Since starting this myspace page I've done a pretty good job on keeping opinions to myself just because I'm not here to bitch and piss people off. But after reading this week's Pittsburgh city paper I realized how much I miss having a good weekly paper, a paper that actually has articles that are interesting.
I always read the
Pittsburgh city paper because thats where I'm from and they do a great job on writing about their art scene, music scene, political, local etc. This week's feature story was on foster parents. They put a dyke couple on the front cover who are considering being foster parents. They also ran a story on them a couple months earlier when they opened up their coffee shop.
The city has really come around so much since I moved away and they run a lot of queer stories that have to do with the scene there, the political climate and just different community members. I miss the days when I would get coffee at the local cafe and just sit down to read through a whole entire paper.
I don't really have a problem with the local papers here not putting a dyke couple or a gay couple on the cover. My problem is substance or the lack of.
Pulse Weekly's big thing is "Model of the Week". Wow! Great fucking job. You just gave a bunch of Lehigh college frat kids beat off material. Why can't they do artist of the week or restaurant of the week or something of value where we can actually sit and read what is happening up the street at the local gallery, coffee shop or theatre.
I don't even know why advertisers waste money placing their ads in there. I basically sift through to find an event. I don't even notice the ads. Oh and then they go around to bars and have a whole middle feature with fun bar pictures of sweaty dudes next to girls in bikinis holding beers.
Awesome!
Now,
Lehigh Valley Metromix has their bartender of the week! Yes that's right, make sure you pick the paper up to see who the bartender of the week is. Oh yeah and in small letters perhaps you can find an event or two. The one thing I'll give Metromix is the website has restaurants, bars and things to do in there area. It seems a lot more put together then their paper.
It would be fun to recruit people and start our own paper. I designed a local arts guide and all you really need is people who will pay for ad space, some really good articles, writers and you find a printer. I know it's a lot more work then that but perhaps some day it could happen.
Until then I'll keep reading the other city papers online.