tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71037379530878322592012-01-28T21:58:14.979-05:00Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.comBlogger1101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-24279212737270320522012-01-25T12:10:00.001-05:002012-01-25T18:58:31.897-05:00

This is the earliest thing of mine that I recall being published, except a letter to the editor of the now-defunct Amherst Times, which I'm pretty sure I've lost. The Phoenix Press had published a short piece in which one Robert Croke defended nuclear power. Well, that didn't exactly hit my sweet spot, so I penned this treatise -- it was much longer than what Croke wrote -- to put him in his

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-55778631712770996822012-01-23T11:27:00.000-05:002012-01-23T11:40:21.222-05:00

If you want the republicans to lose and you aren't already a registered republican, change your party affiliation so that you can vote in the republican primary and then vote for Romney. The idea is to get Romney nominated and enrage the right wing enough to have them wage a spoiler third-party candidacy led by one of their ``true conservatives.'' Then the conservative vote would be split.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-56868375210926319102012-01-23T10:57:00.001-05:002012-01-23T11:14:14.469-05:00

Chances are you've seen this already, but in case you have not, it's a freakin' keeper... I would have posted it earlier but I've been away from the computer the last two or three days.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-25321890920681059412012-01-11T11:10:00.000-05:002012-01-13T13:57:52.741-05:00

When I spoke the argument presented in this paper during a meeting of poet Donald Junkins' American Realism course, in the fall of 1983 at UMass, he said he respected my opinion, and that he didn't agree with it. I could not have cared less if he only respected my opinion. The only thing that mattered was that I was right and he was wrong to disagree with me. The ``Raftsmen Passage'' was so

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-43083019637446777352012-01-09T14:30:00.000-05:002012-01-19T19:58:08.187-05:00

The good old days, sort of. Amherst and Hadley, Massachusetts when there were still James McManus, Gas Lite I and Classe Cafe, and the state unemployment rate was below 5 percent. Of course we could have been talking about a ton of shit jobs. At any rate it was the 80s, so something had to have been going wrong. From the Amherst Bulletin, Aug. 19, 1987

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``In the end, I'm not sure if he did anything illegal. I'm not sure if I'm a pro-Meese man now. But working in the press office, you get a defensive attitude.'' Story about Anthony Forte, press intern at the Justice Department during the Golden Years. The Amherst Bulletin, Sept. 21, 1988 Of course you know that when I say Great Journalism, I'm displaying an ability to laugh at myself. It's not

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``Their drumming was drowned out by loud rock 'n' roll music blasting from what Singingtree discovered to be a loudspeaker mounted in a tree in the Smead's yard, pointed at the teepee, Singingtree said.'' This from another clip having to do with the 1996 Sally Singingtree teepee flap in Amherst, Massachusetts. I wish I had stumbled across my story in which Fred Smead, the disgruntled neighbor,

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-13070043735744147742012-01-06T14:48:00.000-05:002012-01-28T21:07:24.968-05:00

The drums were loud, I understand. If I had really been doing my job, I would have driven to her house some evening to find out how loud. Just to get a feel for the situation. Eventually, the next-door neighbor whom this bothered so much moved away. Before then he wouldn't speak with me, but after he had relocated to Hadley he gave me an interview. I haven't been able to find that clip. I

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-43842859232621977812012-01-04T17:34:00.006-05:002012-01-28T20:32:26.606-05:00

At the time, my editor thought the woman with a garage full of plastics, waiting for the Great Recycling Bin, was wrong. As it turned out, the eccentric was right. Amherst Bulletin, Aug. 2, 1989

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-89018353323928641832012-01-04T14:47:00.008-05:002012-01-04T18:56:28.217-05:00

Written for The Literature and Society class at UMass/Amherst, fall of 1983. The course was taught by John Nelson.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-37353589206352123052012-01-04T14:24:00.009-05:002012-01-04T18:57:38.444-05:00

In which I, at age 20, attempt some remarks about ``A Farewell To Arms'' for a writing course at Holyoke Community College. The class was taught by Annabelle (sp?) Murphy, who was married to an editor at the now-defunct Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript-Telegram. I was impressed by this book and went on to read a great deal more Hemingway.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-12785972730845562832012-01-04T13:55:00.005-05:002012-01-28T20:37:32.639-05:00

For the Amherst Bulletin

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-70095697029751462082012-01-04T11:44:00.005-05:002012-01-19T17:10:39.584-05:00

