Fame fleeting so make most of Letterman

Two formerly employed reporters showed up in my feed today. One had a story on David Letterman's Small Town News segment Monday and became a story because Letterman's advice to "keep up the good work" went to a laid-off reporter. The other reporter was praised in Jeff Jarvis's Buzzmachine for "using the brand equity said employer helped him build - in his own tinseltown blog, Greg in Hollywood."

So here's hoping that Alicia Ebaugh reads Jarvis and quickly converts her Letterman fame into a job.

She doesn't have the brand equity of Greg Hernandez, who started his own blog just seven days after the Hollywood writer for the LA Daily News was laid off (and knows the value of promotion). But she's done a few blogs, including Generation Why, so with a Linked In page supplementing her Facebook page and a plan she could get going fast.

Poynter's Romenski picked up what Aaron Barnhart wrote about Ebaugh in Hope you're happy, Dave! "Small Town News" journalist dissed by Letterman was laid off last week (He includes the TV clip so you can decide if Letterman was praising or criticizing her when he discussed the October 2007 story about police arresting a man found in a compromising position with an inflatable doll in a public restroom.)

The reporter was one of 13 that Steve Buttry, then Gazette editor and now information content conductor led go Feb. 24 on "saddest day."

By the way, the Online Gazettee also covered the Letterman story, including a link to Barnhart's blog. But that story and the online police story leave out Ebaugh's name. See, fame is so fleeting.

Editors can view video for blogging idea

Sure, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Newspaper editors won't meet this year at its convention, but editors can keep learning. John Wilpers shares ideas for using bloggers to add content, reach, revenue in a video.

Could newspapers adopt the NPR fund-raising model?

June Thomas looks at the "10 cunning ways" that public radio raises money over on Slate. Her list includes these tactics:

• the perfect gift
• the guilt trip
• flattery
• match game

and these conversations:

• "We're here for you so you be here for us"
• "Your bill is due now"
• "Only you can save journalism"
• "You're not just helping us, you're helping your fellow listeners"
• "Stop me before I make the pitch again"

Plus the organizations do a good job of niche marketing, marketing shows with specific audiences.

"The best of public radio's weekend shows have distinct personalities: the discursive storytelling of This American Life, the self-deprecating bickering of Car Talk, and the cozy in-jokes of A Prairie Home Companion."

So tell me why couldn't newspapers and other media organizations use the same tactics?

Today's the day to be square

Today - 3-3-09 - is a special day. For the world, it's Square Root Day - day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits of the current year. For my family, it's another trip to Ann Arbor for more chemo and a trip to Whole Foods.

All of us would have more fun celebrating Square Root Day then doing the AA dash. Since the next such day won't be here until April 4, 2016, you might as well spend the day doing things such as this:

• Get squared away with a ton of tips from Squared Away
  
• Eat a square meal on square plates. (or learn why hotels started using square plates)
  
• Square your root vegetables (Potatoes, carrots,turnips, rutabegas, etc.)
• Play a game called Square Meal
  
• Go square dancing or learn some history of square dancing
  
• Put square pegs in round holes (video)
  
• Tie a square knot.
• Visit Square Root Day on Facebook
• Or learn the 53 ways to define a square Urban Dictionary
  

The last square root day was Feb. 2, 2004, which got a California teacher excited.

Cartoonist bottled up energy to save print

I am always ready for a laugh, especially when it combines two subjects near and dear to my heart. So click on the cartoon or head over to Matt Bors' blog and see the rest of this four-panel cartoon.

See Matt Bors has come up with his "completely serious, entirely workable, fail proof plan for saving newspapers. Free papers should go this route as well. Why deny yourself the revenue stream?"

(By the way, I was led to Bors and his "print-saving solution" through a Washington Post item on "our web addiction." You'll find another cartoon there: The Fall of Rome-nesko.)

Step into the dark

Richard Nicholson highlights some of the last operating darkrooms. Remember those?

'New toy,' crowded restaurant show some do their part

Some business owners went to sleep smiling last night. One smiled thanks to Jim of L-Town, who is spending more then a few pennies for"Our new toy." Since the purchase is leading to a new blog, perhaps the fancy RV will create even more smiles.

And at Italia Gardens in Flint Township, there was a 30-minute wait for a table. I could have paid for our four dinners if every person who saw the line and said "I thought the economy was bad" or "the stimulous package is working" had to give me $1.

One last observation - my daughter says she saw mini cash registers walking out the door, not the "doggie boxes" each customer carried out. One of her chef-making TV shows had said such boxes meant the restaurant was serving portions that are too big. Or maybe, I said, folks are eating less everyday as a way of stretching the food budget.

Just a thought.

Making it: 'Maize and blue' cake, life

February is a celebration month in our household. Besides Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day, my husband and our marriage turns another year older. Every four years, the kid who rolled over in the hospital gets an official birthday. The other three years, we celebrate on the most convenient date - Feb. 28 or March 1.

This year, we celebrated the birth of the 11-pound wonder on the 28th by going out to dinner and then eating a non-organic cake she baked. Note: She also baked that maize-and-blue one - all organic ingrediants - in a new cake pan for her dad's birthday. (Yes, she's trying to eat foods not enriched by hormones or vitamins. She wanted a confetti cake so she "went off the wagon.")

She unwrapped a few gifts - more cotton thread to crochet, a few books and a new comforter. She hit the quarter of a century mark so that means she must move off her father's insurance. I'm looking forward to informing all the medical people of the third insurance switch since her cancer treatment started. (you can bet we are following the switch carefully - 1 application was already lost.)

Some friends and family members expected a bigger celebration - especially as the first set of chemo shrunk the tumors by about 9 cm. But the newly weekly chemo treatments leave her tired. Plus alcohol and crowds ate to be avoided. We want to see the doctors do another happy dance at the end of this set of chemo, so it is early to bed, late to rise and naps in-between. Plus yoga. Some days, she's making a few meals..... or baking a cake.

Impossibility of 'Hot Box' reminds ex-Journal editor how truth emerges

A former Flint Journal copy editor recalls The Hot Box  and shows how that related to where newspapers are today.

He starts the tale this way:

Years ago, in the early stages of newspapers' redesigning, I worked for a chain of eight midsize newspapers in the Midwest. Some of them looked as if it were still World War II, but in the early 1970s one of them had radically redesigned and managed to lose 10 percent of its subscribers in one week, or some figure like that. So they were going about it more cautiously.

So they had hired a designer to redo all the papers. (His name was Ralph "Chic" Bain. I have no idea what happened to him, although LinkedIn might place him in Austin.) We were Chic's third or fourth paper in a row and he had used all of his easy-to-gin-up ideas in other cities.

For our paper, he unveiled "the hot box." This was an attempt to get away from the tyranny of the three-across teaser box that then dominated newspaper design. Instead, we would have a line of type -- the equivalent of the Times Square zipper, but not moving -- at the top of the page, and then a box with a big image -- 2x2.5, about -- at the right margin, next to the flag. As with all designers, Chic selected a striking illustration for his prototype. He presented it to the top editors, and they approved it.

David worried about " our ability to come up with a striking illustration 365 days a year. I was scared that within a week this would end up being another grainy wirephoto of Jimmy Carter (we had old presses and almost no color). "

David says even Chic thought The Hot Box would be killed. See the original post for how David recalls that conversation, one with an editor who approved the plan and why this matters today. It has something to do with what journalists really believe. Let's just say the emperor wears no clothes, some editors who believe an artist is right even while doubting the the vision can be done, and journalism is doomed.

