My blogs

About me

Gender	Male
Occupation	retired journalist
Location	Waco, Texas, United States
Introduction	Described by one of his editors as “an equal-opportunity skeptic” and one of his readers as a "modern-day Don Quixote" (tilting at windmills, for better or worse), Bill Whitaker in November 2020 retired from Texas journalism after a career of nearly 45 years as a reporter, editor and columnist. He served as Waco Tribune-Herald opinion editor during his final dozen years in the profession. He continues to write and edit for the Waco Trib on occasion but reserves this place for more in-depth ramblings and rants.
Favorite movies	"Citizen Kane," Orson Welles (1941); “The Best Years of Our Lives,” William Wyler (1946); “Seven Days in May,” John Frankenheimer (1964, with a powerful script by Rod Serling; required viewing for every American); “Night of the Hunter,” Charles Laughton (1956, with a script by James Agee and Laughton and a magical Ohio River scene by photographer Stanley Cortez and composer Walter Schumann); "The Third Man," Carol Reed (1949); “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Don Siegel (1955, more relevant in Trumpian times than back then, with a taut, one-of-a-kind score by Carmen Dragon); “The Right Stuff,” Philip Kaufman (1983); “The Wild Bunch,” Sam Peckinpah (1969); “Black Sunday,” John Frankenheimer (1977 and starring the great Robert Shaw); "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," Sam Peckinpah (1973); “The Road Warrior,” George Miller (1981, with a rousing orchestral score by Brian May); “Intruder in the Dust,” Clarence Brown (1949, remarkable predecessor to “”To Kill a Mockingbird” from a 1948 novel by William Faulkner); “Paths of Glory,” Stanley Kubrick (1957—and easily his most powerful film); "Judgment at Nuremberg," Stanley Kramer (1961 with standout performances from Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Spencer Tracy and Maximilian Schell; another film every American should see); and “House of Frankenstein,” Erle C. Kenton (1944, lively guilty pleasure with a wonderfully atmospheric score by Hans J. Salter & Paul Dessau); "I Know Where I'm Going!", Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1945, a terrific little romance set in the Hebrides in which the chilly spray of the ocean, joy of Scottish music, dance and legend and warmth of the island people rival that of any other film with a similar setting).
Favorite music	“Symphony 1933,” Roy Harris; “Chato’s Land,” Jerry Fielding (1971); Symphony No. 1, Charles Ives (1904), “American Symphony,” George Antheil (1936); “American” Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Louis Gruenberg (1944); Concerto for Piano, Orchestra and Chorus, Ferruccio Busoni (1904); Choros Nos. 10, 11 & 12; Heitor Villa-Lobos, (1926, 1928 & 1929); Symphony No. 4, “Altitudes,” Jean Martinon (1965); Symphony No. 2, "Oxpanixtli," Candelario Huizar (1936); Serenade No. 2, Antheil; "American Sketches," Frederick Converse (1929); Symphony No. 2, Wilhelm Furtwangler (1947); Symphony No. 16, “Deluge of the Sun,” Rued Langgaard; “Woodland Spirits Chant,” Anthony Philip Heinrich (1842); “Music of the Spheres,” Rued Langgaard (1918); Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, Alfonso Letelier (1960); “La Muerte de Alsino,” Alfonso Leng (1920); and "The Battle of the Bulge," Benjamin Frankel (1965).
Favorite books	“The Life of Johnson,” James Boswell (1791); “Fly-Fishing for Sharks: An American Journey,” Richard Louv (2000); “Papa Hemingway,” A.E. Hotchner (1955); “A Personal Country,” A.C. Greene (1969); “The Sketch Book,” Washington Irving (1820); “President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman,” William Lee Miller (2008); “Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution,” Pauline Maier (2010); “The Last Lion: Winston Churchill, Defender of the Ream,” William Manchester, Paul Reid (2012); “Blowing With the Wind,” Sam Pendergrast (1975); “America’s Faces,” Rheta Grimsley Johnson (1987); “The Gettysburg Address: Perspectives on Lincoln’s Greatest Speech,” Sean Conan, editor (2015); “Lincoln and the Power of the Press,” Harold Holzer (2014); “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck (1939); “City Editor,” Stanley Walker (1934); “900 Miles on the Butterfield Trail,” A.C. Greene (1994); “Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the West,” Hampton Sides (2006); “The Ox-Bow Incident,” Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1940).