Volume 2, No. 20. October 25, 2002
Eric's Turn
Divine
intervention
I received an E-mail recently from a reader wondering where I got my quotes.
The question puzzled me at first because quoting people in my articles is second-nature
to me, a 29-year newspaper and magazine veteran. Plus, in THE LOOP and Extra!
Extra! I give attributions to all my quotes, which I obtain mostly in interviews
and occasionally from statements or other news sources.
Then I realized this reader was coming at me from his World Wide Web experiences.
So much of what is posted on Web sites, even those purporting to be news, are
taken from other Internet or print sources without attribution or are merely
rumors and hearsay presented without proper context or verification. When I
began posting THE LOOP in February, 2001, I came at it not as a Web weenie but
as a tried-and-true journalist, with all original material gathered and written
in the standards that are second-nature to me via training and experience. Others
have done the same in other subject matters, but on the whole I guess it was
a novelty for Web browsers. I believe our kind is growing on the Internet, however,
including in this industry (more competition for THE LOOP, but overall good
for the information-starved attractions industry).
Another question I field more often is, where do I get my stories? Again, it’s
the common lot of the journalist covering a specific beat. Some come to me as
press releases and announcements, some are calls or E-mails from sources, some
I pick up on my travels, and some I get from reading a wide range of newspapers,
newsmagazines, web sites and other news mediums that report on stories with
amusement industry angles.
Then there are the stories that emerge from living life, the synergistic kind.
These are the most fun because often they entail a topic I have a natural affinity
for, and they seem to take on a life of their own.
This
edition of THE LOOP has one such story, and it’s been, frankly, one of
the most fun and most interesting I’ve ever done in my 29 years in the
profession.
Sarah and I are baseball fans. We travel the country (and someday, the world)
visiting Major League and Minor League baseball parks. Along with our deep appreciation
of the sport, going to baseball games in the many different communities around
the continent is a great way to experience all the many facets of America. We’ve
also gathered quite a collection of baseball gear, including 118 hats from every
team we've visited.
Naturally, we have been watching the Major League playoffs. During the divisional
playoffs when views of Anaheim’s Edison Field awash in monkeys first appeared
on the television screen, I was flabbergasted. I had never heard of the Rally
Monkey; all I knew was that here was a stadium packed with people carrying the
kind of plush doll monkeys I get at the American Zoo and Aquarium Association
annual conferences. Could I turn such a connection into an angle for a story
in THE LOOP? I wondered.
Long shot though that notion was, I started calling my good sources at zoos
around Southern California. At first I was met with “Huh?” Here seemed
clear evidence that Eric Minton was a bit delusional, and those who didn’t
follow baseball were questioning whether my birthplace really was Earth. Within
a couple of days, though, these same sources started getting hounded by the
mainstream press, and their own research into Rally Monkey fervor as it impacted
their facilities increased their own astonishment. Meanwhile, for me the breadth
of the story kept expanding. Every time I thought I would hit a dead end with
a courtesy call to an attraction, another monkey tale emerged.
The story was even fun to write (most of us professional writers hate writing;
we love “having written” but we’re not too keen on the tumultuous
mental process we go through to get to that point) and it lent itself to a wonderful
title. Then, in the solitude of my office, writing the article on my computer,
the story attained yet another synergetic level. I happened to be listening
to the Beatles BBC recordings, and just as I was finishing up the story I suddenly
realized what song was playing: “Too Much Monkey Business.”
OK, perhaps the story is too long. I’m a lot like your park and zoo guests;
I don’t want to see the fun end.
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
All rights reserved