[Vision2020] Gossip/rumor (was: My marvelous expertise)

[Joan Opyr]

On 31 Oct 2005, at 07:44, Art Deco wrote:

> Joan, et al,
>  
> Of practical significance is the question of Donovan's effect on 
> the Mayor's race in the oncoming Moscow election?
>  
> How many votes will it cost front-runner Peg Hamlett to have Donovan's 
> support?
>  
> How many votes will Nancy Chaney gain because of Donovan's 
> bad-mouthing of her and his viciously persistent, argumentative style 
> in support of Ms. Hamlett?
>  
> We all learned a lesson about Donovan's political effect on those he 
> supports from Linda Pike's last campaign.
>
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> deco at moscow.com


Interesting questions, Wayne, and ones I've been wondering about 
myself.  Thanks for asking them.  Thanks also for giving me the 
opportunity to say something that's been on my mind ever since the 
ridiculous hoo-hah over "mudslinging" in the mayoral race began on 
Vision 2020.  The question has been asked, "Who is gossiping about Peg 
Hamlett's past?"  The answer is simple: EVERYONE.  For heaven's sake, 
this is a town of 23,000, counting UI's students.  Everyone knows (or 
think they know) everyone else's business.  Doug Farris has referred to 
me as "Rose Huskey's boarder."  Am I Rose Huskey's boarder?  No.  Does 
Mr. Ferret know thing one about my living arrangements with the Huskey 
family?  No, again.  He's merely speculating and, in the process, he's 
revealing exactly what his masters at Christ Church speculate.  
Fascinating.  You'd think they'd have something better to do.

I first heard stories about Peg Hamlett and her UPS route when I moved 
here 12 years ago.  Did I give a rat's ass then?  No.  Do I give a 
rat's ass now?  No.  Peg's past is Peg's past; she might be interested 
in what she did or didn't do, but I'm not.  You show me a 
self-proclaimed saint, and I'll show you a lying sack of shit.  I have 
spoken with Peg a number of times, we've emailed one another on 
occasion, and she is, in my opinion, a sharp, friendly, personable 
woman.  I don't care what she did or didn't do in her youth; I only 
care what she plans to do with Moscow in the future.  That's it.  
Unless she's a fugitive from justice -- or she knows what really 
happened to Jimmy Hoffa -- I don't see the relevance to the current 
gossip.

But I think it's disingenuous to speculate about who all is spreading 
the stories.  We are ALL spreading them, each and every time we bring 
up the subject.  This, alas, is how small towns work.  We talk about 
one another in the way that people in larger cities talk about the plot 
twists in "Desperate Housewives."  Everytime I meet someone new, I come 
home and we try to figure out if he or she went to high school with one 
of my in-laws, or if his or her cousin's mother is related to Family X. 
  We are forever putting our fellow citizens into context, establishing 
where and how they fit into this small, tightly-woven, nosy little 
community.  It's what makes life in Moscow charming; it's also what 
makes life in Moscow annoying.  But I wouldn't trade our busy-body town 
for the whole of New York City -- and that's after eating the best 
bagels and lox in the history of humankind.

Give me Moscow.  I love this place.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com

PS: Peg, if you're reading this, I hope I haven't offended you.  My 
theory is that gossip is best dealt with out in the open.  Nothing 
kills a rumor quicker than exposure to the bright light of day -- or, 
in view of this morning's weather, exposure to a good, clean rain.  I 
wish you well in the mayoral race; I wish Nancy Chaney well.  I can't 
vote in city elections (as Donovan has pointed out, ad infinitum), but 
I care about the future of this town, and I believe I can say with 
confidence that so do you and Nancy.

Oh, and Randy Blanton, too.  Randy -- are you out there?  Give me a 
call!  I'm in the book -- under Huskey.  (Wonder why that is, eh, Doug 
Farris?)
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