Babble & Buzz
est. 2003
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Use It or Lose It
More than 300 daily newspapers had committed today to run editorial or opinion pieces standing up for their -- and your, if you're lucky enough to be a U.S. citizen or resident -- First Amendment rights today. Here's what the Philadelphia Inquirer had to say as mounted on the Inquirer and (Philadelphia) Daily News' combined web site www.philly.com.
http://www2.philly.com/philly/opinion/editorials/newspaper-free-press-editorials-donald-trump-philadelphia-20180815.html
Here's a rundown of what some other media organizations were publishing around the nation, as compiled by the Microsoft Network (MSN).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/special-edition-supernumbersmartlist-op-eds-speak-up-for-press-freedom/ar-BBLYRXC?ocid=spartanntp
The Asbury Park Press, a Gannett paper, included this link to a USA Today piece that might prove of interest, too.
https://www.app.com/story/opinion/2018/08/14/what-our-investigative-journalists-expose-isnt-fake-news-column/992760002/
Additionally, here's the press freedom editorial from The Times Herald, the stalwart still covering the county seat where I was born, Norristown, Pennsylvania. It's not (yet) reachable from the home page of the paper's web site. You deserve -- and need -- to read the so-called deep link.
http://www.timesherald.com/opinion/20180815/editorial-president-trump-we-are-not-the-enemy-of-the-people
Please, oh please, use your freedoms for all and only good things and causes, people, but for Heaven's sake don't just roll over and give them up! This is who we are, the symbol we are to scattered nations around the world, the beacon that shows there is more to life than fear and division. Please stand up for your country so it can continue to function as our Founding Fathers intended.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Copland at St. James, Chicago
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Found!
Late this afternoon my calendar emerged from way at the bottom of a decent sized pile of photo boxes I've been trying not to go through. I'm assuming it just got naturally stacked there: bottom line, I'm very glad to have it back in my hands. The very few things I need to jot down should make it in by the end of the week.
Have a great night, all.
Sigh -- an Entire Summer Down the Tubes?
Hold a thought for my paper calendar, which has gone South! I'm confident it's just under a pile of papers, but you never know ...
Meanwhile, if I've made a commitment to you that you consider crucial, please contact me by phone, email or in person so you can be sure I'll be where I said I'd be when I said I'd be.
Thanks.
Saturday, June 07, 2014
The Quote I Never Used -- a Gutless Gut Check Time for a Former Reporter and Editor
"Give it to some crippled children." Respecting a man for what he says is important, not how politically correctly he says it.
The one I wish I'd never said: "You have enough bling to go with that?"
Oh, and don't tell me it's for a favor, or that it's a press release from somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. Is it a story? Is it worth telling? Is it true??? That's all I want and wanted to know. That's what I used to write.
Thursday, June 05, 2014
Overdue Thanks
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The unfortunate name which my little beastling dog ended up carrying (accidental insults abound through it -- she just didn't look like a "Gracie," and I didn't have the heart to fully change her name as I felt she'd already been through too much) calls to mind the first person for whom my own dad ever named a dog.
That man, Andrew I. Kane, is suffering the loss of his wife, Jean M. Kane, and we all suffer for loss of her. I was physically incapacitated as the undertaker's widow drove my mother through a bad, bad rainstorm to be there about two weeks ago at Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Church in North Wales, Pennsylvania. I'm not intent upon imposing my religion, culture or worldview on anyone, but I do want to capture the details of her service here if not for you, then at least for me to come back to at a later time to get an idea of Mrs. Kane's legacy and lasting impact on this world. We've all got 'em.
If you'll indulge me, I'm just going to type:
Jean M. Kane
Entered This Life: October 6, 1935
Born to Eternal Life: May 10, 2014
Those we love remain with us/for love itself lives on,/and cherished memories never fade/because a loved one's gone./Those we love can never be more/than a thought apart,/For as long as there is memory,/they'll live on in the heart.
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Church
North Wales, Pennsylvania
Friday May 16, 2014
10:30 a.m.
Footprints
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord./Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky./In each scene I noticed the footprints in the sand./Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,/other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed/that during the low period of my life,/when I was suffering from/anguish, sorrow or deteat,/I could only see one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,/"You promised me Lord/that if I followed you,/you would walk with me always./But I have noticed that during hte most trying periods of my life/there have only been one set of footprints in the sand./Why, when I needed you the most, have you not been there for me?"
The Lord replied,/"The times when you have only seen one set of footprints in the sand is when I have carried you." -Mary Stevenson
Funeral Mass
Reverend William J. Teverzcuk
Entrance Hymn: How Great Thou Art
First Reading: Revelations 21:1-5a,6b-7, read by Matthew A. Taormina
Responsorial Psalm
Second Reading: Thessalonians 4:13-18, read by Patrick J. Taormina
Gospel
General Intercesions read by Kathryn K. Taormina
Presentation of Gifts: Amazing Grace
Communion Hymn: I Am the Bread of Life
Meditation Hymn: Ave Maria
Words of Remembrance delivered by Andrew J. Matin
Recessional Hymn: On Eagles Wings
It is my shame and mine alone that I was not strong enough to make it there, and my worse shame still that I do not have the words that can console Andy or his daughters. I am unafraid to say that I love them; that they were an indelible, sparkling part of my childhood and that I feel the lack of them sharply. It's like losing two pints of blood each time someone I love passes or someone I love suffers loss.
I will deal with the death of my own father one of these days, one of these days soon I hope. I know for certain that he wouldn't be pleased at how hard I've taken his passing, though of course everybody needs to be remembered and everyone likes to know they're missed -- that they've made an impact.
For my part in the meantime I will do my best to be cheerful and to be good. Most importantly, I will try not to be such as Cassandra -- though I will warn people and admonish them as conscience dictates. Hypocrisy is a always a risk when one feels the need to share one's views with another: that is something I'm going to strive to minimize, too. Sometimes there's a veritable sheet of sheetrock covering both of my eyes that I really should peel away before I presume to tell the rest of the world, if I even do, how to conduct its business.
Try to be patient with me if you read these words. It may not always look like it from where any one given person is standing, but I really am trying my best here in all I do.