RIP, VTD

December 30, 2023

Jim Reeves commentary, News, Personal , , , , Leave a comment

Well, it’s finally happened.
My first relationship with the Visalia Times-Delta was as a paperboy in the 1970’s. My route at the time was the largest in the city, which had a population of less than 50,000 back then. I wish I could say that having a paper route taught me how to handle money, but sadly it did not. But that, perhaps, is a story for another blog.
As an adult, I’ve read the paper frequently if not daily, written many letters to the editor, had a couple of my community blog posts appear in the printed edition (Hate in a small town – 9-22/23-2013, and It’s not easy to make SPLC’s hate list – 5-15-2015), and even had them request I write a column (Connecting LGBT community and government – 7-16/17-2016) that appeared in print. They even paid me for that last one.
But that was then, this is now.
Sitting at the computer today, I realized it had been months since I logged into my account at VTD, one I pay for monthly.
I went to the page, logged in, and found the weekend edition online. (I stopped the paper edition a couple of years ago, keeping only the online subscription)
There were exactly two items in the entire paper related to Visalia.
One obituary, and the weather. No other local news. At all. Not even any local sports.
For some time now, the VTD has been fading. It’s a shadow of it’s former self. A shadow on a heavily overcast day. Almost not there.
I cancelled my subscription right then.
I’ve found that the Sun-Gazette and the Valley Voice newspapers have better local coverage than the Times-Delta, and have for some time. I also subscribe to the Fresno Bee‘s online presence.
The Visalia Times Delta has (for some time now) become simply another version of USA TODAY.
RIP VTD

I wonder if they’re trying to tell me something…

February 18, 2019

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal , , , , , , Leave a comment

error   404 Not Found

That’s what happens when I click on the bookmark that takes me to the log-in page to my community blog, Alternating Currents, hosted on the Visalia Times Delta‘s site.  I’ve been posting there since at least 2010, but Gannett’s latest redesign of their papers pages seems to have broken something on the ‘back end’.

A couple of emails to the Visalia Times Delta’s staff has resulted in responses that a repair ticket would be started, and another that the status would be checked, but late November of last year was the last time I could post anything.

I’m hoping it’s just a case of too much work for too few IT people, and that it will eventually be fixed. Crossing fingers, and such.

I really enjoy having the platform to express myself. Occasionally, things get interesting, like the time I posted about chickens and pygmy goats. That generated a bit of a tempest, to put it mildly. You should have seen the Facebook comments! Even had people trying to get the Times Delta to ban me from their site.

But if someone has decided they don’t *really* want community bloggers, or they just don’t want *this* one, I’ve always got this page to fall back on. Maybe I should just start posting things here, instead.

Decisions, decisions.

My first paid publication

July 16, 2016

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, Personal , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Inspire01Inspire02Inspire03

In the Visalia Times Delta’s weekend edition, July 16/17 2016, I have my first paid-for published article.  I’ve had several other items appear in the print edition of the paper, but they’ve all been either letter to the editor submisisons, commentary editorials, or blog posts that were published.  This is the first time I’ve been paid to have something appear in the paper, and it was at their suggestion.

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Alternating Currents Archive

October 13, 2014

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal , , , Leave a comment

I’m building an archive for my blog posts that appear at the Visalia Times Delta’s Community Blogger pages.  I’m in the process of copying the existing blogs to this site in order to preserve them.  Some have already been lost in “updates” by the VTD and Gannett, so from now on I’ll be posting a copy of each Alternating Currents blog to the new site.

Local paper publishes my comments 3 days in a row

February 12, 2014

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal , , , , , 1 Comment

The local newspaper, The Visalia Times Delta, has, like most papers today, an online site.

There, readers can post comments about articles and letters.  I enjoy reading and commenting, and it’s become a fairly regular thing to see my comments published in the print edition on the “Local” page.  It’s been a rare thing these past several months where I haven’t had at least one comment make the paper each week.  This week I made it three days in a row!

3_in_a_row

I used to open the paper to the editorial page first, to check out political cartoons and letters to the editor.  Now, in a bit of vanity, I open it to 3A first, to see if I’ve made it to the print edition again.  (Actually, I cheat on that a bit.  Since I subscribe to both the electronic and print editions, I can see the paper online several hours before it’s actually delivered to my home. I’ll check out the e-newspaper edition first to see if they published any of my comments, then add the print edition to my “archives” storage bin if they did. I may have to get a second bin!)
I also have a ‘Featured Community Blog’ at the Times Delta’s site (one of only three), called Alternating Currents. Feel free to check it out.

Local paper prints my online blog in their Weekend Edition

September 21, 2013

Jim Reeves commentary, Personal , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

blog_printed_09212013

Here’s the link to the Visalia Times Delta’s site where my blog “Alternating Currents” is posted. I was not notified that they were planning to publish my blog in the print edition, but I’m tickled they did! One minor correction to the printed edition, in the intro, they say I was at the Porterville City Council meeting that ousted Mayor Gurrola and Vice-Mayor McCracken from their ceremonial posts. I didn’t make that meeting, but I was there for the three involving the LGBT Pride Month proclamation, and it’s rescission.