The inscription on the back of this reads ``Edwin B. and Emma (Alizabeth Graves) Moody with sons Clarence, Edwin and Lewis in front of the Moody farm outside Waterbury Center on the Stowe Road.'' Lewis Nathaniel Moody was the father of my grandfather, Paul Amos Moody. Taken around 1890, guessing from Lewis' apparent age of 20. The father's side of Emma's family had considerable numbers in

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-2335797259118522552012-01-04T11:34:00.005-05:002012-01-04T15:39:26.771-05:00

Todd Rundgren's people were kind enough to send me this after I had sent Todd a fan letter, circa 1974. It's autographed. I was thrilled.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-2782217237696915112011-12-07T09:35:00.026-05:002012-01-04T19:16:05.416-05:00

All semester long, I've been pissed off, and today I get to vent. I have finished the Management of Information Organizations course at Florida State University (LIS5408). This morning I completed the course evaluation, in which I critiqued the textbook. For this blog I revised and added some material. The course introduced me to the manager's point of view of workplaces, which was good. More

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-57067207396998706352011-11-22T13:16:00.005-05:002011-11-25T11:14:06.026-05:00

The original,Or this remake,Why should you care? Because it's a cool tune...

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-40758969110767272152011-03-30T14:15:00.010-04:002011-12-07T21:39:19.977-05:00

This is an essay on Web-content filtering software that concerned people have installed on public computers to spare others exposure to things that the filterers think are bad for them. I wrote it in November 2010 as my final paper for Florida State University's Foundations of the Information Professions graduate course. One of the other students in the course garnered attention -- I think it

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-1668411275531783472010-12-22T08:31:00.009-05:002012-01-28T21:02:51.933-05:00

I have too much going on with school and the holidays between now and early April, so until then this blog will be dormant.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-74844363301481834252010-12-08T11:48:00.006-05:002010-12-08T12:38:50.258-05:00

Journals, XXII March 25, 1988 Part OneNarcissus is at work until 10 p.m. It’s 8:05 p.m.I think I’ve dropped the snakeskin story. I just didn’t have it elaborated well enough. There was so much ``stuff from the past’’ that the present action was delayed. I like there to be a lot of present action. Most of all, it didn’t seem like most of the events that were in the past would overshadow the

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-7677391531850086142010-11-16T09:33:00.001-05:002012-01-25T19:45:12.265-05:00

Click here to see a doghead in motion...

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-22340336322034714832010-10-21T12:04:00.006-04:002010-10-28T08:54:09.716-04:00

Journals, XXIMarch 22, 1988 Part TwoSo far on this vacation I’ve felt only slightly absent from work. I don’t have to go there, but I only feel a little different, not the sense of utter emancipation that I had expected. I will be rested for this coming Monday, though.Narcissus’s been begging me to read ``The Name of the Rose.’’ She said it gets exciting. Tonight she told me it’s exciting mostly

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-5181784342698433732010-10-13T08:59:00.008-04:002010-10-20T14:07:41.639-04:00

Journals, XXMarch 18, 1988Good day. I got to write for a while this evening. It’s a bit disjointed because it’s all sentences with periods, mostly, and very little transition, which it needs. It’s the snakeskin story. ***. I get work done so slowly. Writing’s the thing. I’m going to drag my ass up and fight for the time to do it. It’s got to move faster. That’s too industrialist a way to put it.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-23352050572878604222010-10-06T12:16:00.006-04:002010-10-06T12:28:36.513-04:00

Journals, XVIVFeb. 12, 1988 Part ThreeI’ve also got to find a way to make a story about Deirdre and Phil [i] instead of just gut splattering. I have a crush on her. She left him but not for me, and I helped her do it. How do I avoid self indulgence? I probably won’t do the story at all for money because time is money [i]. I’m writing to be published. And there’s no way I can stay with N and have

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-86895845359431353642010-09-30T18:46:00.004-04:002010-09-30T19:15:25.803-04:00

Journals, XVIIIFeb. 12, 1988 Part Two I had been afraid to do that, because I was afraid he would know that I knew he was being left and would take out his embarrassment out on me. She said he knew I was coming, and that it didn’t bother him. So I went in. He was quiet and sounded tired when he addressed me. They went upstairs. He came down with two bags, and she followed. I picked up one of

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-34380847251173328792010-09-23T13:17:00.006-04:002010-09-23T13:42:50.830-04:00

