Former West Hawaii Today Hilo Bureau Chief Jim Quirk, now in Pennsylvania, recently launched www.quirkzone.com.
A growing list of us former staffers at the West Hawaii Today (WHT) have taken to publishing on the internet. As you know, I was the Hilo Bureau chief for WHT for five and a half years before vacating the post in December 2006. I started Tiffany Edwards Communications before going to work as a legislative assistant for Puna Councilwoman Emily Naeole-Beason for a year and a half. When the last Council term ended, I resumed my sole proprietorship and launched Big Island Chronicle. Along with BIC, there is hawaii247.org run by Karin Stanton, a former WHT city editor, and Baron Sekiya, a former WHT photographer.
Now on the list of internet sites run by former WHT staffers is the quirkzone.com run by Jim Quirk, the former WHT Hilo Bureau Chief who took the post in early 2007.
Before Quirk headed back to his home state of Pennsylvania in March, he told me that he intended to set up a website similar to mine. The other day Quirk sent me a link to his new site, and I was surprised to find that it is, well, quirky. His site contains some news feeds from CNN and Sports Illustrated but, overall, Quirk has opted for the unorthodox route. Along with short fiction and “football prognosticators,” Quirk has vowed to his readers to uncover what he believes to be the truth about the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
I asked Quirk why, with his reporter background, he didn’t go down the more traditional route of news and commentary and give his hometown newspaper some competition.
This is his response:
“You asked why I took the unorthodox route as opposed to the route of covering council meetings and writing political commentary. The answer is simple: Because of the Internet, which gives you the freedom to write about whatever you want. Covering government for a local newspaper, as you well know, is not an easy job. There is a lot of anger involved. It comes at you from all directions. The job can be fulfilling sometimes, but after doing it for a long time it can burn you out.
When I moved from the Big Island back to my home state, Pennsylvania, I initially conceived of creating a website that, similar to your blog, would offer an alternative source for local news other than the newspaper. As the months went by, I realized that was the last thing I wanted to do. I never set out to be a newspaper reporter when I first got into the business in the mid-1990s. It was something that just happened. I wanted to write about things I was interested in, and I tried hard to get short stories published and a movie screenplay sold. One day I was contacted by somebody who worked at a newspaper wanting to know whether I would do some freelance work, and eventually I agreed. A few years later, I was hired full-time and I remained a newspaper reporter for the next 10 years.
I envision my new website as something that offers an entertaining mixture of topics that are as different from one another as night is to day. The “Profane Football Prognosticators” came about because I always wondered how TV sports analysts would speak if they were not subjected to the language standards enforced by television. All of these guys you see on cable channels such as ESPN and NFL Network have to be careful how they talk when they’re on the air because using swear words is prohibited by the companies they are working for. I thought it would be interesting to devise my own football program where the analysts let it all hang out. I called up my good friend Frank Ritsko and asked him if he’d be interested in giving it a try. Although the program still needs to be tweaked a bit, I’m pleased with what we’ve accomplished so far.
As for UFOs, that is a topic I take very seriously. I saw something in 1994 that could not have been made by humankind. It completely changed my view of the world. I plan on using my reporting skills to try and uncover the truth. The UFO topic is something that for too long has been ignored by the mainstream media and continues to be treated as a joke. It is not a joke.
Every now and then, I plan on putting short stories on the site. The one on there now, “Hell Hole,” was something I wrote while still living in Hawaii. Last year, I submitted it to Playboy, but three months later I received a form rejection slip stating the magazine no longer accepts short fiction. Now, instead of trying to sell short stories to magazines, the plan is to make them available on my website. It makes no sense trying to get something published in a magazine when I can put it on my own website where potentially more people would have access to it.
As for the future, I do plan on increasing the topics, increasing the original content and accepting contributions from others.”
I don’t know much about UFOs and whether or not they or aliens are real or contrived. However, I think Quirk would be interested to know that did have the occasion of meeting and doing past-life regression work with Dr. R.Leo Sprinkle, founder of the Rocky Mountain Conference on UFO Investigation, while living and going to school in Laramie, Wyo. I think it is quite plausible that we are not alone in the universe.
It will be interesting to read Quirk’s UFO accounts and, overall, to watch the progression of his blog. I know firsthand that it is quite an undertaking, regardless of the content. Good luck, Quirk. May it be far more rewarding than your stint with WHT. All the best to you and your family. A hui hou!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:15 pm
WHT’s losses are our gains…………
November 24th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
NO! Tell me Reed TWERPINGER isn’t considering everyones opinions. Could he have a precognitive view of how a story is supposed to look before it’s written? It must be time to throw in that towel he and Carol referred to in the past. Say it’s not so. Someone has to stay at WHT and help him mold the news. Never let if be said he let the facts get in the way of good story.
I don’t know Mr Quirk but I admire his leaving the WHT.