I’m here, bloggers. I’ve been in Portland, Ore., since last Thursday, attending the annual convention of the Association of Alternative Newspapers. More about that later. I went to a panel discussion led by three behemoth bloggers and/or journalists: Arianna Huffington, Matt Taibbi, and Jane Hamsher.

Of the three, I would highly recommend Taibbi, a political editor for Rolling Stone who made his name with deeply insightful (and hysterically funny) coverage of the 2004 Bush/Kerry presidential race. Not to mention that Taibbi came off with a couple of ounces of humility about himself and his work, which honestly, the other two did not.

Anyway, the topic was how bloggers and other alternative media might bring a little Tabasco to the 2008 presidential election. I asked the three of them a question about Mitt Romney and that Mormon thing. I told the crowd that here in Utah, mainstream reporters have lost all bladder control about Mitt and the possibility that a guy who spent six minutes in our state might become president (yeah, when H-E-double hockey sticks freezes over). I mentioned how his Mormonism crops up in every story, from Newsweek to The Salt Lake Tribune, and did these experts think religion would play a big role in the upcoming race?

Hamsher pushed her bangs out of her eyes a couple of times and said she isn’t interested in religion in politics and that a person’s faith shouldn’t matter. Huffington encouraged all the altie journalists at the convention to take up that topic in their own papers. Taibbi appeared to want to weigh in, but didn’t get a chance before the next question.

What I found most intriguing, what actually bugged me, was Huffington’s description of a new feature she’ll be offering soon on The Huffington Post. Teaming with New York University journalism professor and blogger Jay Rosen, Huffington will start “Off The Bus” on her site in mid-July. The plan is to round up 100 or so bloggers around the country who can post comments and coverage of the presidential race from a fresh (that is to say non-mainstream media) perspective. “Off The Bus,” as opposed to the official “On The Bus” press corps of the major outlets who get spoonfed everything from campaign operatives, get it?

It’s a great idea, and worthy. And I expect if it’s done well, if the goal is for the “uncovered” story, it will take some interviews and leg work from the bloggers. So here’s the part that bugs me: Huffington was quite clear and proud of the fact that these “citizen bloggers” will get no financial compensation for their efforts. None. See, the way she explained it is it’s a privilege to be part of this big electronic neighborhood and that writers like Jamie Lee Curtis and Nora Ephron, who contribute regularly to The Huffington Post, don’t do it for the money anyway. Well of course not. But if the Off The Bus crew is supposed to be average citizens, doesn’t that mean people like your kid’s third grade teacher, your grocery store checker and the guy who comes to fix your plugged-up sink?

Hey, Arianna! How about walking the walk of the good leftie who talks the need to raise the minimum wage and health care for all and throwing these folks $50 a post? Or $100?

She’s a multi-millionaire, after all, with best-selling books, assorted talk show appearances and a wildly successful blog. Honestly, it just seemed a bit hypocritical to me. If you ask me, it’s downright mainstream newspaper mentality — asking for more but paying less (or in this case, nothing at all).

I’ll post some impressions of the beautiful city of Portland later, including my thoughts — and I hope yours, too — on what Salt Lake City could do to poach a little piece of that grand city to make ours more livable.

I quit the The Salt Lake Tribune last December after nine years of full-time employment as a news reporter, then sports editor, then metro columnist. Naturally, I still hear tidbits of gossip through the local media grapevine. And now that I edit the city’s best alternative newspaper, gossip from my former colleagues flows to me like spring runoff from the Wasatch Mountains.

In the past month, editorial staffers have been leaving the Trib in greater numbers than anyone can remember. In the month of May alone, business writers Carrie Hamilton and Linda Fantin tendered their resignations. Set to leave the paper as well are Michael Westley, a police and justice reporter; Michael Yount, editor of In Utah This Week, the newspaper’s cynical version of an alternative weekly; and Nicole Stricker, an education reporter.

All have given various and fascinating reasons for jumping ship. Fantin is joining her partner, Phil Miller, who quit the Trib’s NBA beat this spring and took a job at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota to cover the Twins and major league baseball. Westley has decided to devote full time to a side business he’s built brokering used cars. Yount, a talented graphic designer who has been badly miscast at In Utah, says he will be leaving to be a full-time dad to a toddler and a new baby due in October. Stricker is returning to Idaho Falls to get married, but will likely leave newspaper work altogether.

Then, the following e-mail landed in my in box on June 1. Actually, I got four copies of it from staffers who asked not to be identified. I tell you, it isn’t just leaks coming out of the Gateway 7th floor office tower. It’s a regular opening of the floodgates.

The resignation notice is from Ryan Galbraith, a longtime staff photographer who did not make his decision lightly. He gave up medical benefits for his young family and has told co-workers he’ll try to build up a freelancing business. It’s almost unheard of for a photographer to leave a newspaper job like this one. When you read Ryan’s e-mail, you might understand the gravity of the situation many people are living at Utah’s largest daily paper.

Colleagues,

Sincerely,
Ryan Galbraith

A former Trib colleague has been keeping track of the resignations and terminations since Media News, under the leadership of Dean Singleton, bought the newspaper and replaced former editor Jay Shelledy with Nancy Conway in 2003. More than 80 people, full- and part-time, have jumped ship.