Journals, XVIIJan. 29, 1988SUNDERLAND, Mass. -- Very little done at the registry of deeds. Francine suggested not going to the printouts, but to the assessors' cards, which has a list of owners. I told her I’d forgotten all about that, which I hadn’t. At about two o’clock, I called this fireman and he yawned a lot. So then I went home. Not exactly a full day’s work. But a lot of work done on the

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-5217674403055744782010-09-16T17:28:00.005-04:002010-09-16T17:36:27.521-04:00

Journals, XVIJan. 24, 1988 Part 2We had a better day today. We rented two bad videos, ``What’s Up, Tiger Lilly,’’ and ``Foreign Correspondent.’’ We had meant to get ``Zelig’’ and ``The Conformist.’’ I chose the Allen film because it’s never shown cinematically and it has an interesting concept. But it was sexist and racist and one one-liner after another.``Foreign Correspondent’’ had a lot of

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-58914558223222344912010-09-09T17:11:00.011-04:002010-10-06T14:53:36.854-04:00

Journals, XVJan. 17, 1988I’m a bit nervous about what Francine will have to say to me tomorrow morning. I think she’ll like the All Star (convenience store) and the [Board of Health] stories although together they’re only about 30 inches. The stipend story was only a rumor, as she said it might be. I gave her a semi-lame excuse about the court story. She’ll probably ask me to make some stupid

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Journals, XIVJan. 9, 1988Yesterday I was driving into work in the nor’easter at about 1:30 p.m. when my car slid off Old Amherst Road about 30 feet into the lawn of a house that had no one in it. I missed the house by about 10 feet. It happened so fast that I barely knew it before it ended. There was a moment when I knew I had lost control of the car, when it slid out to the lawn. I didn’t know

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Journals, XIIIJan. 5, 1988 Part OneNarcissus and I got a lot done (Jan. 1). We cleaned up the place and did some work. We also did some school work.Today at about 2:30 p.m. I told Desiree she’s out Feb. 1. She took it quite well. My only concern is that she thinks there’s some flexibility involved. She said ``I’ll try to get out by then,’’ as though it’s [i]. I didn’t say, ``Try to be out Feb. 1.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-23443563950539774082010-08-18T11:50:00.009-04:002010-08-21T20:01:31.070-04:00

Journals, XIIDec. 26 1987 Part 2Have been reading some. Hume, in the philosophy survey book. Interesting. [All the philosophers covered in the book are] talking about language. Maybe the author acknowledges that at the end, but he hasn’t so far. Hume deals with syntax [illegible], (temporality) causation (subject and object). A lot calmer. Perhaps I’ll sleep.Just told N to make me some chamomile

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-30092855472162969632010-08-12T11:41:00.009-04:002010-08-18T15:51:17.109-04:00

Journals, XIDec. 21, 1987Could be an awfully busy winter. It could be a bad one, also. Francine was overtired from editing all day yesterday, I suppose, and barely kept back her general impatience. She might have been pissed because my Hampshire [College] faculty and student raise stories weren’t combined, as she said she thought she had told me she wanted them to be. I’ve been turning in good

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-68173445232362050062010-08-09T13:20:00.007-04:002010-08-09T14:49:10.138-04:00

Journals, XDec. 19, 1987 Part 2AMHERST, Mass -- Narcissus showed me a letter she wrote. We plan on sending a ``diplomatic’’ version to Desiree. Narcissus wrote, ``While we realize that you don’t like our cynicism and our lack of religiosity, we are appalled at your bigotry and lack of critical thinking, as well as you `inability’ to work at any job that isn’t your `dream job.’ ’’ That pretty much

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Journals, IXDec. 16, [1987]SUNDERLAND, Mass. -- I was lucky to find a pen in my winter coat pocket while driving over here, [to] Frontier Pizza. Getting myself a small turkey grinder.I played ``A Day In The Life’’ on the jukebox. The adolescent boys are playing video games alongside the jukebox, while ``A Day In The Life’’ is playing.Now the [final] chord is playing, wearing out.Now ``Amanda’’ is

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Journals, VIIIDec. 13, 1987The GREs went well!! What a relief God to have that out of the way!!!I think the words gray, [illegible], sublime would describe yesterday morning the best. It was a good cold morning that I didn’t want to go away, to spoil into the afternoon. The sidewalks become more crowded and fully lit by the sun.I bought presents for Skip, Matt and John. Only Mom’s present is

