Maybe I Could...

Earlier this evening @wyrd101 tweeted a link in reference to my post from the other day about writing professionally.  A local online magazine is looking for columnists.   Paid columnists.  And he thinks I'm an excellent writer and more people should know that.  *BLUSH! * (dude!  not used to that kind of praise.  thank you.  srsly.)  Anyway it was kind of a cattle call, "whaddya wanna write about?" thing.  And I'm definitely going to submit an idea for a random Person of the Week interview as suggested by readers...but I'm also wondering....

I'm wondering if could even get close to being a "meat and potatoes" journalist.  I never tried that before.  I've done interviews before.  I've conjured up Press Releases in my time.  I've certainly stumbled around this soap box for the past a lot of months.  But they asked for someone to cover a specific topic and  wonder...could I cover the Pleasant Valley City Council?  AND make it interesting?!?!

One of the other East Coast Silvers lives a couple hours away from here.  He has a blog that covers the Richmond City Council.  And I'm sorry, Silver, but...it's dry.  deadly dry.  I know it's City Council and just how sexy can it be and stuff but if that's the case then why did you run for office earlier this year?  or was that Virginia House of Delegates?  I forget.  Anyway...local politics needs more sexiness.  Or how can we ever expect these guys to ever make it in Congress, where the big time scandal is?

Seriously though, scandal was the only thing that got me vested in this last local election. 

See, the current mayor (and a couple of his minions) paid $5K and upward apiece to air some lame TV ad with a candidate in an elf costume from last Halloween.  The candidate was sorta drunk looking with a barmaid type on each arm.  Scandal, you say?  I submit: Goal.  Why the hell else are you gonna be a City Council dude in a fairly small town other than the power and chicks?  Did we learn NOTHING from watching the....okay, from watching ANY administration in the history of politics for god sakes?!  Politicians are rock stars.  And you're more than a little kinda naive if you think power is only recently seductive. 


So anyway, the guy in the elf costume with the chicks?  He got re-elected.  And the other guys got re-elected too.  The meetings, the notion of getting anything done without a severe dramatic undertow...should be interesting.  And there's less people in Pleasant Valley's City Council than Congress, so it should also be an easier story to follow. 

My question is...can I report all of this from watching the local access cable channel or do I have to go to each weekly meeting for the full sensory experience?  I'm thinking if I went in person to meetings once or twice a month, I could capture some honest to goodness City Council of Pleasant Valley drama.