My column for the May-June newsletter concluded with a suggestion that City Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty, assigned by Mayor Wheeler to oversee the Office of Community & Civic Life, consider utilizing newsletters like this one as a resource in assessing neighborhood association “inclusion and accountability” (her phraseology), since association newsletters are replete with information about outreach initiatives, livability-enhancement projects, and community enrichment activities. So far no response from the commissioner—though perhaps not all that surprising given that she would have had to be reading our newsletter in the first place to access the suggestion. What I should have done in hindsight, and now plan to do—especially in light of new leadership at Civic Life following the mid-May departure of Director Suk Rhee—is to e-mail the commissioner directly.
Yet another epiphany of sorts emanating from the May-June Editor’s Notes column is that quotation marks can be problematical. Yes, quotation marks. It was pointed out to me that my use of quotation marks around “inclusion and accountability” and “racist” could be construed as indicative of prejudice—not only on my part, but even worse, on the part of the Association as a whole. However, such an interpretation would be a misinterpretation and a perilous one at that. Far from signifying prejudicial motive, the quotation marks in question were used to quote remarks made by Commissioner Hardesty at a town hall Zoom forum and by Director Rhee at a Portland City Club speech (in which she vilified the neighborhood association system as “racist”). The “inclusion and accountability” quotation marks also serve to indicate “buzz words for neighborhood association activists still reeling from a litany of accusatory generalizations by Rhee and Eudaly.” (excerpted from the May-June column).
That said, and with the expression “Live and learn!” as a guide, I found this questioning of quotation marks scenario to be instructive—specifically, and perhaps most obviously, that the amateur editor of this newsletter would do well to look before leaping into his use of quotation marks, lest unintended consequences result—and, likewise, that a reader inferring bad intentions based on quotation mark usage would do well to look before leaping into speculative accusations, lest integrity be unfairly impugned. Indeed, judging others should be based on content of character, not conjecture.
Journalistically, an aspirational bottom line for me as well as for my newsletter team colleagues is that content be grounded in factual evidence, sound in composition, and in accord with board decisions. Yet despite layers of collective scrutiny by our punctilious team, mistakes get past us from time to time, and when that happens, we look to readers for accountability. Accordingly, if you pick up on an inaccuracy or questionable fact, let me know (editor@bwnapdx.org) and, upon corroboration, count on an apology, correction, and thanks from yours truly in the next Editor’s Notes column.
BWNA extends a warm welcome to three new advertisers: mortgage broker Jad Hamdan (see ad on page 12), Neighborhood Art Show organizer Andrea Lopez (see ad on page 14), and Irvington Preschool (see ad on page 11).