Walt Shepperd is a veteran of Central New York's political scuffle, having covered government and politics in Syracuse for more than four decades before being asked for press credentials.
He is the Senior Editor of the City Eagle and the Mayor of Montgomery Street in downtown Syracuse.
Shepperd is also the producer of the The Media Unit, Central New York national award winning teen performance and production troupe.
Samadee is his alter ego. At least that's the rumor.
Samadee was suffering from an information overload. Buckminster Fuller once told him that such a state would result in pattern recognition, but the concept now seemed as outmoded as 8-tracks and 78, 45 and 33 rpm records {although vynal 33s are making a comeback, which will be in evidence at the downtown Arts and Crafts Fest monster book and record sale, July 25, 26 and 27}. Now the information revolution had blogged its way into anarchy and Samadee needed to withdraw to determine if any patterns really still existed. He met the Has Been and the Wannabe at Quigley’s for a late night grilled ham and cheese sandwich. He had waited 45 years for a chance to run for County Executive, only to find that without campaign contributions and a party endorsement, the effort was less than quixotic...
Samadee was perplexed. Having pledged to take no campaign contributions, he knew the only way to get his message out was through the presidential primary debates. Since he was not registered in a party, however, he could not access the widely followed televised tiffs being waged by Hillary and Obama. Cable Public Access Television, he knew, was his only hope. The democratization of that medium, Access TV was the place the people could actually have a voice.
Actually, direct democracy could become the theme of his campaign. Not only could he get his message out on Access, but he could put out an invitation to any registered voters who were interested to join him in a non-structured debate...
On his way to the opening of first grade Samadee’s mother cautioned him about labels. “They’ll probably call you a slow learned,” she said. Then, shaking her finger back and forth, “It don’t mean nothin’. You may take awhile to get your mind around something, but once you do, it’s gotten.”
Although more concerned at the time with the school’s lunch menu, even with his six-year-old self and an advanced reading level, Samadee knew there would be a corollary to his mother’s attempt at reinforcing his self-esteem...
Samadee was born a junior, at least according to the birth certificate, which was strange because he was named after his uncle, the Baron. But as a teenager working in his Aunt Marie’s botanical garden, he learned that sharing the name of a power figure would not necessarily guarantee a powerful inheritance. Actually, with his aunt’s seeming inability to age, he soon realized that he would not even inherit the family business, no matter how many new customers he attracted with his window displays.
“I just couldn’t get the hang of casting spells,” he told Lady Green as they sat in Quigley’s, strategizing with bartender Nicole how to replicate the Wednesday Happy Hour scene she had previously conducted at World...
