Area Stoner Turns the Tables on PB Post Columnist

For me and for a great many other reporters, the most loathsome chore in journalism is the dreaded "man on the street" interview, which is why I both admire and pity the Palm Beach Post's Frank Cerabino, who every week ventures out of the cool fluorescent confines of his newsroom...

By Thomas Francis

January 6, 2009

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For me and for a great many other reporters, the most loathsome chore in journalism is the dreaded "man on the street" interview, which is why I both admire and pity the Palm Beach Post's Frank Cerabino, who every week ventures out of the cool fluorescent confines of his newsroom to meet actual people. (Every time I see the opening credits, I strain to see the editor who must be pointing a pistol in Cerabino's direction.)

The most charming aspect of these videotaped encounters is the wonder Cerabino displays toward people who are openly doing things that -- based on the antiseptic world presented in daily papers -- they are supposed to be ashamed of doing. In the most recent episode, Cerabino tempts New Year's resolvers with chocolate confections. At about the 2:40 mark, our intrepid columnist is flummoxed by a beach "dude" who not only admits to being under the influence of marijuana, he apparently believes that Cerabino is a fellow stoner with whom he can share his cache of "munchies."

And if you like this "Street Level," I must recommend, Beer for Breakfast, an incredibly uncomfortable viewing experience in which our camera crew tries in vain to make light of people who go straight to the bar in the morning, almost as if compelled by -- oh, I don't know -- an addiction?

-- Thomas Francis

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