Advance opinions: Open eyes, dignified hats, virtual running

Grand Rapids Press editor Paul Keep tells how a mother listening to her son ensures the news organization was on top of a story in a column about "Keeping our eyes and ears open for a good story."

David Mayo is back writing, the latest on Curtis Granderson joining the 30-30 club.

Speaking of coming is a guy who once worked for The Flint Journal but moved on to the Star-Ledger in New Jersey. Barry Carter is calling for the "return of the fashionable, dignified hat." Tuesday's column goes further south - a plea for teens to pull up those sagging pants.
(Remember when that was a Flint concern and Flint Journal blogger Andrew Heller came up with a solution.)

While I'm over at NJ.com, I remembered I never shared that columnist Kathleen O'Brien is off on a leave. However, she's also blogging as energy permits in "We'll know more on Monday." It's a phrase familiar to those waiting diagnoses. In this case, O'Brien has cancer and you'll want to start with "my blog, my breast, my rules."

Cancer gets a mention by the Jersey Guy because a friend of his has the little c. The next day he zeros in on tragic news in his back yard, able to find a positive, a lesson that might make lake living safer. Timely post on water safety tips from a lifesaving professional on Omamas, a blog of "journalist moms working for you" in Oregon.

In New Orleans, Twitter has seduced another journalist.

In Oregon, it's End of life care: A new way to die rich. Or go give Jack Ohman a caption for his latest cartoon. You can even watch a video on how he draws while you are there. (He's the guy who won the RFK Award for editorial cartoons in June.)

Did you know that in states like Tennessee and Alabama, kids are already back in school. Press-Register columnist Frances Coleman says that starting school this early should be a crime.

I thought I'd found the perfect way to run - a virtual race - until I learned you still do the running.