He Said, She Said, We Said: Introduction

He Said, She Said, We Said

by Michael Maynard and Mercedes Olivera

Introduction:

Mercedes Olivera and Michael Maynard became friends through mutual friends on Facebook. As fellow journalists/writers/columnists/political junkies, they bonded over discussing the news of the day. While they ultimately do share many of the same liberal/progressive ideas on politics and current events, their backgrounds and experiences are so different that the discussions on how they formed those opinions became much more interesting than the events themselves. Mercedes is a Southwestern Latina non-practicing Catholic female. Michael is a Northeastern Italian agnostic male. Her background is in education and journalism. His is in business management, with writing as a side venture. She’s currently a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. He has been a columnist for the Washington Post/Newsweek syndicate.

What he said and she said becomes what we said:

Michael Maynard: Mercedes, what I found most interesting about you was the seriousness and the integrity of what you wrote. When I read your columns, I know that you’ve put a lot of thought and consideration into what you write. The ability and desire to write and write well is so rare these days.

Writing well is much more typing putting words with proper grammar. Writing well as a columnist is much more than just stating an opinion. I have a saying: Opinions are like noses, everybody has one. But noses are like opinions, when infected they shouldn’t be blown in public. To be a responsible columnist means not infecting the readers with half-formed, non-factual opinions based upon playing upon the prejudices, biases and emotions of the readers. Often it means educating the readers to your level of understanding. Often it means making statements or forming opinions that aren’t popular. The hardest to write, is the column that tells politicians, opinion leaders and the readership to calm down - this too shall pass. That’s the one based upon your experience and wisdom. Santyana was correct: there is little new under the sun, except the history you haven’t learned. We both have perspective, based upon experience and history. We’re not so caught up in the here and now, that we don’t consider the who, what, when, where and especially, why and how events came to pass. And we have A LOT of events going on.

Mercedes Olivera: Michael, what caught my eye were your comments on Facebook threads -- always well-researched, cogent, and with a long look at history. That's what we journalists are: contemporary historians. We chronicle today's events with an eye on our history in order to put it into context. What we live today affects the future -- our families, our profession, our planet.

We've seen over and over that the past is prologue, and too often we suffer from amnesia. It's even more difficult to remember facts and public pronouncements when politicians practice revisionism for self-serving reasons.

That's why you're right when you say that to be a responsible columnist means educating the readers. We educate with the hope that we all understand our place in history, and that each one of us is called, sooner or later, to exercise our responsibilities as Americans -- as estadounidenses, especially.

And never has history demanded more from us as Americans, as journalists, than today.

Michael: Does history demand more or do we demand more of ourselves? It’s nice to think that what we write will be read and reviewed by future generations. I go back and read what our predecessors, Steffens, Mencken, Royko, Ivins, and the other great columnists, wrote. There was an urgency to what they wrote because they knew what they wrote had influence because of the power of their written words. What they wrote still applies today.

I think we extend that tradition because we are aware of the tradition of great columnists influencing the events of the times. There are a few great columnists today, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times being my favorite, but getting people to read is the first challenge. Getting people to read the news is the second. Getting people to read informed opinion and analysis of that news is the third. If you don’t know the why’s and how’s behind events, you’ll never be able to influence or change them.

I like the concept that we’re being current historians. I suggest, at the same time, we’re also being custodians of the past traditions bringing them into the present.

Mercedes: Does history demand more or do we demand more of ourselves?" Does it make a difference, Michael? Whether it's history or life or our own character, we end up shaping the world around us by our actions. And actions have consequences, as we well know. As journalists, we're there to remind public officials whose actions affect the public welfare of those consequences.

I don't aspire to greatness when I write my columns. I simply aspire to be a fair and accurate voice for the voiceless -- especially those who still believe in the American Dream and work hard to achieve it for themselves and their children. I've always pictured myself as a bridge between two cultures -- the Mexican-American one that I grew up in, and the mainstream U.S. culture that I also grew up in.

Being bilingual and bicultural gives you a unique perspective on your own society. You can see the distorted stereotypes that abound in mass media, and how your words can either reinforce or help change the image that many Americans have of a people who look like your grandmother or your parents.

But it's a two-way street. Latinos, like all immigrants to this country, reinvigorate our American identity and institutions. And our institutions, in turn, absorb, mold, and shape us into Americans.

We Said: