CARLTON FLETCHER: Looking for a few would-be journalists

“One minute you’re too young, then you’re in your prime, then you’re looking back at the hands of time.”

— James Brown

In this new age of rampant social media, everybody gets to be a “journalist.” The Albany Herald is reaching out to its readers whose ambitions include becoming a real-live published journalist in an effort to get more local input for its digital and print publications.

Maybe you’re not a person of letters, but you are someone who’s a whiz at photography or videography. Or maybe you’re one of those opinionated folks who’d like to take a shot at getting your estimable solutions to local, state and national problems before a wider audience of readers who may agree with you wholeheartedly or disagree altogether.

Perhaps you’re the “team mother” of a local Little League team — baseball, football, cheerleading, soccer, acting, anything that kids get involved in these days — and you always have your phone/camera handy. Take a few photos … 30, 50, 100 … and send them in a file to The Herald and soon you’ll see them displayed on AlbanyHerald.com or in the print edition of the paper.

Herald staff will be reaching out individually to certain leaders in the community in the days to come, looking for their input as well. But we’re equally interested in voices from the community, you, the people who are the heart and soul of southwest Georgia. You can send letters to the editor, write guest columns, take photos and even video footage that will find its way onto (or into) the newspaper’s digital and print versions.

This concept is nothing new. The Herald has published a number of works by Gail Drake, Ulf Kirchdorfer, Doug Porter, Warren Grant, Tim and Casey Wesselman, Dr. Charles Ochie and many others; and we’ve posted scores of excellent photos by Reginald Christian, Yaz Johnson and other photographers, professional and otherwise. We also publish a number of features by regular columnists like Charles Harris and others who share their viewpoints on specific topics.

If you think you might like to give it a shot, it’s simple: Just drop me an email ([email protected]) or give me a call (229-888-9360), or, heck, just go ahead and send your contribution. Unless there’s some glaring reason not to, we will definitely use your contributions. (Please include contact information.)

So, go out there and become a real journalist. Take your best photos. Write your best opinion piece. Send a feature story about something amazing — or amazingly normal — in your lives. (I will edit all contributions, but, heck, that’s what journalism is all about.)

Unfinished business:

A while back I wondered if some of you readers might have some unforgettable TV characters to add to a list I compiled. I didn’t forget you; I’ve just been too busy to get the list together to publish. Here, then, are some readers’ nominations for the greatest TV characters of all time (who were not included on my list):

♦ Hoss Cartwright (Dan Blocker) “Bonanza”

♦ Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis) “Gunsmoke”

♦ Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) “Family Ties”

♦ Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) “Magnum P.I.”

♦ MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) “MacGyver”

♦ Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) “NCIS”

♦ Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) “NCIS”

♦ Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine) “Airwolf”

♦ Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) “Prime Suspect”

♦ Jim Rockford (James Garner) “The Rockford Files”

♦ “Howling Mad” Mudock — “The A Team”

♦ Kelsey Grammar — “Frazier”

♦ Jim Neighbors (Gomer Pyle — “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Gomer Pyle, USMC”

♦ J.R. Ewing — “Dallas”

♦ Carol Burnett — “Carol Burnett Show”

♦ Tim Conway — “Carol Burnett Show”

♦ Sue Ann Nivens — Betty White, “Golden Girls”

♦ Harry Morgan — (Col. Potter) “MASH”

♦ Peter Griffin — “Family Guy”

♦ Jim and Pam (John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer) “The Office”

♦ Pamela Anderson & David Hasselhoff — “Baywatch”

In other unfinished business — and getting back to more of the stuff I haven’t gotten around to but will soon: I promised and am (slowly, I admit) working on my updated Top Albums list. So you know I appreciate your suggestions, some of them sent by readers are “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac, “Mahogany Rush Live,” “Goats Head Soup” by the Rolling Stones, “Searchin’ for a Rainbow” by Marshall Tucker Band, “Tres Hombres” by ZZ Top, “21” by Adele, “Blood on the Tracks” by Bob Dylan, “The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees,” “Blue” by Joni Mitchell, “A Nod Is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse” by REO Speedwagon.

Thanks for the ideas … coming soon.