The Register’s small news staff dishes out bucketloads of information about the pandemic’s local impacts, but people want more. Lots more.
When my phone rings these days, it’s usually someone with a deep COVID concern on the other end of the line. Got an investigative project for you, they say.
The Register should investigate hotels, a caller said. They’re checking in guests who shouldn’t be traveling to the Napa Valley under today’s tougher stay-at-home order.
Another caller said her Upvalley town was still swarming with tourists — virus spreading tourists! Why hasn’t this been stopped?
Multiple callers and emailers have complained that their employer isn’t providing enough protective gear or helping with COVID testing.
Several have asked that the Register shine a light on their workplaces where coworkers may have had COVID, but continued to come to work. Or they were quietly sent home, leaving coworkers in the dark about their possible exposure.
A woman said her pastor had sent out a note saying it’s now safe to resume indoor services but is that really true? she asked. Do the Bay Area’s new restrictions on activities contain a loophole for indoor worship?
I ventured my best opinion: No.
Another said she’d been rebuked by a friend for going grocery shopping. That’s a violation of stay-at-home, she’d been told. Must she now have her groceries home delivered?
Keep shopping for groceries, I said, but use precautions.
An out-of-county caller said she planned to visit a friend in Napa Valley and wanted to know if our restaurants were open. I’m afraid not, I said.
Even the French Laundry? she asked.
I don’t think she was being sarcastic. Then again, it might have been a political dig following all the Newsom-eats-at-French-Laundry stories this month.
Speaking of which, I wrote a column a couple of weeks ago about this political firestorm and entertained the thought that if the governor had invited me — and maybe Cheryl — to dine with him that day, I might have accepted.
What mortal says no to the French Laundry? I suggested.
This was an attempt at humor. I’d assumed that regular readers of this column would understand this and cut me some slack.
A day later I started getting emails and calls from people outraged that my column hadn’t excoriated the governor for his dining stunt. In reading my column, they hadn’t been looking for a light Sunday amusement. They’d been out for Newsom’s blood.
My column was “a nothing story from a nothing newspaper that few have ever heard of,” wrote an apparent non-subscriber.
Where was all this emotion coming from? My editor, Sean, uncovered the explanation.
It seems my column escaped from the Register website and ran wild on the internet. It was popping up in Google searches for the French Laundry and Newsom from across the world. Maybe even Russia.
An upset emailer confirmed this. “Just wondering why the idiots at Google decided to print your article,” he said.
In the course of the week, my column was scrutinized by more than 22,000 sets of eyeballs. These are not typical Napa Journal numbers. These are TikTok numbers.
Probably your most-read column ever, Sean said.
This was a good lesson about the power of search engines and use of trigger words that push people’s buttons.
Having tasted internet celebrity, I’m sad at the prospect my internet numbers will plunge in coming weeks.
But does this have to happen? Perhaps I should pander a little bit to the almighty search engines.
Tell me, dear readers. Would you like more French Laundry columns? Perhaps maybe just a brief reference in the headline, then on to more mundane topics?
It wouldn’t be Thomas Keller and Gavin Newsom all the time. Then again, people do seem to want it.
KEVIN COURTNEY’S FAVORITE NAPA JOURNAL COLUMNS FROM 2020
Kevin Courtney's favorite Napa Journal columns from 2020
Thousands lost power. Columnist Kevin Courtney nearly lost his mind during last week's big winds.
What statement should your mailbox make to the world? Register columnist Kevin Courtney asks.
How would you host visitors to Napa from Music City USA? columnist Kevin Courtney asks.
In ways big and small, Napa life has been upended by the coronavirus, City Editor Kevin Courtney writes.
City Editor Courtney talks about his chances of becoming an alpha male during the pandemic.
Kevin can be reached at 707- 256-2217 or Napa Valley Register, 1615 Soscol Ave., Napa, 94559, or kcourtney@napanews.com.
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December 27, 2020 at 09:00AM
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Napa Journal: Beware the mighty Google search engine - Napa Valley Register
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