Managers argue with those numbers. But I’ve seen the list, and I knew the people. All of them. Hell, it’s probably more than 80.

The paper is becoming increasingly “Singletonized,” which in this industry means cutting drastically on compensation and raises, while requiring more time on the job (e.g. contributing to blogs and zoned neighborhood editions without extra pay or comp time) increasing insurance premiums and/or cutting benefits. Ryan’s disgust at a 3 percent raise is typical of many employees at mid-career there. Actually, under the Conway regime, 3 percent is generous. Two and 2 1/2 percent annual raises (if they come at all) are more typical — not even equal to a cost of living increase.

It took a couple of years for the Singleton model to take hold in Salt Lake City. His modus operandi (I watched him gut daily papers in Dallas and Houston in the ’90s) is to cut staff as deeply as possible while defending his penny pinching as “the industry standard.”

And here is where it leads: To a newspaper that will keep losing its best and most loyal employees, who take with them institutional knowledge of Utah’s political, cultural and business institutions and yes, its important and unique nuances.

It’s scarcely a fun place to work anymore, staffers have told me. And in the newspaper biz — known for long hours and low wages — if it isn’t at least a little about fun, why bother?

No kidding, I’m trying to get back up on the blog again.

It’s delightful to feel loved and needed. I’ve received e-mails and yes, a few very pointed comments here as well about my long hiatus from mullentown. Let it be known that the flames from ttstark had nothing to do with my absence. As I told a couple of my correspondents, I’ve had far worse from others and came through that unscathed.

No, I can only tell you that I got meaningfully distracted. I’ve been a little tired, too. And I know myself well enough to realize that meant something had to give. Also, I got a little pulled in other directions — like fussing over my two kids in psychological ways I’m having trouble understanding. I spent a good bit of time shuttling 16-year-old Sam to summer job interviews and helping him learn how to complete a job application and set up a bank account. I flew to Los Angeles last weekend to visit Kit for her 19th birthday. Besides the fun and glory that is L.A. ( I mean that. For all its grit and excess, I do love that city.), I spent close to a full day in a funk once I had kissed her goodbye and walked away. That’s not my way, really. But this was big and I wanted to figure it out.

I’m still not completely sure what it was/is. I know it has something to do with the absolute realization that Kit only needs me now in a distant way. That is, she loves and values me. (Oh, and she often needs money!!) We are extremely close. But she has achieved a major sense of independence in the past year that I had ever only experienced tangentially through friends who have older children. How do I put my finger on this? It’s positively glorious — realizing that I’ve accomplished my goal of competent parenting by rearing a child who can let go and flourish on her own. But now I move on to other work/play/whatever, while still glancing at her over one shoulder.

Yep, I know. It’s such a universal condition as to be cliche. But this morning, while I listen to the much-welcomed rain drizzling then puddling on the front walk outside my kitchen window, I’m still aching a little. It’s a good ache.

So now I focus a bit more on Sam, who has suffered “second-child syndrome” most of his life. That will be fun. He’s more easy-going than his big sister in some ways; rolls with what comes. He laughs easily and has a wicked sense of humor. We are ski buddies and love to watch baseball together.

And there’s Ted. He’s fully retired these days, though the guy always has some project going. Right now it’s fishing in Gardiner, Montana, bicycling in Yellowstone and climbing Electric Peak with two of his 65-plus buddies. We should all work so hard. Ah, I love him like crazy.

So, that’s a personal update if you can stand it. I’m back and I’ll try to post more regularly in between trying to shake up this town with alternative journalism. Thanks for visiting, and I’ll understand if you’ve given up.

… is the theme of the annual Women’s Conference at the College of Eastern Utah in Price. And that is where Ted and I are headed in 30 minutes. Journalism professor Susan Polster asked me several months back to give a keynote address at the conference. I had some sway as a daily newspaper columnist back then. When I mentioned to Susan I had quit the Tribune, she was kind enough to keep the invitation in play. So I’m on the road.

I’ll be talking about all the shoes women have worn through recent history. From house slippers to spike heels, and everything in between. That in between includes running shoes, climbing boots, bike shoes, steel-toed work boots and more. At least in my own case. The point I hope to get across: We can, as women, trace our evolution as a species to a certain degree through the shoes we have worn (and wear).

If the shoe fits. Get it? I thought so. (And a big thank you to Ted Wilson, my speechwriter)

Meanwhile, I’m still shaking my head at the puffball questions our own Sen. Orrin Hatch pitched yesterday at that obfuscating AG Alberto Gonzales. Our senior senator clearly established with his hard-line interrogation that Gonzales has a busy job. A hard job (just like our president). I mean, more than 100,000 employees to supervise. It must be impossible to keep an eye on what all the underlings are doing. Go here for Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke’s, dare I say “acerbic” reporting on the Hatch embarrassment. (Very well-done, Robert. Insightful. I’m surprised your mangers let you get away with such brilliant little digs in the news section!)

I fear Utah will have Hatch in place for life. (At least the rest of his life, anyway) He’s our own homegrown version of Strom Thurmond, but without tangerine-colored hair. Now is the time for the Utah Democrats to start seriously planning for his replacement. 2012 has got to be the year they once and for all bring down Orrin. Has the all-out grooming of Rep. Jim Matheson begun yet? Or Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon?

Namaste. And be sure to pick comfortable shoes today.

Looking at the gaps between recent posts on this blog, I have to ask myself how long I might keep this little project up. I started Mullentown in January, a couple of weeks after quitting my columnist job at The Salt Lake Tribune. It was a way to stay connected, to keep writing, to fight the rust that can set in on an author once she loses her forum/soapbox.

The magic of blogging (besides the freedom) lies in getting return traffic. And return traffic can only come when the blogger keeps her site active. I have been struggling with that.

I’m entering my second full week in a new job. I’m exhausted. Mentally drained. I was afraid after taking off those three months from full-time work that I’d forget how to put in a full day. I was right.

I’m not sure I can keep this site going on a regular basis. I still have scores of ideas for posts, only now I want to pour them into my pieces for City Weekly, or on our own blog.

I’m just letting what remains of my readers know what’s going on. I’m still here, just stretched. Besides, I haven’t been on my road bike in days. I hate it when work gets in the way of life, don’t you?

Try keeping a secret in this town. Salt Lake City may be growing, and changing, and adding a big-ass mall downtown that promises to be life-changing. Still, you can’t keep something about a little job change quiet for long.

Today marks the official start of my new job. Yes, I am the new editor of City Weekly, a 60,000-plus circulation alternative newspaper in Salt Lake City. John Saltas founded the paper 22 years ago. Back then it went by the name Private Eye, which remains the title of Saltas’ regular column at the front of the paper.

We had hoped to break the news on our own deadline, which happens to be today, but so it goes. When Salt Lake Tribune business writer Dawn House called yesterday, I had just finished meeting with my new staff at CW’s very cool Main Street office. (More to come on the cool factor of the CW office) I was sitting in Saltas’ office when Dawn called. It was a hoot. Saltas told her he wasn’t ready to announce my appointment until Wednesday. House, like any decent reporter, refused to give up and demanded the story on her own timetable. I would have demanded the same thing were I in her place.

You go, Dawn.

Not that this is an earth-rattling story. We’re still fighting a miserable and losing war in Iraq, aren’t we? And didn’t the U.S. Supremes just bitch-slap George W. Bush for his administration’s hands-off approach to auto emissions and unbridled greenhouse gases in the environment?

Naturally, most of what I told House ended up on her cutting room floor. She spent an unbelievable amount of newsprint today trying to prove what I think she cosiders a conspiracy behind my predecessor, Ben Fulton, taking a leave of absence. BTW, if Ben chooses to return to CW in some other capacity in four months, I plan on keeping options open for him. But House didn’t ask me about that.

Oh well. I’m not sure she came close to capturing why I want to edit CW, but then most trad news people have never taken such a risk. Working at an altie paper is a total gas, I promise. Much more fun than sitting in press row behind a glass partition, a daily newspaper ID badge dangling from your neck and watching the state Legislature all day.

Here is what I’m looking forward to:

First, I’m back in my ‘hood, right where I belong and love to be. I’ve been a newspaper journalist for 26 years, and spent six of those as a reporter at the Twin Cities Reader in Minneapolis and the Dallas Observer.

Without hesitation, I tell you those were the finest and most productive years of my professional life. I had unlimited freedom. I received careful and creative editing. I developed an actual “voice.” And our staffs had high morale — a welcome change from the snarky, grousing comments and insecurity that punctuate life in most traditional newsrooms.

Second, as House mentioned in her story today, readership of alternative newspapers has been growing, while readership at dailies is either stagnant or declining. I like the idea of heading up a newspaper that, instead of constantly ruminating and stressing over how to gain readers in the elusive 18-34 age category, tries to attract them with basic, good journalism. What a concept.

Now. Does that mean CW is doing good journalism? Mostly, but certainly not enough of it. I told the staff we’re going to “own” certain stories in and around Salt Lake City. This is the purpose of “alternative journalism.” We’ll use traditional reporting and editing tools to get our stories. We’ll run all the traps. No one will accuse us of taking short cuts or lacking reporting or writing quality. The fact is, dozens of stories fly well under the daily newspapers’ and local TV news programs’ radar. Guess whose shoulders it falls on to dig them out and make them interesting and worth reading?

You got it. Your friendly neighborhood altie paper.

Do I sound crazy-excited? I am. I’m going to keep this blog going as well as contribute regularly to CW’s own site. If you haven’t access to the print version, please visit http://www.slweekly.com when you can.

Tomorrow’s issue is the annual “Best of Utah” — a record-setting 208 pages, publisher Jim Rizzi tells me. Can’t wait to read it. BTW, I’ll be pimping the “Best Of” in a guest appearance on FOX-13 early morning news tomorrow (that’s Thursday, April 5). Tune in between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. if you can. I’ll be the one wearing the least amount of pancake make-up and with middle-aged woman bags under my eyes.