Should your spouse have your passwords?

When I saw this Facebook status:

XXX loves her husband dearly and remembers her wedding vow to LOVE and OBEY! Oh, and XXX (her husband) is ALWAYS right.

I immediately remembered the time in the newsroom when a reporter did not log off and his credit line was changed to Journal bonehead reporter. It made the newspaper because the friend assumed the reporter would catch and what copy editor looks at what is always the same.

When I later saw this status:

XXX just changed her Facebook password so her husband can't change her status. Uggh.

I remembered I wanted to ask if you give your spouse all your passwords to all of your online homes. It's not that I'm hiding anything. I just join a lot of things. Sometimes I hang around; sometimes I don't.

Not too long ago, I was showing my husband one of the sites I use when he asked if I had all my sites and passwords written down. He says he just wants to make sure he can clean up after me in case I die.

At least, we are Facebook friends so he'll be able to take of that page since Facebook changes policy on deceased users accounts

Kristen Nicole on All Facebook shared this tale:

Late last week the Consumerist wrote an article highlighting a woman who had trouble convincing Facebook to remove the profile of her deceased brother. William Bemister, the brother of Stephanie Bermister, died suddenly last November. Stephanie's case in particular brings up several important issues regarding Facebook, it's policy towards deceased users, and the way in which it deals with family members of the deceased.

Per Facebook's policy, his profile was memorialized, a process by which certain private information is removed and the page is only accessible to confirmed friends through search.

However, his sister was not a friend so she couldn't get the profile completely down even after sending in a request and copy of the death certificate.

Nicole asks:

Should Facebook have the right to decide what to do with a deceased member's account despite direct and confirmed contact with a relative?

Facebook removed William's account all together, and Nicole says Facebook responded to Nicole that it will honor such requests from family members.

Nicole wants to know how Facebook knows someone is dead; I want to know what does Facebook do if some family members want the profile up and some want it gone.

Meanwhile, Nicole suggests you

• make sure you're friends with your closest family members that also have Facebook accounts.
  
• have a plan that outlines instructions to family members and loved ones in regard to what should be done with accounts.

What are you going to do?


Related posts:

• Worry time? Husband wants my online info Published July 17, 2008
  

Facebook replacing rallies, picket lines? Citizens aim to ‘Save the Jersey Journal’

The Jersey City Independent chose to report on what's happening with the Jersey Journal, an Advance Publication facing closure by focusing on a community effort happening on Facebook.

A 36-year-old journalist started the Save the Jersey Journal” group on Facebook "just a week after the Evening Journal Association, which publishes the tabloid daily, announced an April 13 expiration date for the 142-year-old paper if its revenue was not sufficient to support a “reduced expense plan.” "

Just one more Facebook group among zillions, today's replacement for petitions and picket lines. I've got The Path to Pink, and Feel Your Boobies for breast cancer; closer to home Support downtown Flint neighborhoods. and in a way, close to home: Don't Let Newspapers Die and Stop Outsourcing US Jobs - Support American jobs . There's Save GM and Support The UAW and so many more. (Am I really stopping global warning with each plant in Green Patch?)

Kate Kaye told Jon Whiten, the article's author, why she started the Facebook group:

"I decided it was the very least I could do to show the publishers that people care.

I realize to many this seems like a futile effort, and as one who has covered the online newspaper sector for years as a business reporter, I’m well aware of the reality — and cynicism — print papers face.

But I’m also someone who recognizes the value of having a daily print publication for any city for historical, cultural, communal, political, and utilitarian purposes.””

By the time of Whiten's article, the group collected 124 members.

The group's purpose:

"This group has been created to foster ideas to help save The Jersey Journal , the only daily paper covering Jersey City, New Jersey's second largest city, and the county seat of Hudson County. The paper has served Jersey City for over 140 years. It survived the Great Depression. Let's not let it die now, especially in a year when a tight mayoral election race is heating up."

There's advice there that the best way to save the newspaper is to subscribe.

You'll also find a post suggesting folks sign a petition (not that petitions do much to get businesses to change their ways when they are failing.)

Whiten, who has freelanced for the newspaper, said includes information about fewer editorial employees, including management's hope that four to six of the about 13 remaining newsroom staffers to leave voluntarily (down from about 60 in 1972.) and a request to the Newspaper Guild to let the growing number of interns stay longer then nine months.

Whiten also writes about how overall coverage is going, the newspaper's Internet presence, why the local government won't save the press and why some don't read the printed newspaper.


Related posts - Advance Publications:

• Advance newspapers get warning of closure
• Flint Journal sister paper to hire Local News Service
• Nothing new in news business

Related posts - Facebook:

• Facebook's 25 Things gets noticed by Time, NYT; gi.ves me some attention
• Graphing Social Patterns: The Business

Fighting (again) wastes time

My doctor fought and won - I can keep taking the medicine that has helped me fight fatigue for five years.

He called my insurance company numerous times (and didn't bill for the time.) He gave me samples to keep me going for the six weeks of rejection.There is no generic substitute. There is no alternative, including the insurance company's advice to take more naps.

I already try to fight MS fatigue by using my energy wisely. I nap. I sleep. I exercise.

I wonder how much money is wasted each time a doctor who prescribes a rejected medicine fights. There's paperwork, phone calls, research - all done by humans.

I don't think changing the pill top label to use less ink or dropping the label completely will ever save enough to make up for the firm's questioning of the accredited doctor's judgement.

If he prescribed it, he thinks it should be filled - especially if it is a refill.

Another paper wants to try charging

Reuters reported today that Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper. The agency said the move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend.

A Newsday rep wasn't immediately available to elaborate on the paper's web plans. Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge made no-more-free-content remark during a call with analysts.

"Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed," he said on a conference call with analysts.

"We plan to end the distribution of free Web content," he added.

That should make L. Gordon Crovitz, the columnist with the Wall Street Journal who recently wrote that "information wants to be expensive."

Personally, I liked Mark Ingram's take on the column: "WSJ: We charge, so why don't you."

Simple drawing a good predictor

Is this bag lying down or standing up? Or can you see it both ways?

Some days I can flip the bag drawn by one of my doctors. Some days I can only see inside the bag one way.

The one-way day is not a good day for me to go looking for Waldo, finding the "magic picture" hidden in scribbles or picturing what the completed quilt or necklace will look like.

Real-life story problem boggles minds

My daughter's newest prescription came with the pharmacy's explanation and five more letter-size sheets of instructions. The cautions are frightening. So was figuring out when to take it with her other drugs.

It boils down to one drug must be taken 30 minutes before eating, the new one two hours after that one amd the other one at least an hour later.

She and I both graduated from college and are good readers. It took several readings, an Internet search and a call before it was all sorted out.

Keep your fingers crossed that this new drug wipes out her infection. I am not sure either of us is up for the next round.

Give up Facebook for Lent?

Today's the first day of Lent. For many Christians, it also is the first day they give up something to make a sacrifice in preparation for Easter.

Giving up Facebook for 40 days , as one friend plans to do, seems over the top. I'm sure she'd be shocked to find out how trendy giving up social media networking for Lent is.

Twitter talk about Lent was such a popular topic, it consistently was listed as a hot topic on the search page. Twitter also led me back to Facebook.

alexcrabb: Just talking with E about - Facebook should have a Lent application: see what your friends give up.

Alexcrabb included a link to How to give up Facebook for Lent and keep your friends.

