Pam Varkony, Class Act

After yesterday's post about the demise of Pam Varkony's Perspectives blog, and the many comments that followed, Pam asked to share a few of her own thoughts.

Bernie, thank you for sharing your blog with me; I knew all those mean things I’ve heard about you couldn’t be true. You’re not a miserly old curmudgeon after all.

As a huge fan of the television series, "24" I’m especially enjoying reading all the conspiracy theory comments. If the writers' strike is still on when Kiefer Sutherland gets done serving time for his DUI, I’m sure he’d love to have you folks on the team.

Now that I’ve been suitably clever and irreverent, which is required when appearing in this hallowed space, I want to get serious just long enough to put to rest the notion that I am going to run for mayor of Allentown, or for any political office for that matter. I can’t imagine where anyone would get that idea; I am not involved in politics in any way and have not been for years. I was even a registered Independent for a time and came back to a party affiliation only because I was unhappy being outside the primary process.

Since leaving public life in 2001, I have been able to rebuild my career as a writer, speaker, and commentator, which has allowed me to follow my real passion…empowering other women. Most of you who read this blog probably know I have traveled twice to Afghanistan in the past 18 months. No one who is serious about running for office in Allentown, Pennsylvania spends that amount of time and money half a world away helping people who can’t vote for you.

So, as ego-boosting as it is to read all the speculation about how I’m a candidate for "something", I think it’s time we all move on and focus our attention on things that really matter, like fighting hunger, poverty, and violence.

And as for the fact that "Perspectives" is no longer on the Call’s website, it will suffice to say that in today’s litigious environment, the risk of allowing an independent contractor who is not covered by a company’s liability insurance, to have unfettered access to its public outlet, is simply becoming too great.

I am very grateful for the two years that "Perspectives" inhabited mcall.com, and I assure you that "Perspectives" will reappear, at the earliest opportunity, as an independent blog for whose content no one will be held responsible except me.

Finally, my column which appears every other Sunday on The Morning Call opinion pages will continue as it has for the past five years. I love writing it and I appreciate knowing there are people out there who read it. How do I know that? I know because of the comments that get posted on the Morning Call’s forum. Oh oh, I’ve mentioned the dreaded forum, or as blogmeister Bernie would call it, "the end of civilization as we know it". I hope he doesn’t delete me.

Damn, she writes well. I'll miss her blog, and hope to see it in independent form very soon.