This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Pity the poor, rich, famous celebrity. Really.
Nobody will ever look back at Michael Jackson and say, “That man had a wonderful life.” He started out as a buoyant kid loaded with musical talent. By the time he died Thursday, he was a freakish-looking recluse whose plastic surgeries and skin-whitening treatments had left him looking like a ghostly villain from a “Batman” movie.
In the interim, what a career.
Jackson’s 1982 album “Thriller” outsold anything recorded by the Beatles or Elvis Presley. All told, he sold more than 750 million albums and secured a place right up there with Elvis and the Fab Four. He amassed a huge personal fortune.
Yet he died a pathetic figure, in debt, isolated, shadowed by persistent allegations of child molestation. His untimely heart attack may have been hastened by excessive doses of prescription drugs he was taking to assist a comeback attempt.
Jackson joins a pantheon of superstars, stars and semi-stars who might have fared much better had they never been trapped in the spotlights, grown addicted to adulation and acquired fortunes large enough to indulge their most destructive appetites.
This column by Washington Post writer Eugene Robinson moved on the wire late in the day Friday, so it won't get in the print edition over the weekend. I'm publishing it here for any online readers who haven't had their fill of Michael Jackson commentary.
PERILS OF A PRODIGY
Many performers can impress or delight, but only a few can astonish. Michael Jackson did it twice.
The first time was October 1969, when the hit single “I Want You Back” introduced a cherubic 11-year-old boy who sang with unbelievable maturity, soulfulness and swing. The second was March 1983, when the prodigy — now grown tall, thin and angular — moonwalked through an electrifying “Billie Jean,” leaving a national television audience slack-jawed at how effortlessly he defied the laws of physics.
Jackson’s personal trajectory, though, was excruciating to watch.