That included mention of a Wall Street Journal article on Lent that referenced a Giving Up Facebook for Lent group. (By the way, there are more then 500 Facebook groups with Lent in the title, including 94 that have the words giving up Facebook for Lent in the title.)

Then, I decided to check my RSS reader. Some folks are giving up and giving: Dave Harte, who is giving up Twitter pledges a donation to a group helping homeless youth for each day he stays off Twitter. He'll double the donation for any day he goes on Twitter.

I regularly give up Facebook, Twitter and other social media when other activities call so dropping social media would not be much of a sacrifice for me.

On the Levite Chronicles, Jon Swanson describes fasting as "giving up unhealthy dependence on stuff." It is part of a post on "Deliberate Silence," a choice the blogger can make in a world filled with noise from family, friends, advertisers and more.

"But at 6:30am on Ash Wednesday, in a quiet house, I can choose to be silent, or not. I can choose to have noise, or not. I can decide to look at the stream of images and words, or not.

I can decide whether there is an unhealthy dependence, or not."

Once I finish that, I started thinking that maybe the sacrifice I should make is giving up making these Internet connections.

Night Blind: Latitude Loyalty

Night Blind: Latitude Loyalty and my Grandma In Compton, 1960

Isn't 'latitude loyalty' a wonderful way to describe the worry you stayed too long and the town is no longer home, sweet, home?

That the town is Flint, Michigan, makes the question even more bittersweet.

The good news is the Internet makes the world smaller every day.

Grandpa's advice: Don't be a key turner

Today would have been my grandfather's birthday. And though he's been dead a number of years, I think about him everyday - or at least every time I drive a car or open a locked door.

He was always free with advice and he often reminded his grandchildren to "not be a key turner."

My grandfather lived on the same street for most of the years I was growing up. He did his best to make sure I wasn't a key turner.

A key turner is a person who knows how to jump in the car, turn the key and go. A key turner does not know what to do when the oil light flashes, how to fill a gas tank, change a tire or what transmission fluid smells like. A key turner would never look at the drippings in the driveway and conclude something might be leaking.

You can bet I knew a lot about what was under the hood of my car when I first began driving. I knew that turning a key was just a tiny part of the process of making a car go from one place to another. I knew that knowledge and maintenance contributes to successful driving.

That key-turning business applies to more then cars, of course.

It applies to all things mechanical. I knew how to oil my sewing machine and keep my bike running. He made sure I could do minor repairs and maintenance on the washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove and lawnmower

The key-turner philosophy also applies to a person individually. It is up to you to know as much about you as possible and become your best advocate.

Just like your driving habits may mean your car never gets the miles per hour promised on a sticker label , your multiple sclerosis may differ from your neigbhor's MS. You may never need a wheelchair, you might need one a year after you are diagnosed. You may be able to keep working when someone else can't. You might only read, not experience, the Lhermitte's Sign's flash of electricity along your back..

Remembering that "your mileage may vary" helps me speak up when a doctor tries to prescribe a drug I know won't chase an infection away even if "it works for everyone else."

Being everybody else never was a goal in my family.

Jobs for journalists via RSS

Blogger and former full-time, paid journalist Charles Apple wrote about
A new RSS feed for journalism job seeker, created by VizEds founder Robb Montgomery

Robb writes:

I know it is a bad time to be looking for a job and even more frustrating not to be able to quickly find suitable ones.

Cheer up my displaced colleagues. Help is here.

In his downtime, Robb has created a new RSS feed. He’s calling it Media Professionals.

Media Professionals is a hyper-aggregated, algorithm-fueled, jobs feed Twitter-widget mashup with a Plaxo group for backup support.

Robb also is using this to feed his Digital Jobs widget on Facebook.

Related posts:

• Beyond the buyout, beyond the bylines for journalists
• Talent will outlast jobs, careers
• It hurts to laugh; it helps to prepare

(I am on Plaxo and Facebook and Twitter if you want to connect there. Oh heck, LinkedIn too.)

Girl Scout cookies save a life

A story I thought you might enjoy. And if that made you hungry for your own Girl Scout cookies, visit this web site to learn how to get yours.

A favorite 'holiday' for this Girl Scout

Today is a Girl Scout holiday and it's the one I love best.

Online friends made years before Bebo, MySpace and FaceBook helped me learn more about being a sister to every Girl Scout and Girl Guide in about 150 countries.

Those same online friends help make the celebration of today special. Feb. 22 is World Thinking Day, a day to think about Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world. Although the day was created in 1926 at the fourth Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference in New York, I don't remember celebrating it much as a girl Girl Scout.

I hope that the Girl Scouts I volunteered for in the 1990s and early 2000s remember what we did. They have the patches like the ones in this post to serve as reminders of some of the events created by WAGGGS-L, an email list that continues today.

WAGGGS-L once was the biggest Girl Scout/Girl Guide list. The text-only list was a way for many English-speaking adults involved with Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to exchange ideas. It was a busy list and, like many lists, some questions came up over and over. That led to one of the first hosts of the lists creating a Thinking Day resource to help Girl Scouts and Girl Guides with activities. The host wrote:

"Especially in the United States, Thinking Day is celebrated with internationally-themed events, and troops often pick this time of year to learn about cultures from other nations and Scouting or Guiding in other countries. "

The resource was "prepared in an attempt to limit the posts to WAGGGS-L that request information about other countries."

We also started creating our own ways of marking Girl Scout/Girl Guide occasions.

I think 1997 was the first time the girls in my troop used IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to talk with girls involved with the Girl Scout/Guide movement. That was at my house.

In other years, the Flint Public Library and the Genesee District Library opened their computer labs to give girls in what was Girl Scouts Fair Winds Council a chance to participate.

Another year, our troop went about 25 miles to partner with another Cadette Girl Scout troop to host a Thinking Day event at a school. Of course, one station was devoted to participating in the chat.

My troop would help girls from other troops communicate on the chat services. And by chat - remember this was in the late 1990s - I mean the girls showed others how to type in their words and choose and send simple icons.

I'll never forget the Brownie Girl Scout who started crying after finishing a chat with a Brownie in London. A Girl Scout volunteer showed her Flint, Michigan, and London on a map in one of the many reference books the libraries provided. The girl cried because she knew she couldn't swim that far and would never meet her new friend.

I also loved watching as the girls learned that how time worked - that it might be lunchtime here but time for dinner elsewhere. Maybe a day earlier or even a day later. The girls loved sleepovers on Thinking Day so that they could talk with girls from other countries throughout the night.

Several years, we exchanged postcards with other troops. Each troop would send a postcard from their area and write about favorite activities. One year, we exchanged cards only with troops with girls the same age.

The majority of troops lived in the United States, so when an exchange between international troops could be arranged that was a bonus. Now, some countries post official postcards online.

The exchange continues and this year 3,196 US Troops and 861 international units from 52 countries participated.

• 2008: 2,961 US Troops, 1,057 International Units from 49 countries
• 2007: 3,145 US Troops and 675 International Units from 43 countries
• 2006: 2,458 US Troops and 445 International Units from 38 countries
  
• 2005,: 2,399 US Troops and 438 International Units from 29 countries
  
• 2004: 2,443 US Troops and 422 International Units from 31 countries
  
• 2003: 1,,734 US Troops and 487 International Units from 28 countries
• 2002: 2,214 US Troops and 428 International Units from 34 countries
  
• 2001, 1,200 US troops; 175 International units from 22 countries
  
• 2000, 795 US troops; 127 International units from 21 countries
  
• Also held in 1998 and 1999, but no statistical data
  

The Feb. 22 date was chosen because it was the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement, and his wife Olave, who served as World Chief Guide.

