Goodbye To A River
by Steve Smith
In the beginning of West and Clear, we invoked the name of the great Texas writer, John Graves. In the end, going back to the words of the grand old man of Texas letters seems like a good idea, too.
A little over a year and a half ago as the five of us wrote the words to describe what the hell a West and Clear was anyway, we reminded the people of Fort Worth that Graves once wrote that a whole river is too much to comprehend, but you can understand a piece of a river. West and Clear was our attempt to understand our little piece of the river here in Fort Worth. Unfortunately, our real-life demands have have left us with too little time to maintain this site in the style to which we hoped you would become accustomed. As a result, this post is West and Clear’s farewell.
We’re proud of the work that we have done here together. We wanted to create an online conversation worthy of the people here in our city. We think we’ve succeeded. More people are online, engaging and the conversation and talking about their city. We ask you to please continue with that, to keep on reading, commenting and supporting all of the other blogs and online conversations in Fort Worth.
To invoke Graves one last time, he wrote at the end of Goodbye To A River: “What is, is. What was, was. If you’re lucky, what was may also be a part of what is.” We’re grateful to have been a part of what was and what is.
Best of luck to all off you, and we hope to see y’all on down the line. Adios, Fort Worth.
43 Comments, Comments or Pings
Dustin Askins
Sad to see W&C go. Thank you for all the great info, news, insight, and media around all things FW. I certainly understand the call of real-life, but I cant believe what I thought of as the premier FW blog is going dark. :-/
May 11th, 2009
Curtis
Goodbye W&C… the only blog I read everyday. My computer is once again an expensive solitaire machine.
May 11th, 2009
Fort Worth DNA
With the end of W&C We’d like to try to build a community written locals who can even share in the ad revenue.
You can sign up as a contributer (which means we have to OK the articles at first), but we’re just getting started, so give a little slack.
FortWorthDNA.com
May 12th, 2009
Rena Lawrence
Sad to see you go…but we’ll see you around the 817! Thanks for all the great information and insight!
Take care…
Rena Lawrence
Log Cabin Village
May 12th, 2009
Neil
Very sad to see you go too… Ever think of maybe just posting a little less frequently rather than quiting all together?
Neil
May 12th, 2009
Chuck
Bummer. W&C was a daily stop for me and a good way to keep up with the goings on for all things Fort Worth. I’m sorry to see you go, but thank you for the effort that went into this blog.
May 12th, 2009
Josie
Oh my goodness! I’m very sad and surprised to see West and Clear go, I really looked forward to all your posts and excellent coverage of the goings on in Fort Worth. I think most people will agree that a few posts here and there is better than shutting W&C down altogether. If you have to go though what a graceful way to do it, the John Graves quote is beautiful.
May 12th, 2009
Durango Texas
First the election and now this? What if you just cut back a bit, but kept the blog going?
May 12th, 2009
fwtacoma
Are you guys going to keep your personal blogs? What about Eight One Seven? Is this why Kevin at Fortworthology took W&C off his link list? Did you guys have a fight?
Its cool if you did. Everybody fights with their loved ones.
Bad news for the Fort. Somebody needs to pick up this mantle and keep moving.
Thanks for all the great information and thanks for giving us a place to discuss the events and politics of Fort Worth.
But seriously, what is really going on?
May 12th, 2009
Steve Smith
Thanks for all of the kind words.
It’s nothing very True Hollywood Story. There’s still lots of love with everyone. It’s really a time issue. Doing West and Clear takes a lot of time that has become much harder to come by. Regarding 817, we are still trying to figure out what to do about that. I believe that there is an interest in vigorous online discussion. If people are interested in 817 continuing, please let us know and please participate in the discussions there.
May 12th, 2009
Pete Wann
Although if someone wants to write and film the True Hollywood Story, I’m sure we can find a way to sex it up a bit.
Like Steve said though, there was no fight, no drama, just the realities of life conflicting with our ability to publish quality content, even at a reduced rate.
Our personal blogs are our personal blogs, so each of us is free to do with them what they will. Kevin will continue to maintain FWO, he’s just on vacation this week.
Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
May 12th, 2009
Chris Shipman
Really? That’s it? What a drag. Sorry to see you’re packing it in. It was a fun experience interacting with Steve in particular. Hope to meet you in real life someday around Fred’s or other inner city joints.
-Chris
May 12th, 2009
JLT
Bummer, this was my one-stop shop for a lot of things Funky Town-related. But in those ever-inspirational words…
“Happy trails to you, until we meet again. Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then…”
May 12th, 2009
Joel Burns
Thanks guys for the many hours, and the passion for and commitment to Fort Worth. Your’s was the top of my igoogle homepage every day. Y’all will be missed.
May 12th, 2009
James M. Johnston
Goodnight, you princes of Panther City, you kings of Cowtown.
May 12th, 2009
Eric Griffey
You’ll be missed.
May 12th, 2009
Don Young
Where have you gone West and Clear? Our city turns it’s lonely eyes to you?
May 12th, 2009
BS
What?! Are you kidding?
Your first post said
We love Fort Worth, and we don’t feel like it gets the coverage it deserves from the usual suspects in the mainstream media. Too often those outlets are busy looking for fluff to squeeze into their pages or minutes between the ads.