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Journals, VIIDec. 12, 1987 (continued)But in the winter all music is more [illegible] to my ears and the music goes well with the gusts of wind that come in through the door.She wears a red scarf, a gray sweater hemmed at the edge of black pants. She put her coffee down on the sidewalk and put on her red hunting jacket. She is so self assured. I’m glad I’m back on this diet.I ran into Loretta

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Journals, VIDec. 10, 1987(continued)She’s a hot shit and she knows it. Narcissus tells me she’s on her own, putting herself through school. She cooks at Steeplejacks. I wouldn’t have been able to handle that when I was 20. I was a horny gutless wonder at that age. Anyway, she is self assured, but it seems too deliberate at times. She seems to hold the fabric of her composure close together so she

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Journals, VDec. 9, 1987 (continued)But I calmed her down. Maybe we’re not coming apart. I think she’s revising her expectations of me, her demands. I’ve believed that before. Just gotta keep on asserting my independence. In the meantime, I’ve gotta go [illegible] and get the Food Stamps at Bradlees.I bought a diary [illegible] from the remaindered table outside of [The] Albion [Bookshop] [

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-91881045783391569702010-07-20T11:09:00.013-04:002010-07-30T09:09:57.090-04:00

Journals, IVDec. 7, 198[7] (continued)My relationship to Narcissus is coming to an end. I have mixed feelings about it. I want to be free to pursue my reading projects and my stories. I don’t want to go through the pain of breaking up. I know that even if I help her out things will be difficult financially for Narcissus. Last night, she revealed that she had been thinking about it for a long time

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-80250088384720267112010-07-16T12:51:00.011-04:002010-07-30T09:10:50.186-04:00

Journals, IIIDec. 4, 1987It is the beginning of a big snowfall. 8:10 a.m. Francine left some considerable rewrite on a campus article, ``stusen’’(1) with an insult at the bottom. Maybe for an old hand like herself it was how you made a reporter. I can hear her saying that. I’m going to delete the adjectives from the screen and rewrite the story. That is how it will be dealt with.I’m worried about

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-14079326328323298002010-07-13T10:12:00.008-04:002010-07-30T09:11:58.276-04:00

Journals, IIDec. 1, 1987AMHERST, Mass. -- Things went better at work this morning. No complaints from Francine. What I didn’t like about yesterday was [sic] the scenarios I had going through my head that Ketcham would block the door to the Housing Review, I would get him arrested, and have revenge. That I would blow up at somebody (like Dick or Ketcham). That I would give ultimatums. That I would

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Journals, INov. 30, 1987I am gaining chunk by chunk professional skills. That’s what I am doing. I wonder how Francine feels, having spent the whole day -- or a good part of it -- researching and writing a five-inch correction to one of my stories. After all the fuckups I’ve pulled in the last four weeks. Why do I fuck up so much? I’m really trying. I really mean to do well, etc. And I suppose I’

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-68703375565235713842010-06-18T12:59:00.003-04:002010-06-29T11:21:01.532-04:00

Being an almost life-long resident of Western Massachusetts, I haven't spent much time at the beach, so it never occurred to me that beaches can be foggy. But why not? There's fog everywhere else. Still I was surprised to witness the speed with which the mist concealed the view at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts late last month. Sharon and I were there for our fourth annual stay at

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-20028464639034980992010-06-08T14:41:00.005-04:002010-06-19T19:33:24.462-04:00

Such a dilemma: If you pay workers more, maybe they'll stop killing themselves. But if you do, your shareholders may kill you -- at least figuratively speaking.Here's depressing dispatch from the land where some Apple parts are made.My next question is why the workers in the Taiwan sweatshops killed themselves in the first place. Was it only because they weren't being paid enough? What was unique

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-85104963762968110602010-05-30T11:50:00.006-04:002010-07-17T18:23:51.049-04:00

This rendition of a work song``We Don't Have No Payday Here'' sounds an awfully lot like Robert Johnson's recording of ``Last Fair Deal Gone Down.''Both even share the line,``If you cry about a nickel, you'll die about a dime.''The work song was performed by convicts at the state prison in Raiford, Florida on June 4, 1939. Johnson recorded his tune in San Antonio, Texas in 1937.Dispersion of folk

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-8416599955950095372010-05-27T11:36:00.006-04:002010-07-17T18:25:19.158-04:00

Here's a PBS Newshour ticker that allows you to know just how much oil and natural gas is gushing into the Gulf -- calculated according to various worst case scenarios. BP has provided this live feed.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-17528418923054269742010-05-13T08:11:00.002-04:002010-05-13T08:24:06.646-04:00

