Take Me to Your Leader
For about a week recently, The Washington Times Capitol Hill Bureau Chief Charlie Hurt found himself a foreign correspondent assigned to an exotic land.
Because the Chris Cannon-John Jacob race was being touted nationwide as a "referendum on immigration reform," Charlie was sent from Washington, D.C., to faraway Utah. Apparently, the Moonie-owned Times failed to prepare him for the culture shock.
The implications of crossing the Utah time-space-culture continuum hit Charlie soon after landing. To pass the time during a debate between Cannon and Jacob -- not North America's most articulate mammals -- Charlie chatted up a couple of local reporters.
When the Deseret Morning News reporter introduced herself, Charlie said (we're serious here), "Is that how you say that? I've been pronouncing it the French way."
His next question momentarily baffled the Utahns: "So, where is Deseret?"
When all he got was blank looks, he added, as if conversing with aborigines "You're from the Deseret News. Where is the town of Deseret?"
A sharp observer of his surroundings, Charlie's final question was, "What's with the beehives? This is the "Beehive State," but I haven't seen any beehives."
That, of course, led to a primer on Utah culture, the Moses of the West, and related metaphors that brought to Charlie's face the outsider's usual alternating expressions of perplexity, bemusement and slack-jawed wonder.
"I love it!" Charlie said.
Then, he pulled the Trib reporter aside to get the real skinny: "Where's a good place to go fishing?"
-- Glen Warchol
Because the Chris Cannon-John Jacob race was being touted nationwide as a "referendum on immigration reform," Charlie was sent from Washington, D.C., to faraway Utah. Apparently, the Moonie-owned Times failed to prepare him for the culture shock.
The implications of crossing the Utah time-space-culture continuum hit Charlie soon after landing. To pass the time during a debate between Cannon and Jacob -- not North America's most articulate mammals -- Charlie chatted up a couple of local reporters.
When the Deseret Morning News reporter introduced herself, Charlie said (we're serious here), "Is that how you say that? I've been pronouncing it the French way."
His next question momentarily baffled the Utahns: "So, where is Deseret?"
When all he got was blank looks, he added, as if conversing with aborigines "You're from the Deseret News. Where is the town of Deseret?"
A sharp observer of his surroundings, Charlie's final question was, "What's with the beehives? This is the "Beehive State," but I haven't seen any beehives."
That, of course, led to a primer on Utah culture, the Moses of the West, and related metaphors that brought to Charlie's face the outsider's usual alternating expressions of perplexity, bemusement and slack-jawed wonder.
"I love it!" Charlie said.
Then, he pulled the Trib reporter aside to get the real skinny: "Where's a good place to go fishing?"
-- Glen Warchol
9:42 AM
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