Our goal is to change that. We want to be the voice of the regular folks. We don’t want to issue “news” from our secluded tower downtown, we’d rather have a conversation with the people in Fort Worth who are actually doing the things that everyone’s talking about.
You cant leave now. The elections are bought, the media ignores the real issues, the drillers and politicians own everything…including our air and water.
Where to go now??
There are a couple of blogs (http://startelegraph.blogspot.com) which has links to good ones too but no W&C? WTH?
May 12th, 2009
Suzette Watkins
All good things come to an end sooner or later.
May 12th, 2009
sirius_girl
No more WestandClear?
Where have all the cowboys gone?
(Thanks for the sweet ride. It was bumpy, but it was oh, so very lovely.)
May 12th, 2009
Juniper
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!
May 12th, 2009
jennyc
I was lucky enough to once have heard a eulogy by Mr. Graves for a beloved friend, artist Cynthia Brants.
His marvelous ability to summarize a well-lived and artfull life to a chapel full of woeful mourners brought home the themes of committment, integrity, sacrifice and love. It was poignant and right on target.
I suspect that the young men who were West & Clear won’t soon forget that they have mightily contributed to wishing the same for our own community. And I have the highest hopes that they will continue on an equally important path.
This old girl wishes you all well on your new journies.
May 12th, 2009
poop
Where will I poop now?
May 13th, 2009
I'm for Clyde
Did Moncrief pay y’all to shut this down?
May 13th, 2009
paul
Gotta say this is a rather lame alternative to all of your hard-won efforts.
I realize personal obligations can demand priority, and life always gets in the way of the best of intentions, but an important brand has been built here at W&C. Why throw that away like a soggy tissue?
There’s five authors listed here — why not take on some other bloggers/writers/participants and transition ownership to new authorship? Keep the brand, mentor a few noobs and phase the burden of responsibility rather than flushing it away? Maybe keep the idea alive for a time when one of y’all again have time or interest in this particular outlet in the future?
Maybe you’re right, nothing worth reading here. Might as well invite electronic oblivion and wash it all away.
May 13th, 2009
Neil
Must be something else going on.. No reason why you guys couldn’t just scale back and post maybe once a week…
Neil
May 14th, 2009
Martha
No wonder it’s been raining in FW…sad…sad day!
May 14th, 2009
James M. Johnston
While I’m happy to see the majority of comments here are positive and well meaning the few negative ones are really getting under my skin. It makes me want to start calling names. If you few are so concerned about W&C then why don’t you volunteer to take the reigns? Let’s see how you like working a FULL TIME JOB and also trying to run an IMPORTANT news site that covers the many dimensions of this town in a truthful and thoughtful fashion.
Even better would you volunteer to PAY for W&C? Because that’s what it takes to truly keep a vibrant site like this going. You can’t just expect someone to put all there time into something like this to entertain you and keep you informed without any sort of reciprocity.
Let these gentlemen go in peace. Wish them the fond farewell they deserve for the time they spent trying to do something great.
May 14th, 2009
francis
Bummer. I visited often and will miss your news and insights. You did a great job and were one of our best blogs. Good luck. Francis Shivone.
May 14th, 2009
Tom Huckabee
Thanks for all your hard work over the last few years.
To Pete, Steve, Pete, Kevin and Bernie, three cheers!
May 15th, 2009
MartiniGirl
Thank you for everything you’ve put out there for the time that you did. Your voice will be greatly missed!!
Melinda
May 15th, 2009
greg
yep, thanks guys. sorry to see it wrap up after a short run, but you did a lot to open some eyes and to get some truth out in the open that otherwise would have languished in dark corners.
May 15th, 2009
VinnyV28
Damn you guys. I understand, but… damn you guys. This happens too often to the good things & people in this city.
Anyway, we will all miss you and “our” site terribly. It was a good run.
May 16th, 2009
Ann
Wow I had noticed things slowing down but never dreamed it would come to this. You will be missed.
It was you that introduced me to all the blogs in the Fort Worth area and I thank you for that. I hope to see your input on the future of Fort Worth. The more input given by those who care the better.
May 16th, 2009
Joe Galvan
sad to see you boys go, but totally understand where you’re coming from.
<3
May 19th, 2009
Sonja
You know I still get referrals from this site … it’s not too late to change your mind. I still think it might be a little early to throw in the proverbial towel. Meanwhile, those who might want to post a guest blog at Renaissance contact me at editor (at) fwrenassiance.com
Sonja
Jun 3rd, 2009
Anton
While I’m sad to see this site go, I like that things have a beginning and an end. See you guys around the blogosphere.
Jun 6th, 2009
Recyclican
Late to the farewell party. VERY late. That’s what I get for relying on an RSS reader. I had suspected the posts were slowing (not seeing them in my feed nearly enough). Curiosity brought me back to the site, only to discover the “Goodbye to a Reader” letter.
Thanks for everything, ya’ll! Hope to read more of your contributions elsewhere.
Jul 26th, 2009
Suzette Rangel
I finally had time to catch up on my RSS reader and found that you guys have moved on. I truly enjoyed reading your input and I wish you well. I’m still linked into Fortworthology.
Take care.
Jul 30th, 2009