Been There by Neil W. McCabe

So long for now

I entered this Web site cum blog routine in 2004 through the good offices of a great journalist Nick Pinto, who was a contributing editor for me at The Somerville News. The question was how to post articles from the paper without getting caught in the weeds of a Web site. I was overwhelmed. He was not.

Nick figured it out and patiently explained to me the little tricks, such as changing the size of the pictures and changing the date and time an article could be posted. This way a number of stories could be loaded up in advance and launched at different times.

When the newspaper "The Alewife" began in 2005, there was no question it would have a companion Weblog to post the articles and hundreds of notices and other stories.

Since Nick, I have found my own tricks and stolen others along the way. I was never a programmer, but there were times, frankly, I was very pleased with the content programmed here.

I can share with you now that part of the grab of doing something like this is watching the traffic come in from search engines. There were stories I picked up on, not from a tip, but from people using the same keywords reaching the site accidentally because of a previous posting that was somehow close enough. By following up on what they were searching for and not finding, I could find the story myself. Insiders looking to see if a story broke, ended up breaking the story themselves through their search words.

Hmmm. Maybe this is only interesting to me. Sorry, I tend to digress.

As I have checked out other blogs, I have recognized that most reach some kind of terminus and the creator has to make his final entry. This is that entry for me.

Since 2003, I have been a regular contributor to The Pilot, the newspaper of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Over time that committment has expanded to becoming a photographer for Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley's own blog and then last year joining the staff as the full-time reporter.

For the last year, I have tried to keep the Web site fairly current with items and news, but looking back it was not really done so good. My only defense is that I have been pulled away in other directions. In the last year those directions included research on a book about Charles W. Whittlesey, and six weeks of active-duty training with the Army.

Now, I being pulled away from everything.

Since 2000, I have been a member of the Army Reserve, where I am a photojournalist with a combat historian designator.

In March, my unit the 311th Military History Detachment deploys to Iraq. We will collect first-person accounts, other primary sources and artifacts for future military historians researching our victory there. It is a mission I have been preparing for since June when I was put on stand-by as the alternative for the 54th MHD.

The editors of The Pilot have asked me to send them back "Soldier's Diary" pieces, which I will do from time-to-time, but given the operational tempo I expect, there is no way I can even pretend to maintain this site. It is better to finish it off here, and look at it again when I get back.

I thought this would be difficult, but the other day it just seemed obvious.

Good bye.

Comments

[Robert Winters]

Best of luck, Neil.

I hope that my own efforts writing about civic affairs in Cambridge don't "reach some kind of terminus" anytime soon. When other responsibilities have tugged me away from civic writing, I just did less with the Cambridge Civic Journal. Unlike you, I never tried to do something like a full-blown newspaper with reporters and advertisers, and this was an intentional choice. Like Clint Eastwood once said, "A man has to know his limitations." I knew when I got started back in 1999 that I was not the kind of person who could stick to a regular schedule with deadlines. I've always kept my goals small and achievable - not surprising since for me it was always about self-expression and sharing what I had learned about civic and political affairs over the years, and never about building a large readership or crowning kings.

It's something of a paradox that in Cambridge, a place that everyone still associates with political activism and civic engagement, there are fewer newspapers, newsletters, civic-oriented websites, blogs, and civic organizations than in cities and towns much smaller than Cambridge. I still plug away at the Cambridge Civic Journal when I have a spare moment, but with the dimming of the lights at The Alewife, the civic universe here has shrunk once more. The Cambridge Day, a noble but doomed attempt at a daily newspaper a few years back, lasted barely a month. Before that there was Marty Connor's Cambridge Candle which lasted only two or three issues. Bill Cunningham's The Bridge also appears to have vanished.

Perhaps with all the rhetoric of the new administration in Washington we'll see a few people actually try a little civic engagement again back here at the local level. Most of what I've seen over the years is either reactive (like when a development proposal appears) or political (in the sense of promoting a particular political candidate). Cambridge is actually a desert when it comes to actual civic engagement.

So, thanks again Neil for helping to enliven the civic landscape over the last few years.

[neil w. mccabe]

Robert,
I am not sure if mentor is the right word, but throughout the endeavor I relied on you many times, credited and uncredited, for insight and perspective. Having you write a column for the paper was a sort of imprimatur for what we were trying to do. Your research and analysis of the city's politcs in without peer. I am very glad to see you will keep trucking with the Cambridge Civic Journal.

It was a good three years. Thank you for your part in making it so.
--Neil.

[Christopher S. Pineo]

Neil,

I am sure mentor is the right word. I told a friend a few weeks ago, the list of people who actually believe in me is short. You have been my steadfast friend and colleague. I thank you for being at the top of that list. Godspeed my mentor.

Cheers,
Chris