So it's not surprising that the idea of birthday gifts would be added to the celebration. At the 7^th World Conference in 1932, a delegate suggested girls could contribute to the World Association. Olave wrote to all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts after this idea was adopted asking them to help support the Movement by donating just a penny per girl . The money helps spread the Movement.

One year, we based our donation on the number of post cards received by a particular date. Another year, it was a penny per every inch of girl's height.

Like many things in the Girl Scout Movement, service sweetens the activity. WAGGGS-L members used the theme of Service in Blooming in 1998. Girls participated in activities such as fashion shows featuring Girl Scout uniforms to spark shared memories at nursing homes; creation of centerpieces for shut-ins and sharing of international fairy tales at library story hours.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, the official center of Thinking Day activities for all Girl Scouts and Girl Guides, sets a different theme each year. For instance, this year the theme is girls worldwide say “Stop the spread of AIDS, malaria and other diseases”. The topic links to the Millennium Development Goal 6: ‘Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases’ and WAGGGS’ Global Action Theme.

Important work and a reminder that each of us has a role to play.

As the Old Goat said in one of the many virtual greetings that spread this year:

"I am a link in the Golden Chain of World Friendship.
I will keep my link strong and bright."

(And I pass my candle to my right. We have already sung "The World Song." We will sing "One Little Candle", "Oh, Beautiful Banner", and then "Taps.")

I'm off to get my place in the cirlce. Have a Happy Thinking Day!

My house became a home 26 years ago today

Enough boxes had been unpacked. Enough furniture was bartered, begged and bought to fill at least some of the space in the two-story pink house. Enough money was saved up to buy food and drink for invited guests and to host a grown-up party.

It was time for a party to celebrate my purchase of my very own house, to celebrate my independence and willingness to live on my own unafraid of stalkers, to celebrate my decision to stay in Flint, Michigan, for at least five more years.

Three months earlier, I found a house I could divide and sublet to help cover the monthly mortgage. It was within walking distance of my employer in a neighborhood I already had spent nearly four years in. Friends, museums and music were nearby.

In 1982, few single women bought houses in Flint, Michigan. But I was determined to invest in the city and listen to my grandfather who preached that renting was like throwing your money in the garbage and move on with the lifestyle I chose. Only a year earlier, I acknowledged it would be a bigger mistake to continue a six-year marriage and divorced the man I fell for during the dreamlike days of college. We had already spent three of those years living apart; it was time to sever the last ties.

It took a year to recover emotionally and financially from the official action of separation. But I was ready and started looking for the right house.

I checked the house closely with a friend who knew a lot about electricity, plumbing and carpentry. I looked over the city inspection records (and later learned why it's important to check the relationship of the inspector and property owner). I reviewed property assessment records to make sure I offered a fair price.

With the help of a last-minute loan to pay unexpected costs, I signed the papers that tied me to real estate payments for 30 years. With the help of a few friends and family, I moved in shortly before Christmas.

The next weeks were spent removing features I hated - gold wallpaper with black flocking, for instance, - and getting things comfortable.

I was also getting comfortable with something unusual - a steady relationship with one man. In fact, since I left one date to go on one with this guy in early December I'd spent at least part of every day with him. That was unusual for a woman who dated many or none since moving out in 1979 and divorcing in 1981.

Still marriage was not on my mind - been there, done that.

I picked the date for the open house, ready to celebrate my independence with family and friends. The invites were out, RSVPs started coming back, and I was ready to share my new home with all.

I don't remember the exact date this new guy and I started talking about the possibility of a more permanent relationship. We kept talking, meeting each other's families, talking, exploring and talking.

Then one day, we slipped from someday to now. In fact, we decided let's get married and tell everyone when they come to the open house. It would be a simple exchange of wedding vows followed by an already planned celebration.

In a moment of sanity, we told our parents, brothers and sisters. Suddenly, the plans expanded to include a wedding day breakfast following the ceremony in our living room. The 30 or so members of our immediate family from the Detroit area, Ohio and Flint-area communities wanted to witness the marriage.

The wedding was a surprise to most friends who came to the open house. Many said they were not surprised we had tied the knot, just that we would do so after knowing each other less then four months.

The weather was another surprise that day - warm enough that people did not need a jacket to stand outside on the porch. Somehow, a spring day snuck into a Michigan winter.

Another surprise was the birth of our Leap Day baby a year later.

Surprises continue to come into our lives. But I wasn't surprised that roses came today with a note that says "the honeymoon isn't over yet."

Neither is the making of our home together.

Caught my eye: Police blotters

Could ex-journalists who once covered the crime beat make money with their own online crime report? It's an idea Jim of L-Town and some other mid-Michigan boughtout journalists explored and rejected.

I think that's why this paragraph jumped out in the Baltimore Police Blotter turns 30 article:

"What is suprising to me is that the while newspapers shed features once thought sacrosanct, such as stock tables, the blotter remains one of the most popular items in both print and web formats. People complain when it's not in the paper, and the words "police blotter" are among the most searched for terms on our Internet site."

The writer, Peter Hermann, noted:

"Few newspapers have blotters anymore -- the New York Post still does -- and even fewer send reporters out to station houses to compile crime. Such lists typically come from headquarters, and are usually sanitized and contain only the most serious incidents, the incidents that command cares about and thinks everyone else cares about as well.

Community and neighborhood newspapers publish blotters. The one in the Baltimore Guide is very popular among residents, and I thought it was great timing when this week the New York Times wrote a brief sketch of a reporter for the Brooklyn Paper who still walks to the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint to compile a weekly blotter. The headline: "The Dying Art of the Crime Blotter."

I know that one of the first questions I want to know when my husband returns from his monthly board meeting for the neighborhood is what's interesting from the police log.

Sure, the Grand Blanc News and the Grand Blanc View post some police items. The Flint Journal will print the big crime news - a fatal accident, a possible murder.

But unless you know the officers and the meaning behind what's written in the police log, you don't get items like ones featured in Offbeat.

Unless you know the area, you can't spot a trend by neighborhood.

Unless you know the courts, you won't suspect the neighborhood crime spree ended because someone is back in jail.

I'd rather have a person involved with the reporting, but I'd settle for something like Everyblock - a news feed for your neighborhood. So far, Everyblock is limited to

• Boston
• Charlotte
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• New York
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Seattle
• Washington, DC

The grant funding the program is ending soon and the idea of the parent company of the Journal's internet site picking up Everyblock is floating around the Internet. Founder Adrian Holovaty wrote about the program's future, prompting Metaprinter to suggest:

1) Gannett or Advance Publications buys the services of the entire EveryBlock team to incorporate EveryBlock into their news sites. Most importantly the team is tasked with creating logical, simple, cheap ad placement on news sites.

Doubt it would happen - even MetaPrinter gives seven more ideas. But it would help make the web sites go-to news sites.)

Inside view: AF1: A novice's account

The first flight captured

I could have written these words about Air Force 1:

"AF1 was something I'd romanticized since childhood, a symbol of motion, internationalism and national pride and power that transcends whichever plane – or president – is in action at the time.

There was a time when I was sure I wanted to be on that plane as a press reporter, wanted to be on the bus on the presidential campaign trail, wanted to be inside the White House and sharing what I had learned in print.

