I rarely dredge up my past around here, but I was looking for something else tonight and learned by accident that Chris Farlekas, a columnist for the Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record, is dishing out essentially the same drivel as he did nearly 30 years ago when I worked at that benighted newspaper. I understand how someone might never get any better, and I understand better than anyone a lack of ambition. What I don't understand is why any newspaper, even the TH-R, would keep running a columnist so devoid of ideas and so brimming with banality. The TH-R probably would say something like, "He resonates with readers!" In truth, Chris could disappear tomorrow and be replaced by any one of dozens of mediocrities, and no one would tell the difference.<p>
Chris Farlekas archive here.