Clara Caufield: Turns out it's the small things that really matter

Tuesday, May 28, 2019  

It’s going on eight years now, since I’ve been churning out weekly columns: first for my own little newspaper (now defunct), A Cheyenne Voice; for several local Montana rags and finally, most important for the Native Sun News Today, which has much wider coverage. How has editor/publisher Tim Giago come up with something to say each week for more than forty years? He has a wide range of commentary, running from the very serious to the comic. And maybe a bigger brain than me.

For many of my columnist days, I was a political critic, running the gambit from tribal council, county officials, state and even national figures, thinking ever to have something of import to suggest. How did that work out, you might wonder?

While it did garner following of the local equally disgruntled who always encouraged me to “keep going,” it seldom made one bit of difference. Oh yeah, it did gain me the occasional ire and irritation of many elected officials, mostly at the tribal level.

But, in fairness, I’m thankful that during my six-year tenure as an elected tribal official, there was not such a dedicated columnist around to scrutinize my doings. Though, I did get featured in an unfavorable Billings Gazette story a time or two. No politician, however well-intended is perfect.

When I formerly worked for U.S. Senator John Melcher, a daily task was to scan several newspapers, trying to keep up with the pulse of current affairs and alerting the good Senator, when and if, he was mentioned therein. Each morning, armed with a stout cup of caffeine, I started. First: check the horoscopes (It is always a good idea to figure what the day might hold); second: Ann Landers, always up for a domestic drama or hoot and third (the best): the Dave Barry column, who later won a Pulitzer prize for commentary and has since authored several books. Then, the dreary scan of news – the same ole same ole, only the names different.

Why did I turn to Dave Barry? Same reason as many other readers. He wrote about ordinary day-to-day things we could all relate to. He could almost always put a smile or a “can’t believe he said that!” upon your face. And, in the most amazing irreverent way, writing down words that most other journalists would not even have considered at the time. He may have single-handedly introduced “poop, pee and butt-hole” into the columnist vocabulary.

Thus, Dave Barry, now retired, is my mascot, quite hard to follow. It is very easy to be a harsh political pundit, the politicians such as tribal officials, easy targets as they discover the wonders of government financed travel and that no one, even the Tribal President can make them go to work when they don’t want to. Whoops! I just again slid down the slippery columnist slope.

Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com