But my earlier dreams of covering the president of the United States or any politician have been replaced with newer dreams. Still it was fun to read what it was like Feb. 5 aboard Air Force 1 on President Obama's first official flight.

The post, AF1: A novice's account, on Planet Washington, a McClatchy blog opens:

After a year and a half of dragging my laptop and bags on and off of candidate Barack Obama's campaign buses and planes, I wondered if my first trip on Air Force One might feel sort of ho-hum.

The adrenaline kicked in as I drove from downtown Washington into Maryland last Thursday afternoon, cleared the gate at Andrews Air Force Base, went through the Secret Service security sweep and got a special ID tag to wear on my lanyard.
Ahead, I saw a gleaming 747, white with a sky-blue stripe and the words "United States of America" down its length and an American flag painted on the tail."

XXXwas the traveling print pool reporter for half-hour flight each way,to Williamsburg, Va. She wrote five reports that night, so didn't get much time to see much or eat much. Obama did come back to the press area, something the "regulars" said was unusual. But I suggest go read the entry to get more details of the inside.

The post gives details such as this:

The pool serves as the eyes and ears when there isn't room for the full press corps. The White House travel- and in-town pools, with representatives for wire services, networks, news magazines, radio, photography and print, are determined on a rotating basis, and news organizations pay their way.

Just don't expect to find easily who wrote the piece . Guess you are supposed to be a Washington insider to know that.

If you want some more details, including some "historical" info on the first flights of other presidents then check Mark Smith's piece.

What would you tell a college student today? Michigan State seeking talking alumni

Yesterday I was invited to join the annual Michigan State University Student Alumni Networking Luncheon to talk with current students how attending MSU has benefited me in my professional career.

I know what I learned at Michigan State University - in class and out - contributed immensely to my career. I still believe in the journalism program. But there's no way I could tell a student to expect to follow a career path like mine.

Jane Briggs-Bunting, dean of the journalism school, says today's "college students will be tomorrow’s innovators and leaders in reinventing the news business."

The school's web site continues:

"Storytelling is now done in a variety of formats using text, photos, video, sound slides, hyperlinks, graphics, maps, databases and more. Deadlines are 24/7, 365 days of the year. J-School students are learning the skills needed to thrive in this warp speed news environment. We call it Journalism 3.0."

So let's see - text and photos would have been on the list when I went to MSU. Storytelling, too.

So if I could go to the lunch, I would share this advice with students:

• Keep learning. When I started, computers filled rooms, not pockets. Phones were attached by wires within something solid - a phone booth, a house or a business. Publishing a book required a printing press, not just determination, skill and knowledge. We don't know what others are creating and what tools will become available so it is important to find a way to learn what's happening outside the newsroom and your closest community.
  

• Be flexible. There's no way to know where you will end up because the jobs you may do may not be invented yet.
  

• Love telling stories. There are all types of stories to be told. Some hide in data. Some hide in process. Some hide in people. Storytellers enjoy drawing out the pieces, making the connections and replacing their findings with a tale others can remember.
  

By the way if you need another reason to go you can hear MSU gaduate Bob Fish, CEO of Biggby Coffee, speak. (His first store was in East Lansing, earned his degree from MSU in 1989.)

The event is open to all Michigan State alumni:

When: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 12 p.m. doors open
Where: Spartan Club in Spartan Stadium Tower
Guest Speaker: Bob Fish, CEO & Co-Founder Biggby Coffee
Price: No cost for Michigan State Alumni

Interested? You can register online.

Nothing new in news business

A search on Google last night reminded me there isn't anything new in the news business.

A comment in the Rent-A-Journalist post over on Free From Editors sent me searching for more on Dorf Feature Services. Like, what does Dorf mean?

That led to a sidetrack on news reporting services because mantra said there are 483 such services in the United States. I checked out some of the 14 with Michigan ties. (At least one is extinct, the Press Row Sports hasn't written anything for a few months and Associated Press bureaus counted for 4 services, confirming one of my Anonymous commenters that the Rent-A-Journalist idea is like a wire service).

That led to another sidetrack - in 1911, the news was delivered by telephone for $18 a year. Yes, folks could call the Telephone Herald. Check it out. (and to think some thought audiotext was new)

Oh, and Dorf? It was named by the founder based on his name. Sid Dorfman took over the news syndication firm he was working for in 1938 and renamed it a year later. By the way, the link will take you to a 2006 New Jersey Jewish News story, where I learned the agency supplied "life cycle stories" like weddings, obituaries to area newspapers. And, in 2006, he had 50 full-time and 40 part-time employees.

He had started as a correspondent for a Newark, New Jersey three years earlier. He's still writing a sports column for the Star-Ledger - see NJ Sports. NJ.com has a photo gallery with 19 photos of Sid, including a Dorf press pass from 1938.

Yes, the more I learned about Dorfman, the more I learned just how long NJ's Star-Ledger has arranged for content via agencies. For instance, read this memory of the first SL byline.

I even found a copy of a 2007 article the Dorf Feature Service buying out some employees.

Enough. I've got a Google request from my daughter. Let's see where that goes.

Flint Journal sister paper to hire Local News Service to supplement Coverage

A sister newspaper of The Flint Journal -- Star-Ledger in New Jersey -- will hire a local news agency - founded by a bought-out journalist - to cover news once covered by staff journalists. Here's a link to 'Star-Ledger' to Use Local News Service to Supplement Coverage in trade magazine Editor & Publisher.

Kind of eerie to come home to this in my rss reader as one of the 5:30 a.m. today conversations with my daughter today was getting serious about formalizing my business plans.

One of the proposals we talked about today on the ride to her chemo treatment (2nd of next set of 12, or 6th of 16 total) was Rent-A-Journalist.

My theory is that with severe cutbacks, the flu or a natural disaster - heck, maybe even vacations and 'big' events like election night - could leave a newsroom aching for a way to hire temp journalists. The journalists would be the bought-out or retired ones with some fire in their bellies. Rent-A-Journalist would be the go-between, charging newspapers for developing and covering beats.

I think it would work. It was just surprising to read this tonight:

Just months after losing more than 150 newsroom staffers in a hard-hitting buyout, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. is poised to replace some of the departed by contracting with a new outside news service.

Former Star-Ledger Managing Editor Rick Everett is hiring about 30 reporters, and some college students, for an outside news service that is to provide local and municipal coverage of New Jersey to the paper.

The New Jersey paper hires a similar firm to cover some sports so there is a history.

And, as others in the Advance Publication company know - if it plays in New Jersey there's a chance you'll see it play in Michigan, Oregon, Alabama, etc.

I'm mulling over some other ideas as I am not sure I want to jump back in the news world. But this hiring piece is worth followi g. E&P article - link above - has more.

Dropsies and dogs do not mix

My bedroom got an unscheduled sweeping tonight as the household went in search of the needle piece of my Copaxone shot.

The panic started when my husband got back from his mother's house and spotted a chewed partial syringe on the sofa. That syringe was missing the plunger and the cap with a needle. Let's see, 3 dogs, 1 shot - how many x-rays?

My daughter had returned earlier and was bringing me up-to-date on family news and, of course, the dogs followed her in. I was intent on keeping them out of my wastebasket because I had thrown forbidden items such as used Kleenex and candy wrappers in (one dog will shred, one will eat). I should have remembered that I had dropped the needle earlier and LEFT IT ON THE FLOOR!!!