Better late than never! The Visalia Times Delta publishes my letter

November 12, 2011

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, Personal , , , , 1 Comment

October 11 was National Coming Out Day.  I wrote and submitted a Letter To The Editor about it, hoping my local paper, The Visalia Times Delta, would publish it on NCOD.  They didn’t, and I dismissed the hope of seeing it in the printed edition.  A few days after the 11th, I went ahead and posted it in the blog section of the paper’s online site, and to QueerVisalia.com.  Imagine my surprise to see it in yesterdays paper!  It appeared on the 11th, but the 11th of Novemeber!  Better late than never, I suppose.  The comments are filling up with a lot of religious bigotry and hatred, and a couple of positive remarks.  There are a lot of remarks from a few different screen names, posting multiple times, and endlessly going on about how I’m going to hell, and need to repent.  Some of us who post regularly to the online forums of the VTD suspect the multiple screen names belong to one individual, but you never know.  In this area, there are plenty of homophobes ready and willing to rant their anonymous diatribes.  It could be more than one person, but regardless, they continue to spout lies, hatred, bigotry, and endlessly go on about how “God” hates this that and the other.  But, it did get printed.  Already got some nice comments at work and at my Facebook page about it.
Check it out here.

Harvey Milk Day Commentary

May 29, 2011

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, Personal , , , , Leave a comment

Here’s the text of my Guest Commentary in the Visalia Times Delta of May 20, 2011.

“My name is Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you.”

Making this statement during public appearances, Harvey Milk was recruiting people to come out of the closet. He felt this action was the most important thing people in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community could do to ensure their civil rights. If more people were aware of the gay associates, friends, family and loved ones around them, it would become impossible for most of them to continue past habits of discrimination.

Sunday, May 22, is the second annual California Harvey Milk Day. It’s a day to remind all Californians of the ability of one person to make a difference.

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JimmieJoe as Toto – Lions and Tigers and Bears! OH MY!

January 29, 2011

Jim Reeves commentary, Humor, Personal , , , 2 Comments

JimmieJoe as Toto?  I did a bit of a double take, too!

The local newspaper, The Visalia Times-Delta, has, as many online portals for media do, a section available for people to post blogs.  Recently, the editor asked for people what their favorite romantic movie was.  One blog poster chose “The Wizard of Oz”.  As is wont of many bloggers, it triggered other thoughts, and inspired a blog.

In this blog, found here, LittleDharma wonders who among the regular posters on the VTD’s site would play various roles if cast into the movie version of The Wizard of Oz.

I won the coveted role of Toto, Dorothy’s lovable if somewhat easily distracted dog.  Here’s what LittleDharma said about casting me as Toto:

Then we have the precious role of Toto, Dorothy’s dog.  This part is played by Jim93277.  Don’t laugh!  I gave this a lot of thought.  Jim knows who bark at and who to leave alone.  A prudent man … er dog.  Jim is just the guy who will lift his leg and give the villains a squirt on their spats.  While intelligent, he still needs Dorothy to remind him, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more.”  Hope he squirts on the Wicked Witch of the West.

I’m getting a big kick out of this one.  Read the entire blog here.

UPDATE: 2/1/11 The Times-Delta has pulled the blog, “reviewing” it!  Someone must have taken offense, and clicked the “report abuse” button about a gazillion times.  Put it back, TD.

*GASP* I’m a LIAR!

November 10, 2010

Jim Reeves commentary, Gay, Humor, Personal , , , , 1 Comment

Yep.  That’s right.  Little ‘ole me.  A liar.   “ConservoCaptain” says I’m a liar.  In the newspaper’s online forums.

Jim, anyone with half a brain that can think in abstract fashion knows that the Huffington Post is a left wing blog. And knows already that they are already bias. The only people who read Huffington are the very small minority (that would be you and JB)
I myself won’t read anything from Arianna Huffington a godless liberal from Western Europe. She’s a socialist know-nothing. I also know about what’s going on in Oklahoma and the 30,000+ muslims who reside in OK. They want to practice their own laws instead of the prevailing law of the land, and that’s both the State and Federal laws. Incidentally those 30,000+ (but not more then 34,000) make up less then 1% of the total population of the State and the voter’s have decided that. It’s sad that muslims want to be treated above and special then the rest of society in general.
It’s the same mentality that so pervaded the homosexual community in CA, gays want to have special status in so much as to hold “special” protective status whereas, that they want to make it a criminal offence to have homosexuality be called a sin, of which; it is. The real truth Jim is that gays, lesbians, transgenders make up less then 1/10 of 1% of either the States, or National population, yet they want to shove their lifestyle down the rest of us.
You sir are a liar and will not tell the truth. I’m offended by your lifestyle and am also offended that you deserve to be treated any differently then anyone else just because you’re gay. No sir, you do not. You’re no different then anyone else and if you come out of the closet and come under fire for saying who you are. Then that comes with the territory.
Furthermore, if you don’t like what I say, then too bad so sad. Throw a fit, get angry, go tattletale on your friends about what I’ve said. It’s not my soul I’m throwing away, it’s yours.

S/he’s in quite the snit today, don’t you think?
My response:

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