TWELVE GATES TO THE CITY/12,000 HITS

“Let’s see..there’s three gates to the north, three gates to the south….” / Claire O’Brien 2013

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 Oh, what a beautiful City! Oh, what a beautiful City!

Oh, what a beautiful City! Twelve gates to the City, Halleluia!

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12,000 Hits Later, O’Brien (see above subtle symbolism) Mulls and Plans her Comeback

 I’ve decided to combine my 12,000 Hit Celebration with some cards I’ve shared with only two or three people. I received them four years ago in 2010,  when I was a print reporter for the Daily Globe in Dodge City, Kansas, during a State Supreme Court First Amendment case and murder trial. I’m sharing only those cards that were not confidentially sent – most of the Latino community feared, with good cause, reprisal for supporting me.

 

From a source

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I was defamed by an unholy alliance of corporate media, neoliberal First Amendment groups, most particularly the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press (Director LUCY DAGLISH), and the state. Newer readers who are interested in what happened would honor me by reading Jeff Nyguyen’s post in his impressive blog, Deconstructing Myths.

I’ll also list my own selections from this blog’s archives at the end of this post.

From Dennis and Mary Lou Doris

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I haven’t shared these cards for a number of reasons. First of all, I have been very publically and shamelessly called a liar by some powerful people. Thus, I have kept these expressions of community support close to my heart: I wasn’t willing to submit them to the disrespectful and ruthless public scrutiny that had destroyed my best professional and personal efforts.

These days, though, I’m thinking that I want to share more than my anger about what it means to be defamed. Defamation is a  word that makes it sound as if mean-spirited gossip has hurt one’s feelings. But that’s not what it is. Real defamation WORKS: it gathers momentum, as it’s intended to, until people believe it. And if they don’t believe it, they believe something is/was unsavory and/or not quite right about you. In the end, to really defame someone, you have to get at the heart of their character in some fundamental way: you can’t portray them as truthful in every other aspect of their life – and yet a huge liar re. one nationally -known, professionally pivotal incident.  Since they are telling the truth, you have to discredit their essential personhood in order to ensure that they will remain permanently discredited.

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There’s three gates to the north, three gates to the south,

Three gates to the east, three gates to the west.

In all, there’s twelve gates to the city, halleluia!

FROM NORMA ORONA

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FROM ETHEL PETERSON

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I don’t know if it’s considered unprofessional to publish cards of support. After four years of struggle, I think I’ve worried too much about those kinds of standards – I think they may be a kind of trap. I decided that I should document more than what was done to me, more than my political and professional anger about it. I decided that I could also document what it really feels like to be a truthful reporter who has really been defamed. Maybe people don’t have a clear sense of what that means; if so, that’s something I can contribute.

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FROM JERRY AND ANNE KETNER

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FROM THE BONILLA FAMLY

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When I get there, I’m gonna sing and shout.

Ain’t nobody gonna put me out.

Oh what a beautiful city!

Oh. what a beautiful city, Halleluia!

Traditional Spiritual

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Special note: what I get when I now attempt to reach University of Maryland attorney Laura Anderson, with whom I had been in touch re. my legal complaints about above-named Lucy Dalglish

The following message to <landerso@mail.umd.edu> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
5.3.0 –  Sender denied

I would really appreciate emails sent to this corporate lawyer supporting my right to acknowledgement and redress. Thanks very much.