See, a migrane has kept me in darkness in bed most of the day. I figured bending over - Ouch - could wait until morning. I was wrong.

The family searched, finding pieces but not the actual needle. My husband and daughter were unwilling to take their shoes off during the search. I grabbed a broom as guilt was trumping the allergy to dust (besides, the room had been swept just a few days ago.) My daughter soon joined me. Oh my, the things I found. Lost socks. Dust bunnies. 1 dust-covered slipper. And to the surprise of no one - beads.

In the midst of this treasure hunt in the bedroom, my husband found the needle. After my daughter checked that all pieces were found, she returned to finish sweeping. That led to a conversation reminding me that dogs are like babies, only dogs can't tell you where they hurt. (No, I didn't ruin her rant by telling her babies don't tell you either. Time enough for that.)

She also shared that she had been puzzled by the fact that one of her two dogs had left while we were talking but the other one had been coming in and out the whole time. Now she realized the one was looking for his needle treat - her two dogs always get two of everything.

Me? I realize I need to stick to the rule of no dogs in the bedroom. (Although if you ever heard the three dogs barking/howling/whining you would understand why sometimes I dream of no dogs in the house.)

Oh well, at least I got the Copaxone in before I flipped the needle to the floor. I hate wasting medicine - especially at $30 or so a pop.

And the cleaning service? He comes with fringe benefits and, if asked, I could serve in Mr. President's administration.

Happy Valentine's Day

Isn't this perfect for a journalist?
You'll find many appropriate gifts over on 10,000 Words.

Wired: Too much Martha makes me miss Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion

Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine folded and "they" decided to replace my subscription with one to Martha Stewart Living.

Within two weeks, three editions popped up in my mailbox. January, February and March.

I would rather have Mary. But if that wasnt possibe I would rather have a choice - let me choose the magazine.

But if that wasn't possible I would rather get the magazines over a longer period. I don't need three so quickly.

At least I didn't have a subscription to Martha's.

See I know the customer loses when subscription records merge.

I've been a Wired subscriber since day one.I also like to save money so I bought multi-year subscriptions.

Unfortunately, I also subscribed to other tech magazines, which graciously 'gave' me Wired subscriptions when they folded. Soon, it became a joke that my subscription would outlive me as the magazines folded and my subscription extended.

Unfortunately, I lost track somewhere and missed when a replaced subscription suddenly became my "real" subscription.

By the time I noticed the switch - prompted by a request to pay for an extension - records had blurred. I tried to get records fixed and then gave up.

I'll just read what I want online, picking up a print magazine for the few times I know wired access is unavailable

Talent will outlast jobs, careers

I saw this banner ad - Jobs become obsolete. Talent doesn't - when cruising the 'net and wish I could post it on the computer of every print journalist I know - especially those who are working now but don't know how long their jobs will last.

Folks become journalists for a lot of different reasons, but some common ones are a love for a writing or storytelling, a need to know, and a knack for backing complex things simple.

Folks can stay a journalist or use those skills today. It just takes extra effort.

Former journalist Scott Hepburn shares some ideas to help in A Journalist's Survival Guide. Let me share some of his steps:

Hang Your Shingle and Start Building an Audience

He suggests that every reporter should blog - on their own. He points to Chris Brogan’s “If I Started Today” post as a guide. And Chris has good advice in the post about blogging - buy your own domain, decide on a type (personal brand, something for consumers or one featuring stories and photos of causes you support) but I recommend Brogan's post on My Best Advice on Blogging. It's actually a list and links to 11 other posts, all worth reading.

I also suggest you start reading Pro Blogger. (A post I bookmarked recently is Creating a Blog Plan. One of the most bookmarked-posts of ProBlogger in delicious was 31 days to Building A Better Blog, which is a list of links to 31 posts.

If you want one post on getting started with a blog, start with Mindy McAdams Start a Blog.

If you want to see how one journalist executes a blog on a subject he knows, read this piece from NewsPay on Tom Mangan, who created the Cat Stock Blog. The blog is about Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of engines, earthmovers and mining equipment.

Bill Mitchell's post on How to Make Your Blog a Paying Business looks at Mangan's effort in detail. Mangan, who is still a copy editor and page designer at the Mercury News, works on the blog daily.

Diversify Your Offerings

You're not likely to get by doing one thing anymore. Flint Journal columnist Andrew Heller is a perfect example of this - he's got his newspaper column, supercharging that with blogging, a radio show (weekday mornings from 7-9 on WFNT-AM (1470), and he self-published his own books after The Journal got out of the book business. He taught journalism at the local community college. He makes speeches in the community and he works hard at learning new things.

On LinkedIn, he describes himself this way:

"Columnist, blogger, talk show host, publisher, communications consultant."

He's following advice Scott shares:

You can't do one thing anymore. You have to hedge your bets. Sure, be a journalist, but be a news reporter AND a columnist/blogger. Do some PR work, too. And freelance writing. And…whatever. You’ll need multiple income streams to survive in a decentralized information economy.

Diversity will count as making money just blogging is hard. Did you read "Hanging Up the Pajamas?" (Susan Mernit pointed me to this "priceless" update.)

Get Closer to the Cutting Edge

Scott suggests you have to "dabble with new stuff," hardware, software, websites. Like others, he suggests you…play around.

One of the commenters on Scott's post started a blog as a way of answering some of the questions she kept getting about new media. Erin even has a list of The Best of Me Media to help you get started. Her "Social Media for non-Techies" blog is easy to read.

Still working in the newspaper business is Gina Chen, the blogging mom who also writes Save the Media. Her series on reinventing journalism is worth a read. Then, follow her advice. If a working mom can find time, almost everyone can.

One of the best resources is Wired Journalists. As the tag there says

"You're a journalist who wants to build your skills, serve your community, and advance your career. We're here to help."

On Feb. 8, 3,269 folks are signed up as members on the network. You'll find tutorials, advice, blog posts, videos - lots to help figure out the future.

Go forth and multiply those opportunities.

Related posts:

• It hurts to laugh; it helps to prepare
  
• Beyond the buyout, beyond the bylines for journalists
• Journalists not first to start over
  
• Buyout journalists, remember this ...
• What every good journalist needs to do, but won't

Ideas on how to change journalism? Then get to Chicago, 2.21.09

Got an idea about what to do about journalism? Ready to move the conversation away from the coffeepot or bar or blog?

There's a series of sessions - barcamps/unconferences across the nation - where your ideas about innovations for news are front and center.

We Media Guru shares some of his enthusiasm, hoping to hear more about connecting technology at BarCamp NewsInnovation Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Northwestern University's Medill Graduate School of Journalism newsroom at 210 S. Clark St., in downtown Chicago. Register now to take part The Media Guru thanks Northwestern University, the Medill School of Journalism, Rich Gordon and Beatrice Figueroa for their help in making this event happen.

Here's an explanation from the site:

Join this group for a one-day un-conference to experience the creativity and energy that occurs when technologist, programmers, web developers, designers, hackers and information architects teams to do cool stuff with journalists, entrepreneurs, tech business dudes, students, professors and others with interest in news and information.

This ad hoc event will be a place to not only talk about how technology is influencing journalism, but participants will be given the opportunity to brainstorm an idea and hack it out by the end of the afternoon.

Don't go expecting to return home with a bag of goodies.

Do go willing to share and build on the ideas of others.

It is our turn. Leave the suits at home.

Finding Michigan peeps on Twitter

Are you from Michigan? Do you tweet? Introduce yourself here You will find names of other folks from Michigan on the list.

