Many of the Vo Dilunduhs who know the local news and follow it closely, the type of folks who can identify the bylines of scribes like Katherine Gregg, Jim Gillis, or Doug Hadden, have always reacted with near-incredulity to discover that your superior correspondents were friends with John Hackett, the crusty ultra-conservative former longtime reporter and editorial writer for the BeloJo.
Yes, John and his generally right-wing, white, and male editorial cohorts (Frank Mancini, anyone?) at the ’80s-vintage Urinal were regular punching bags at Casa Diablo, and we contend, rightly so.
Yet despite our, shall we say, different perspectives, we were friends with John, because his kindness, generosity, and genuine thoughtfulness were readily apparent to anyone who spent time with him. The word “gregarious” seems insufficient in describing him. As Charlie Bakst reminisced in Monday’s front-page obituary in the Other Paper, about going to lunch with John when they were working at the State House bureau, “It would take 15 minutes to make the two-minute trip from the 2nd floor press room to the basement restaurant and I’d be hungry and he’d be talking to people.”
In the 1990s, Jorge co-hosted a radio show with John. This came about when WPRO-AM was roiling around, trying to come up with a good afternoon drive formula. Jorge, out of a job (as usual), called then-program director Artie Tefft to pitch the idea of a show with himself and Hackett. “We’re almost diametrically opposed on all cultural issues,” Jorge explained, “and we’re friends. I think it’s a really strong dynamic.”
We started at WPRO, but ended up moving over to WHJJ for most of the run.
Once, after US Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders, had been relieved of duty during the Clinton Administration, Jorge and John took part in a memorable (and typical) exchange. Elders had placed her foot in her mouth on a number of occasions, and the purported straw that broke the camel’s back followed. During a presentation on out-of-wedlock pregnancies, she noted how studies had found that a large number of poor, urban teens were unfamiliar with masturbation. She suggested that it might be helpful to discuss the practice with adolescents.
Over the air, Jorge opined that this did not sound like such a bad idea. John responded by saying there was no need to teach children about “self-abuse.” Jorge took issue with that phrase, saying that the only context in which masturbation could be considered abusive would be in the Old Testament story of Onan spilling his seed. Jorge continued, “If someone feels that’s credible, I’ll accept it, but how does this make sense for women? Masturbation has no impact on a woman’s reproductive system.”
John’s face reddened, and it felt as if he wanted to leap across the table at poor Jorge. Perhaps the zesty liberal had scored a point, although John would never have acknowledged it. Instead, he announced he didn’t want to discuss this topic any further and we moved on.
Although we had many serious differences, on a wide variety of social and cultural issues (when John would complain about that rock ’n’ roll was “jungle music,” Jorge would put on an excerpt from Benny Goodman’s recording of Louis Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” and insist that this, too, was “jungle music”), there were areas in which John was the acknowledged master.
Jorge has never met anyone with as much knowledge of the state budget. John’s near-encyclopedic mastery of local, state, and federal government functions was equally impressive. Jorge learned a lot, but he suspects that John continued to be disappointed by Jorge’s unwillingness to change his mind on such things as the naturalness of same-sex love and the notion that God is not against pleasure (i.e., masturbation) — no matter what the Roman Catholic Church says.
But we could always agree on a good cigar (although here is where Jorge must take issue with the Urinal obit; John was not a smoker of “fine cigars.” He smoked not-so-fine cigars). And yes, this is a lot of ink for John Hackett. He was an admirable reporter, a fine writer, and a good man. He deserves the tribute, and Phillipe & Jorge will miss our friend.
