My last column for Prime Time is in the current issue. I thought it might serve you by providing some background on me. Here it is:
How Long? That Long? So Long.
I’ve just leafed through the first issue of Prime Time, dated September 1991.
Howard Morgan, of Channel 7 weather fame, was our cover story. Inside, Don Nutting wrote about KDEF radio dropping its "nostalgia" format (swing) for sports. We had syndicated columns from Paul Harvey and Bruce Williams, as well as the thoughts of New Mexico’s own Art Schreiber, Ned O’Malia and Susan Wachter.
Near the back, I find my first "Nobody asked me, but…." column. That means I have written it for 12 years! Gosh, time flies when you’re getting ancient.
But twelve years! It’s time to hang it up. Yes, this is my last column.
Why? Well, since the present owners of Prime Time have their own worldview, they should be free to shape their publication.
Secondly, I need change.
Of course, I loved writing the column, a conversation in which you were kind enough to take part. (Thanks, in particular, to those of you who stayed despite strong suspicions that I was nuts.)
I sure did relish piercing the wall between writers and readers, being human, opening the dusty, disordered attic of my mind to your gaze and thinking out loud about big topics. And for your warm response, I cannot thank you enough.
But there’s a time for the new. You and I hate senseless change, of course. Like discarding the name, "Mountain Bell" with all its history and geography. Or giving up "Albuquerque Civic Light Opera"? Couldn’t they see, hear what that conjured up - the black tie, feather boas and lace under the silvery moon?
But change, like fresh air, can invigorate. That is why I have just dropped subscriptions to two fine magazines I’ve read for years (Harper’s, The New York Review of Books), to start on another (The Atlantic).
And why I have begun a web log. Who knows where it will lead, but I can vent when I want to. (Find my mutterings online at www.alpertstruth.com. Let me know what you think, but no cursing, please. )
And I continue to write "New Wrinkles in Aging" for the Albuquerque Tribune; it appears the third Thursday of each month.
Naturally, it won’t all be work. It was fun acting in "Vaudeville Memories" at ALT and "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" at Adobe and I’ll continue to audition for roles around town. (Though the directors never see me as I do, John Garfield, the dynamic lead. For some reason, they always cast me as an older man. Hmmm.)
And I will read novels, go to the movies in mid-week and peruse Prime Time over a leisurely breakfast. Hey, I figure I have earned that.
So here’s to adventure in 2004. So long and Happy New Year.
Arthur’s email is ArthurAlpert@swcp.com
That's it. I regret only that I forgot to tell folks I see myself, not just as the gritty, urban John Garfield, but also as the handsome, swashbuckling Errol Flynn, leaping from pirate ship to ...well, you get the idea.
Posted by Arthur Alpert at January 7, 2004 12:23 PM