After you fill in your Twitter name, you are asked to send out a Tweet.

PS Find me at http://twitter.com/mcwflint

Thanks to motownmutt and shawnsmith for the headsup

Michigan man a success in MS stem cell study; coverage upsets me

My January issue of MSFYI and several Google Alerts also had good news about a small stem cell study.

Here's what the newsletter said:

"Three years after being treated with an experimental procedure that used their own stem cells, a small group of people with early cases of relapsing-remitting MS appear to have either halted or even reversed their course of disability."

The study, conducted at Northwestern University in Chicago, involved 21 people who had "autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, a procedure in which their own blood-forming stem cells were extracted, and then reintroduced into their systems after each person was treated with chemotherapy to kill immune cells in their bone marrow."

The goal to "reset" the immune system seemed to work with most:

• 17 showed improved EDSS scores,
  
• 16 had no relapses after three years,
  
• none have had a worsening of MS symptoms.

Previous studies using stem cells in people with more advanced cases of MS have not been as successful, and some attempts have been fatal due to methods used to kill immune cells. A new technique, believed to be safer, was used in the most recent trial.

The study's lead author, Richard Burt, a Northwestern associate professor, said in media reports that the therapy may not be effective in late-stage MS because too much damage from immune cells had already been done. On the mean, those involved in the newest study had been diagnosed with MS for five years.

A larger trial, with 55 patients in the U.S. and Canada, is now planned for what the Chicago Sun Times said: 'First time we have turned the tide' on MS - Injecting early patients with own stem cells seems to reverse disability: researcher."

The Sun Times is where I also learned that a Michigan man participated in the trial. And that's where my disappointment with the media begins.

I was surprised that I couldn't find the Michigan connection in any of reports on the study in Michigan media. Surely, I'd learn more in local media. (I live in Michigan.)

Here's what the Sun Times said:

Barry Goudy, of Woodhaven, Mich., was one of the success stories. Goudy was diagnosed with MS in 1995. Since his stem-cell injection in 2003, Goudy said he hasn't had the fatigue, blurry vision and weak limbs he used to experience with every relapse. Goudy noticed improvement in his symptoms within six months.

Now, he's back to working full-time at a car dealership and said he doesn't have to get weekly and monthly drug injections anymore to keep his condition in check.

Except, I don't think he lives in Woodhaven. I know he's not working at a car dealership, if he ever did. But details beyond his participation in the study are fuzzy after watching what four TV stations did with a video report featuring Goudy and reading a number of reports in various newspapers and medical journals.

The Journal of the Medical Association did a video report in April 2008. Here's an abstract: AMA report on how stem cells treat autoimmune (and other) conditions, focusing on Barry Goudy - who celebrates 5 years free from Multiple Sclerosis symptoms after treatment. Clinical Trials ongoing...

From the JAMA site:

Barry Goudy learned he had multiple sclerosis in 1995. He was losing feeling in his left leg, and then his vision began to go.

“I went back to my neurologist and said, ‘Tell me how I can fight this,’" Goudy said.

Goudy enrolled in a clinical trial in 2003.

After five days of chemotherapy to destroy his immune cells, doctors used his own stem cells to rebuild his immune system.

He said it worked wonderfully for him.

“I have no symptoms of MS. I do no treatment for MS. I do no shots,” Goudy said.

Researchers reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed the outcomes of about 2,500 patients who had stem-cell transplants. They found that it helped many patients with auto-immune diseases and even helped improve heart function for patients who suffered heart attacks.

“It's a whole new approach to these diseases. Rather than just surgery or drugs that you can use, (it is) a cellular approach that seems in many different studies to be benefitting the patient,” said Dr. Richard K. Burt, chief of the Division of Immunotherapy for Autoimmune Diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Unlike embryonic stem cells that can only be collected after the destruction of an embryo, adult stem cells come from a patient’s own blood or bone marrow or another adult’s.

“There's very low risk – less than 1 percent mortality from the procedure,” Burt said.

Goudy now leads an active life, even coaching a hockey team.
“I've had five years of good life. Five years! If I didn't do the transplant, I would probably be in a wheelchair today,” Goudy said.

Last July, Goudy reached the five-year mark. You can read about some of his early MS treatment efforts.

ABC-12 in Flint was among the stations to pick up the JAMA video last winter, including information about Goudy in a report on stem cell research.

WRAL did a report too, using the video.

In 2006, in a radio show he was working in the automobile industry (read the transcript)

He's testified on stem cell research, where some other details are fuzzied up.

I'm fairly sure he's now a hockey coach at a suburban Detroit high school - contract approved in August. I thought about tracking him down - it's that need to know urge. But then realized there's no reason to intrude on his life. I just need to remember to keep question what I see and read on "news" reports.

Related posts:

If I ask, will questions go away?

Old drugs inspire hope for those with MS

Advance newspapers get warning of closure

Over in New Jersey, employees heard the Jersey Journal and some weekly newspapers may close in spring if finances continue the way they are.

The Jersey Journal is an Advance Publication, like The Flint Journal, Ann Arbor News, and the other "Booth" newspapers in Michigan.

The Evening Journal Association announced to its employees today that the company would cease publication of The Jersey Journal and a string of weekly newspapers in Hudson County on April 13, 2009, if its revenue is not sufficient to support the papers' reduced expense plan.

Here's some background.

Does anyone from North Dakota read blogs?

Even " competitors" like to help out from time to time. That's why I have been Tweeting, Friendfeeding and just plain begging in search of someone from North Dakota who willl visit Free From Editors just once so Jim of L-Town who is warming up in California can finally say at least one person from each state has read his blog at least once.

His whining, I mean blogging, about this lapse got me curious about some of my stats. I was surprised to find folks are translating me into Dutch (Flemish), Spanish (Castilian), and Croatian.

And though I'm not cross-checking this against a state or country list, I like watching the cities change. I get Flint, Lapeer, Frankenmuth, Ann Arbor, Troy, a few of the New Jersey, Ohio,Louisiana, Alabama, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon sites that show up. I've worked with people from those places. I am not surprised by Knoxville or Napier or Washington D.C. I'm Internet buds with people from there. Even Phoenix, Nashville, and Miami makes sense - Girl Scouts, you know.

But Australia? Or New Zeeland? How do you find me?

And do you know anybody from North Dakota who could just read this 49 and once to go.

Let's give Jim of L-Town an easy post to write when he returns to reality from the land of the stars.

Equal time for newspaper lovers

Most of what's written about newspapers these days is doom and gloom. But there are some who are enthusiastic about the medium.

Like Ken Paulson, who was from USA Today, and delivered a speech recently that highlights his belief that it's wrong to pick on the "ipods of the 1980s." After all ...

"there have also been huge layoffs at Home Depot, and no one is predicting the demise of hammers."

His speech is on the National Press Club under the headline of Newspapers are Fact-Checked, Hand-Delivered, No Pop-up Ads. What's Not to Love? Paulson Says.

The speech was picked up the Newspaper Project, the website to balance the doom and gloom of others.

"NewspaperProject.org was launched in 2009 by a small group of newspaper executives to support a constructive exchange of information and ideas about the future of newspapers. While we acknowledge the challenges facing the newspaper industry in today’s rapidly changing media world, we reject the notion that newspapers—and the valuable content that newspaper journalists provide—have no future.

"Unlike websites that feature negative, gloom-and-doom stories about newspapers, this website will be devoted to insightful articles, commentary and research that provide a more balanced perspective on what newspaper companies can do to survive and thrive in the years ahead."

