Sometimes the scale is tipped by a heavy-handed grip. I recently reported on Facebook that a book I wrote is about to be published. I received my printed copy —the first off the press—at the beginning of this week, and its availability is scheduled to be announced in a week to ten days. I have been working on rounding up names of family and friends, along with their email and postal addresses, to whom I’ll ask the [...] READ MORE
Roger Ailes transformed FOX News into a voice of Republican conservatism. The whole thing is insulting. In fact, it’s deranged. And we’re not playing along. This is the only hour on an American news channel that will not be carrying their propaganda live. They are lying, and we’re not going to help them do it. —Tucker Carlson, FOX News Commentator on why his network did not cover the opening prime time hearing of the January 6 Committee. [...] READ MORE
Reaching back into the past for observations on humanity and humor. A number of years ago during my years as an editor and weekly columnist for a newspaper that has since banned my opinions, I wrote a column with the heading: “Direct Routes Aren’t Always the Most Effective Ways to Travel.” You see, the “number of years” from the date of that commentary is approaching 28, and I was, at the time, past the midpoint of a [...] READ MORE
Once you get to the top, the only way to go is down. There’s really no need to sprint to the bottom. Baby Boomers in their sixties and seventies were taught by our parents and grandparents to work hard and be loyal. Loyalty is a two-way street, or so we were told, and employers supposedly recognized and respected this asset as exemplified by our hard work and willingness to go the extra mile. Our parents were better [...] READ MORE
The sands of time never run out on a story worth telling. I recently completed the manuscript for what has evolved into a 90,000-word narrative nonfiction book at whose hub is a true crime that occurred in the mid-1970’s when I was a young, wet-behind-the-ears reporter in Williamsport, PA. It was my first full-time job, aside from my three-year enlistment in the Army as an intelligence analyst, and, as it turned out, I was working there in [...] READ MORE
Newspapers are struggling to survive. Do they have to sell out to stay in business? What’s the news across the nation? According to one highly informed source, the country is becoming an “expanding news desert.” It’s hard to believe when you can access breaking news any time of day, whether via cable news channels or internet websites. Not only can you get your news, but you can choose your kind of news, customized to fit your personal [...] READ MORE
The story of Grit, a newspaper that accentuated to positive, is a combination of triumph and tragedy. If you are around long enough, you might become part of history, something that was special to thousands — and, in my case, hundreds of thousands of people across the country. For me it was Grit— a nationally circulated weekly newspaper. I was hired as a reporter/writer there in the late summer of 1972. Note that it was Grit, not [...] READ MORE
Casualty list of America’s daily and weekly newspapers grows. What’s the news across the nation? According to one highly informed source, the country is becoming an “expanding news desert.” It’s hard to believe when you can access breaking news any time of day, whether via cable news channels or internet websites. Not only can you get your news, but you can choose your kind of news, customized to fit your personal needs, beliefs and desires. And, as [...] READ MORE
Boomers killed America’s love affair with smoking before it killed more of us. Skill Note: Most of following was written in July of 2015 as a newspaper column several years after retiring from 39 years as a reporter and editor for three different newspapers. Aside from several edits, addendums and asides, it remains the same. I know the range of age for retired people grows wider and wider with each passing year. For starters, people retire a [...] READ MORE
Sometimes it takes some digging to get to the truth I guess you might call this the era of fake news, so our biggest challenge as informed citizens is to get real and not live life like a reality show. It’s about exploiting our biases with adulterated or downright phony stories that get passed along until they amass hundreds of thousands, even millions, of believers. The 21st Century version is nurtured and promulgated by social media and [...] READ MORE
