Date: July 13, 2006.
Topic: A boy who was born with retinitis pigmentosa is learning how to live for when he eventually goes blind. Clear-eyed Sammy sees an opportunity to tug our heart strings … and interview a cane?!
Originality: 8/10 For once, "And-1" Fulwood throws up something other than a brick.
Difficulty: 6/10 Pro: Sammy left his house and has the descriptions of the great outdoors to prove it. Con: Still only manages two sources, unless you count the cane.
Sam Gets Poetic: Tap … Thud? … tap! Yes, ladies and gentleman, The Great Master actually quoted the cane that the blind boy uses. In fact, the cane got more quotes than anybody else in the story.
The Master Has Spoken: "At night, it's worse, best compared to what a sighted person experiences when going abruptly from glaring sunlight into a pitch-black theatre." A theatre where people do not stop talking back to the screen, and where there is a heartbreaking lack of Sourpatch Kids.
What Sam Reveals About Sam: Although he struggles with the whole "interviewing people" part of his job, Son of Sam has a knack for understanding the inner feelings of inanimate objects. Look for future columns in which we hear the cane's opinion on the Mexican election.
CliffsNotes Version: Tap . . . tap . . . tap! That, dear reader, is the sound of a blind man's cane, which I know because I went outside. Behold: a tree-shaded suburban neighborhood that is not my office! There's a kid who's going blind who is going to have a challenge almost as difficult as writing my column twice this week, so I really feel for him. He briefly gets lost, but finds his way again, which is a metaphor for how I feel every Monday and Wednesday, when I sit down to write and realize I have absolutely nothing to say. Oh yeah, the Cleveland Sight Center has an upcoming event, which is why I got the press release that inspired this column.
Fulwood Watch
This week, Sammy digs into local politics . . . in Mexico!
Headline:
Mexico fights political cynicism
Date: July 6, 2006.
Topic: Hola! El Fulwood Tres — or as he is known South of the Border, “The Conquistador” — offers his opinion on the presidential election in Mexico. Ole!
Originality: 3/10 — A lesser man would have looked at the word “Metro” at the top of the page and assumed he had to report on something within his city, county, or state. Not The Conquistador! His beat knows no borders!
Difficulty: 6/10 — Sam interviews two people . . . who speak Spanish! Exhausted from the Herculean effort, Fulwood pretty much turns the column into a Q&A, thus avoiding the part of the job every writer hates: writing. If only he could have found an illegal immigrant to do this shit for him.
Sam Gets Poetic: “Dedazo, said Victor.” Dedazo apparently means the index finger, which Sam labors to explain for 600 words. Here’s how it’s used in a sentence: “Asked who is the worst columnist in America, God pointed his dedazo at Sam Fulwood III.”
The Master Has Spoken: “And like American voters who were mesmerized by the razor-thin Gore v. Bush election that triggered still-simmering anger and required court battles . . .” Aw, fuck it. He’s just filling space.
What Sam Reveals About Sam: He’s the Chris Matthews of Mexican politics. “You’re playing la pelota de dura!”
CliffsNotes Version: If all politics is local, then what’s happening in Mexico must have something to do with Northeast Ohio. I found a couple immigrants — legal, thank you very much — and asked them about South of the Border politics. Turns out it’s just as rigged as our system. Local angle! Goooooaaaaaaallll!
Fulwood Watch: Breaking News!
Sam actually goes to Cleveland, interviews people!
Headline: Merchants, students find street is 2-way
By Sam Fulwood III
Date: Thursday, June 29
Topic: Coming off of his column about a conversation with a Tampa columnist (see next item), readers were expecting a follow-up column about that columnist’s reaction to Fulwood’s column about their conversation. But something strange happened between Tuesday and Thursday: Sam — gasp! — left his house.
Someone apparently tipped Sam off to a two-year-old beef that involved three of Sammy’s favorite topics: young black kids, old crackers, and coffee. Some kids at Life Skills Center, a charter school on Larchmere Boulevard, were causing trouble when the school opened two years ago. Of course, all that’s behind them now. But that Tampa Bay dude apparently wouldn’t return Sam’s calls, so two-year-old drama would have to do.
Originality: 2/10. The idea was stale, but he didn’t use any of his colleagues’ reporting, or any readers’ e-mails.
