Red Room Where the Writers Are

Okay Gentle Readers. Yes, I'm doing two political blogs in a row, but here's why. Amy Goodman was arrested yesterday. For what? Doing her job.

            For those of you that don't know who Amy Goodman is, let me tell you about her. Seven years ago after 9/11 there were times I just didn't want to get up in the morning. I would turn on the radio and there was a woman telling stories I never heard of, stories of mothers going to Afghanistan to see what the country was like after we declared war, of a gentleman who lost his insurance and it looked like he was going to die. This woman had a strong powerful voice, yet was calm when she told these sad stories. I found out this woman's name was Amy Goodman.

            Amy Goodman was a Harvard graduate in 1984, wondering what she was going to do next in her life. She was brought up by two lefties who taught her to walk the walk and talk the talk. Speak for the underdog and never give up the good fight. Trust me that probably wasn't easy to do right in the Reagan era. However, Goodman found a home at the radio station WBAI in New York, where she learned how to broadcast her thoughts. Soon she had a morning show and in 1996, she had her own show called Democracy Now! She tried to give voice to the voiceless, and she developed a cult following. She held everyone's feet to the fire, especially Bill Clinton in 2000. To read the transcript of this call, go here:

            http://www.democracynow.org/2001/2/9/clinton_put_on_the_record

            To know Goodman is to know she doesn't suffer fools gladly. If Tim Russert was hard on people he interviewed, listening to DN makes you realize that Tim Russert was asking softball questions such as "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?"  She plays tough, and gets results. She talked about the Jena Six long before people could find it on a map.

            I mentioned before with my late friend Kathryn loved Amy Goodman. At her memorial service, several people mentioned that you didn't call Kathryn during 9 to 10, because that was when Amy was on.

            The past two weeks, Goodman has been covering the political conventions. According to the Washington Post, Goodman found out that two of DN's producers were arrested for "suspicion of rioting." Goodman ran over to see what was happening, and she was grabbed and taken away in a police car. She was released, but her two colleagues are still in jail.

            Okay. Now in no way I can consider myself a serious journalist. I'm in the Erma Bombeck/Adair Lara school of reporting. I like to tell funny/sad stories of my life. I like to chat about soap operas, books, and gossip. However, when something like this happens, I get a little angry. All she was doing was trying to find out what happened with her colleagues. She did not deserve to be grabbed at and treated like a common criminal. Yes I understand that the police have to do their job, but when a journalist is arrested for no good reason, this frightens me.

            Goodman was released tonight. However, her colleagues are still in jail and there might be charges pending in her case. I am putting the video where she is arrested in my media section. If you want to see how you can help, go to http://www.democracynow.org/ and see what you can do. For me, writing this blog is helping, and I'll share one of my favorite Amy Goodman quotes from you all:

            "Going to where the silence is. That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful."