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One of the reasons people get into journalism is that they want to know a little about a lot. Along the way you become an eyewitness to the events that shape a community. Stick around long enough and your knowledge of current events becomes knowledge of recent history, and if you stick around a really long time, not-so-recent history.
When I was in college I minored in history. Once, my academic adviser, Chuck Scott, asked me what in the world I was going to do with all the history I was taking. I wished I had told him that I was going to write a column that frequently covered some obscure fact about Marietta, but I probably mumbled something stupid.
The fact is my love of history has kept me engaged in our community for more than four decades. It has also led to me being the go-to person at the newspaper when anyone has a question about Marietta's past - whether they technically go to me or not.
Journalists are an inquisitive bunch. You want them to be. You want them to question everything they hear and then prove it wrong or correct and then write about it.
I like to be the Yoda in the room sometimes and share a little knowledge with them for their story. Sometimes they ask for it; sometimes they don't.
I have divided my input into two categories.
An Art-I-Tack is when I come busting out of my office to offer my help on something when no one asked for my opinion. Someone asks someone else, and I overhear an opportunity to share. I will give a couple of examples. The vintage letterpress print block picture here is a rough illustration what I look like when I do it.
Reporter: "Does Colegate Drive have an "e" in the middle?"
What they want to hear: "Yes it has an 'e'"
What I tell them: "Colegate Drive is named after the Cole family that once had a farm near Glendale Road. The road had a farm lane used during high water to get to that part of town. The family had a gate across the lane that had to be open. Hence the name Colegate. By the way, it used to end two blocks short of Greene Street where it became Poplar Street; it was changed because people were often confused when they were looking for Colegate. By the way, Poplar, like a lot of streets in Norwood, was named after a tree species." By this point, the reporter tuned out about two "by-the-ways" ago.
Reporter: "Can you tell me how to get to Fort Frye High School?"
What they want to hear: "Take Ohio 60 north to Beverly; it's on the left"
What they get: A map, hand drawn to scale, with local points of interest labeled and an alternative route to drive on the way back because as any journalist will tell you, it is always good to take different roads "in case you see something."
An Art-I-Fact on the other hand is when they specifically ask me a question knowing full well that I am going to give them way more information than they wanted and may include some emailed photos, both current and historical, about whatever it is they are asking about. They asked for it, so I do not feel sorry for them when I open the floodgates, or more accurately the lock gates.
"By the way, do you know that the Muskingum River lock system is the only hand-operated lock system in the country and was built in the mid-1800s as part of the nation's canal system?" See what I did there? That would be either an Art-I-Tack or an Art-I-Fact depending on the context. A few months back reporter Nancy Taylor was working on a story about a barn being painted to honor Commander Abraham Whipple. I had just finished a column about Whipple and flooded her with information about his life, including the interesting, but not relevant, fact that Whipple, the community on Ohio 821, is named for him because he once worked as a surveyor in the area.
He fell into a creek that became known as "The creek into which Whipple fell." Later this was shortened to Whipple Creek. The community likely became known as Whipple after that.
I really can't help myself. A photography class that I teach at Marietta College got the full Art-I-Tack treatment last semester when I had them duplicate a set of historical photos of Marietta as they appear today. As soon as the old photos were projected, I would launch into a brief history of whatever area was in the photo. Finally, near the end of the project one of the students asked how in the world I knew so many obscure facts about random things in Marietta.
I stammered a little bit as I realized that I had Art-I-Tacked the entire class for an hour. Another student chimed in that she had fact-checked me after she had a photo of buckeye nuts in a previous assignment and I had explained how the term "buckeye" to describe someone from Ohio started in Marietta.
The student confirmed that I had been right after checking the Ohio State website. Ebenezer Sproat, the original Buckeye, was married to Whipple's daughter. A Native American chief called him Buckeye, and the name stuck. Whipple and his wife lived with Sproat for a short time when they were short on funds.
You have just been Art-I-Tacked, again.
Sorry.