Difficulty: 64/10. Sure, the school is only a mile and a half from Fulwood’s Shaker Heights home. But he had to cross the border into Cleveland, an activity known to make him break out in hives. Plus, he appears to have conducted at least three interviews, breaking his previous record by three. Can Sam’s heart take all this activity?
Sam Gets Poetic: “Some fears and stereotypes dissolved as young and old, black and white, students and neighbors got to know each other.” Last year.
The Master Has Spoken: “A class in urban living is in session up and down Larchmere. It’s an example of what must happen across Cleveland.” Or so he hears from his friends who’ve been there more than once.
What Sam Reveals About Sam: Amazingly, nothing. All the quotes from people he actually interviewed don’t leave much room for the usual extensive rumination on all things Sam. Seriously, what the hell is going on? Did they screw up and run an old Connie Schultz column under Sam’s picture?
CliffsNotes Version: Don’t be alarmed, dear reader, but I left my house for this one. I needed a latte, and it turned out this coffee shop by the house also brews instant column ideas. So here ya go:
In the beginning, there was beef. The black kids smoked blunts, cussed, and spit on the sidewalk. The white business owners, not blunt smokers themselves, didn’t like this. They blamed black kids for their street’s demise.
But over time, the kids realized smoking blunts in public probably wasn’t a good idea. And the business owners realized the black kids might make good cheap labor, and wouldn’t scare off customers like they originally feared. So everyone made nice. The street’s demise is still inevitable, since it’s in Cleveland. But no one’s blaming the black kids. Amen.
Next week: I go back to the coffee shop for a follow-up column about how the black kids felt about this column.
Fulwood Watch: We Read Fulwood So You Won't Have To
Sammy continues his shutout streak against originality.
By Sam Fulwood III
Date: Tuesday, June 27
Topic: Tre Sammy was on vacation last week, which usually means searing tales from his latest trip to North Carolina. But the elusive III goes paradigm shift, instead busting out his take on Cleveland's chances of landing the 2008 Republican National Convention. Go, Sammy, go!
Alas, the Fulmeister doesn't actually have any thoughts of his own on this matter. So he calls a columnist in Tampa to get his take! (It's called getting someone else to do your work, people. Listen and learn. ) The Tampa guy seems to be Fulwood: Florida Edition. His half-baked conclusion: Cleveland is the front-runner over NYC, Minneapolis, and Florida because -- gasp! -- we don't have hurricanes! Memo to convention bureau: Republicans apparently don't like hurricanes.
Originality: 0/10. Sammy continues his shutout streak against originality.
Difficulty: 0/10. Sam actually interviews a guy, but it's only another columnist. That makes it incest. Which makes Sam some kinda pervert. Do not trust this man around small children.
Sam Gets Poetic: "And that means the other two cities don't have the proverbial chance of snow cones in Hades." Notice how he changes "snowball" and "hell" to "snow cones" and "Hades" to freshen up the cliché? Try busting some of that shit, Regina Brett!
The Master Has Spoken: "In an earlier column, I said it was a slam dunk for Tampa to get the GOP convention." Translation: As you surely recall from previous studies of my work . . .
What Sam Reveals About Sam: The III continues to work on his Regular Guy bona fides. A few weeks ago, he claimed to know a guy who drinks beer outta the can. This week, Sam continues to work his new party dog image. "I would love to sample those bars -- I mean cover the GOP convention -- without having to leave town." Bartender, a wine spritzer, please!
CliffsNotes Version: Ah Christ. I just got back from vacation. Should I do another North Carolina column . . .? Maybe I could write something about my rental car . . . Holiday Inn pools aren't what they used to be, but I think Feagler already did that one . . . I got it! I could call that Tampa guy . . .
Fulwood Watch: Sam Mails It in Again
The great master discovers that Œyoung people' like the internet!
'Citizen Journalists' in Media's Future?
By Sam Fulwood III
Date: June 15, 2006
Topic: It's a time-honored columnist's trick: Whenever you don't want to write, simply run a series of letters you've received in response to a previous "effort." (It's called recycling, people. Remember, Sam's a progressive). In today's adventure, readers chime in about Sam's column on the future of journalism, which unfortunately includes him.
Difficulty: 2/10. This one required several tasks Sam is known to despise and once attempted to have removed from his job description. They include checking his e-mail, using the phone, and talking about things other than "Sammy F."