(You didn't miss buy a newspaper day because you were busy chasing down the groundhog, did you?

'Mom cooks me ... like a turkey'

A 4-year-old's heart is breaking because her Mom "doesn't love her anymore."

My heart breaks when I read that her mom put her in the oven and "cooks me like a turkey." I had hoped it was a misguided mother's attempt to get her daughter warm during this cold spell.

But that wasn't the goal of the Hamtramck's mom, who also singed her daugter's eyelid with a screwdriver,

I have so many questions. How could the girl stand still long enough for her mother to do that to her face?

How did the mother get her into the oven? Pretend they were acting out a fairytale? Shove her in?

I want to know more. I know that I can't. I fear others will follow the mother's lead.

Why is it still so easy for some to become parents.

It is enough to distract me from the horror of the new mother of 8 babies, who already is mother to six children. It is not the size of this new family or even that all of the kids are under 8. It's the mother and how unlikely it is that she will qualify as a good mother anytime soon.

She's been on disability for at least 5 years - pain from an on-the-job injury prevents her from working and led to her divorce in 2008. (She says depression from pain led to her marriage disolving. Is her ex taking the high road and not sharing his side, or is no one asking him?)

How much did birthing and -- I hope -- taking care of the first six contribute to her disabling pain. Why in the midst of the physical pain and emotional pain of splitting from your husband would you choose to have more children? And what sane medical staff agreed to do the procedure?

Why is it so easy for some to become and stay parents?

It is almost enough to make me want to stop reading the news.

Happy Tweets made me 'pretty' mad

Oops. I learned early this morning two things - I can still jump (to conclusions) and hot buttons stay hot.

It started with a visit to Happy Tweets, where I put in my Twitter name and learned I was "pretty" with a score of 512.

Wait - don't I have the green-haired cartoon as my profile pix? That's pretty? And what's pretty got to do with happy?

See, I am striving to be happy and positive and grateful and even optimistic. I want good health. But pretty stopped being a goal a long time ago. I mean whose defination of pretty reigns supreme? And how come it is usually women who cover up their faces and lips with all those layers.

Now maybe part of the sensitivity is all the hoopla over "He's just not that into you" and Jennifer Aniston's comment on Jay Leno last night that when she was 10, her mom was saying you should never leave the house "without your eyes on." OK - 10? And did anyone ever say that to a male? (iPhone turned Aniston to Boston! and leno doesn't own his own name as an an URL and NBC uses TNT for the address? What does that stand for? The nightly tantrum?)

I digress. How can my tweets reveal that I'm pretty? I went looking for the interpretation, which meant I had to scroll down. That's when I saw the word "happy."

Pretty happy ... on the non iPhone days :-)

Facebook's 25 Things gets noticed by Time, NYT; gives me some attention

Wow, even Time and the New York Times have noticed this 25 things thing which was on Friendfeed -- even has a room there -- and has exploded on Facebook.

The Time article can tell you just how much time - OK, estimated time -- has been spent coming up with these lists. Author says about 10 minutes per list and there's been .... sorry, get that # from Time as I am Iphone blogging tonight so I cannot copy and paste. While you are there, you can also read some of the things the author wishes people would not have said. It's worth a read - and no names are attached, Midgets, why 1 teacher quit, something about middle school - surely that's enough to get you to go look.

Unlike some, I have enjoyed reading most of the lists that I have found on Friendfeed and Facebook. Susan Mernit has helped point out quite a few with ongoing posts that take just one item from each list.

Plus, I have had a grand time just clicking away on lists for folks I barely know or don't know. I didn't realize you could read some notes of non"friends" just by clicking on the word "note" next to their name. The openness depends on how users fix their settings - you can even control access by note. (I'm working on a Facebook privacy post, but that's for a day when I'm using a computer to blog.)

My reading lists of non-friends is fair - Google searches for "25 things you don't know about me" have been sending folks to my January list - the one with the photo of the Japanese bluegrass band. We will see if they come back.

A dozen eggs may make the difference

Sometimes life is not fair. You get yelled at, you want to yell. Or at least get rid of some of your frustations.

In an Everything Changes blog post, Kairol Rosenthal shares "10 truths,"about cancer and includes this:

4. Smash. Put one foot in front of the other, roll with the punches, yell, cry, and break things as needed.

I really liked this recommendation: Smashing a dozen eggs in the shower. She says it is "cheap, satisfyingly messy, yet easy to clean up." I can easily imagine tossing one hard against a shower wall. I can visualize the tension melt away as I plow through a dozen behind a closed door. With the shower running, no one would hear me either.

Yet my family thinks that's a bad idea because they say the eggshells won't go down the drain.

I brought up the idea during a discussion on why there"a a broken glass in the trash. Eggs would be cheaper then breaking glasses or china, I suggest. It is quickly pointed out the breaking was an accidental drop, not a throw. (And if I were an assuming type of gal, I'd say the looks suggest they would never throw china and wonder if I would toss in anger. I only throw when I need more broken china for a mosaic.)

They also don't want me kicking any of the dogs either, even if it is their howling, or yapping or snarling that sends me over the bend.

I guess that leaves blogging and/or journaling. (Yes, journaling on paper and in private so I can keep a few still talking to me. )

You know eggs would be faster. I think I even have a coupon.

Oh, say can you see?

I remember the day being a protective oldest sister changed my world

I accompanied my brother to his at-school eye exam and became quite upset with the doctor who kept asking the same question over and over. Finally, I had enough of the badgering.

"How can he tell you what direction something is pointing when it is just one big blob.?"

Whoops! His exam quickly ended and I was on that seat looking at what clearly was not a blob.

Long story short, i needed glasses.


I remember vividly the day I got glasses and saw individual leaves on a tree, spokes on a bike wheel and words on a chalkboard.

But why didn't I tell someone about my poor eyesight? Who knew it was poor?

At age 7 I thought the world was supposed to be a Monet painting, massive blends of color that left details to the imagination or a upclose investigation. I thought the way things looked in books and on television was part of the magic of the products. (Yes, I sat close to the TV.)

What we live with daily is our reality, our normal. With luck, the reality is good.

Or we find change through the right person or tool at the right time so that our world no longer is an Impressionist painting.
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If I ask, will questions go away?

It's another sleepless night (and getting to Seattle remains on the bucket list) so if I out the questions that are inside will they go away? Or will I at least get answers?

Who is the Amanda behind the breast cancer donation fund on the Michigan form?

Was the Michigan man in the stem cell study selling cars, working in a car factory or managing something in an auto company when he was diagnosed with ms? Did he get a buyout? Is his career as a high school hockey coach fulfilling a dream? How much did it cost him to participate in the study?

Does a person come with a set number of hours of eyesight?

If so, is it better to ration how long and on what you use your eyes for or just splurge and do as much as you can now?

Did I burn too many hours on books and computer screens? Was it reading by flashlight under the bedcovers?

If you wait, do some cancerous cells heal on their own?

Do MRIs and the other fancy tools tell us too much today?

Is it lying to say you didn't have a fever if you don't take your temperature?

How long will a scale tell you the right weight?

Why do people without children make scrapbooks? What happens to their scrapbooks when they die?

How do they decide how many days you need to take an antibodic?

Why do I still want more hours in the day, heat in the house and friends to be happy?

What is happy?

Do you still need to use drops to make your eyes wet if you are crying?

Why isn't waking up enough?