In fact, many have
asked - about my column, that is. For 14 years I covered politics, development, business and many other facets of life in
a region of southern California that includes Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, LaCanada Flintridge, Montrose and Los Angeles.
In its latest incarnation, my column was called "As if you asked." Simultaneously throughout those years, and for six years
before that, I've also been a freelance journalist with work appearing in a wide variety of publications, running the gamut
from the LA Weekly in Los Angeles, to SIGNAL in Germany. To illustrate the variety, I investigated a scandal surrounding the installation
of a Job Corps site in Minneapolis, and I completed one of the last interviews of conductor / musician / activist Leonard
Bernstein before his death.
As of this writing it has been the better part of a year since my column
appeared twice weekly in local editions with the Los Angeles Times,
and I continue to hear from supporters, colleagues and friends urging me to get back into writing a column. Virtually every
day I get a call, or run across a stranger at the grocery store, or when I'm picking up my kids from school. They typically
begin with a kind remark, then offer assessments of the current state of the newspapers I last wrote for. Invariably, the
subject turns to questions about where I'm writing now, and when I'll cover one issue or another that they want to hear more
about.
Unfortunately, returning to a twice-weekly column just isn't possible these
days. I've long enjoyed some success in feature and television writing. The acting career my column distracted me from 14
years ago has been newly invigorated. And those spurts of activity have been punctuated with an interview series in
Washington, D.C. for television, and a few freelance pieces covering issues far outside municipal circles. (The recall and
Schwarzenegger's win may be embarrassments for the state of California, as well as craven, partisan abuses of the
system - and of voter ignorance. But the fiasco has been a boon for wiseass political writers!)
Frankly, when I talk to those who call, or who stop me in the milk aisle,
I actually feel guilty trying to explain I'm quite happy without writing a column. The idea of trying to put it back on my
plate now makes me groan.
All that said, I admit that every once in a while something pops to mind
that I think warrants a column. Sometimes it's a scandal, or a political event, or even just an amusing episode at home. It
was when I confessed that to a close friend that I was reminded of the now-ubiquitous world wide web, someplace
I could offer a column once every month, or once every day, depending how the spirit and the workload moved me. In a
spine tingling example of serendipity, someone came along the very next day expressing an interest in paying the freight for
such an endeavor as a sponsor, including a respectable income for me. I have agreed to the the as-yet-unnamed sponsor's minimum
of one column each month. In theory, there will be more than that as time allows.
And so, like it or not, and as if you asked, here I am.
Will Rogers
PS: If you would spread the word, and pass along to others the URL for this site, I'd appreciate
it.