Originality: 0/10. Sam decides to weigh in on a debate that's 15 years old. Best boldly unoriginal line: "I fretted that young people seem to prefer pixilated communications over traditional ink-on-paper." In other words, Sam reveals that "young people" like the internet.
Sam Gets Poetic: N/A. The rules of the SF3 Remix allow other people to do the talking. Sam just fills the space between their quotes and calls it a day.
The Master Has Spoken: "Most of the more than 500 people who responded by e-mail, letter or phone agreed with me." As usual.
What Sam Reveals About Sam: Despite the grueling nature of the job -- which sometimes requires him to actually leave the house -- Sam likes his job. When a college kid tells Sam he wants to have "a long career at a newspaper," Sam writes: "So do I, Kevin. So do I." Apparently it hasn't been long enough.
CliffsNotes version: Honestly, I tweaked my back yesterday when I was patting it, so I wasn't really up to getting out of bed today. But I've got all these e-mails here from that one column I wrote about the internet and news. So I'll just print those. Robert in Oberlin likes to read me in newsprint. Peter prefers the web. Tim in Avon Lake envisions a future wherein my greatness will be read only online. Kevin the Kent State student wants to be a big-shot journalist like me. And who can blame him? Nap time!
Sam Recycles for John Marshall
By Sam Fulwood III
Date: June 13, 2006
Topic: Sam recycles his graduation speech to the kids at John Marshall High. International War Tribunal now debating whether to charge him with crimes against humanity.
Difficulty: 0/10. Reprinting a graduation speech is the journalistic equivalent of forwarding email.
Sam Gets Poetic: "So instead of tossing clichéd platitudes to the graduates, I want to celebrate those who will soak up every second of this night like a dry sponge absorbs water on the kitchen counter."
The Master Has Spoken: "I suspect you probably won't remember much of what I say anyway."
What Sam Reveals About Sam: When he was waiting to collect his diploma 30 years ago, he was thinking, "Let's get this over, because there's a party somewhere and I want to get there." Sam later had two beers and threw up on his girlfriend, who dumped him for the president of the A/V Club.
CliffsNotes version: I was invited to give a speech to 282 graduates of John Marshall High School. But there's no way I was gonna do that and write an original column this week! So I figured I'd just reprint the address I gave. Here goes: You dumb kids don't care what I'm saying, so I'm gonna speak to your parents. John Donne once said something smart, which will save me the trouble of writing an original paragraph. You kids gotta pay taxes and vote. Life is hard for people who don't have sweet columnist gigs. Congrats, class of 2006, now where's my honorarium?
Sam Denounces Opposition to Gay Marriage
By Sam Fulwood III
Date: June 8, 2006
Topic: Sam boldly pens an open letter to Bush denouncing the president's opposition of gay marriage.
Difficulty: 0/10. Fullwood doesn't interview anyone, and grants anonymity to the two purported "friends" he writes about.
Sam Gets Poetic: "He's invited me to worship at his church, where we prayed for tolerance, respect and dignity for all mankind." God responded with a form letter saying Sam's prayer was being processed, and that He would provide a "formal response and/or miracle within 90 business days."
The Master Has Spoken: "I write you because I suspect you don't know many men like me, who are secure enough in their masculinity to say they love other men." Message to reader: Sam Fulwood is a highly unique and evolved individual.
What Sam Reveals About Sam: Cleveland's reigning metrosexual is actually down with the people, since he has a friend who is a "manly man." Together, they once drank beers "back to back" while watching "ball games" in what Sam describes as a "male-bonding orgy that lasted an entire weekend." In other words, he once behaved like a normal Clevelander.
CliffsNotes Version: I love other men, but that doesn't make me a homo. I once enjoyed a wine spritzer while watching a sporting event with a buddy who drank beer. Out of the can. It was so exciting! I'm so much of a man that I actually met a homo on an airplane once and didn't switch seats. In fact, I've gotten to be good friends with him. He even invited me to dinner and church. To be perfectly honest, I have developed such a close friendship with this swishy gentleman that I often mention him in my columns when I want to prove how much of a man I am (Hey, Steve!). Did I mention I've been married to a woman for 22 years? Yup, I'm a real man. A man who's not afraid to sit next to gay guys on airplanes.
