balboa, I thought

about global warming.”

Last year, Lolita Harper, my former editor, had also told me my

columns were too global, and needed to be more local. Same message

from both editors.

In a fit of rebellious pique, I wrote the most microscopically

local column ever. I would show Lolita.

The column was called “Yes, we do have seasons in Newport- Mesa”

and chronicled a walk I take every day with my small dog -- another

dog column. This walk winds by several stores on East 17th Street in

Newport Heights, between Tustin and Irvine, to be specific. I wrote

about how Morri’s flowers predict Autumn, even when it’s 90 degrees,

and how I saw a boy stringing holiday lights in shorts, so I knew it

was winter.

“Best column you ever wrote,” guffawed a friend. “I laughed myself

sick.”

“What about the one I did on literary censorship?”

“Oh, yeah. That was pretty, um, serious.”

By the way, if a friend says one of my commentaries is one of

their favorites, it’s usually one that I hated after I saw it in

print. Conversely, the ones I think will get me into the New Yorker,

tend to bomb. They are printed, but no one says a word. It’s like

when you go to work with a really bad haircut. The world averts its

eyes.

So, I must bow to the inevitable. I will continue to write about

animals that are darling, but I will try to do it in the larger

perspective of how they will be affected by the airport traffic.

On tap for next time: My new pet, Beto, gives views on the merits

of church expansion from a hamster’s point of view -- he’s against

it.

* SUE CLARK is a Costa Mesa resident and a high school guidance

counselor at Creekside High School in Irvine. She can be reached at

[email protected]