WFCR, an NPR station in Amherst, Massachusetts, is compiling classical and jazz top 50s. Folks can participate by voting for their three most-favorites on-line. The results should be fascinating. But vote soon! The station will begin to announce the winners on May 19. I don't feel qualified to vote in the classical musical poll, but under jazz I listed these albums: Dexter Gordon, ``Biting

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-65120013235223601852009-11-19T11:26:00.002-05:002010-07-21T12:46:27.114-04:00

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-57433084007513278212009-11-19T11:23:00.006-05:002010-09-03T15:24:35.251-04:00

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-79936566431178574832009-05-26T09:51:00.016-04:002011-12-07T22:01:26.594-05:00

This is my review of David M. Oshinsky's `` `Worse Than Slavery:' Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice.'' Free Press Paperbacks, 1996. My final project for the Journalism 310 class, ``Western Press and the Third World'' taught by Nancy Muller at UMass/Amherst. Lots of really interesting material. Less a journalism course than a history of colonization.Parchman Farm is legendary, and

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-6068982878266161622009-05-07T10:21:00.001-04:002009-05-07T10:22:38.354-04:00

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-46092946518834296952008-12-04T10:11:00.001-05:002010-07-21T13:18:16.411-04:00

So Slate.com is giving the disgraced former Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, a platform. Although my opinion does not necessarily matter, I don’t have a problem with that. Just because someone has solicited a call girl does not mean that he or she has nothing still to offer. I say this in earnest; I am not being facetious. And besides, I happen to agree with Spitzer’s opinion that bailouts of

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-52251508084760234412008-10-29T13:16:00.010-04:002008-10-30T09:35:47.207-04:00

A little voice of caution has entered my mind recently regarding Barack Obama, for whom I will vote on Tuesday. Deliberately failing to vote is unacceptable, and so I am interfaced with an electoral choice. (That of course is not the only choice we must make; whether we know it or not, we must choose whether or not to let other people dictate our diction. I would not use the word ``interface''

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-22174637134698447492008-10-21T17:11:00.008-04:002010-07-27T21:39:27.209-04:00

SARASOTA, Fla. -- During my stay at my parents' home here, I watched the Red Sox lose their chance to repeat in the World Series. After game six, TBS broadcast the faces and body language of crestfallen and tearful Tampa Bay Rays fans. They looked like their team had lost the series, that there was no tomorow, no last chance.Given their last chance the next night, Tampa Bay beat the Sox, which

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-59182993362605101522008-10-18T19:21:00.018-04:002010-10-20T14:09:57.912-04:00

SARASOTA, Fla. -- I was stranded in the airport in Atlanta Oct. 17 when CNN, avoidable on the airport concourse but ignored only with great effort at the gate, reported on the racist invective directed at Sen. Barack Obama at a Sarah Palin rally in Johnstown, Penn. a week earlier.I was traveling alone to Florida, stuck in an unplanned seven-hour layover, killing time reading and watching TV.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-34328988978231324312008-10-14T18:49:00.003-04:002010-07-21T12:48:29.580-04:00

Despite the static and the fading signals broadcast from his father's CB radio, John Moe heard enough to know ``the trucks were out there.''He was fascinated, ``hearing the lonely truckers talk to each other. It made me feel less lonely, somehow...'' Moe transmitted his remarks, and the images they evoke, in a commentary on ``Weekend America,'' an American Public Radio program he hosts. The

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-65680511706343979042008-10-05T18:01:00.006-04:002008-10-05T18:27:47.391-04:00

This summer, the American Journalism Review published a piece on how National Public Radio is begging to be renamed National Public Portals. Although the AJR doesn't say that -- I made it up -- the journal quotes executives as saying they are emphasizing the improvement of NPR's on-line serviceBut the emphasis on getting the news outlets to publish in multiple formats may just require too much

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-76039260939117359052008-09-29T15:23:00.002-04:002008-10-14T18:48:13.096-04:00

It's amazing what they expect you to find -- or even seek -- on YouTube.On Sept. 24 the Centers for Disease Control posted an elegant and powerful documentary featuring the stories of parents who had suddenly lost their children to influenza.I first heard that the video was put on YouTube from New England Cable News. I had always assumed that most of the stuff on YouTube was entertainment and

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-18860416308293053062008-09-26T13:29:00.001-04:002008-09-26T13:32:12.315-04:00

Now we know that John McCain will show up at the presidential debate scheduled for tonight in Oxford, Miss. A couple of days ago, he said he would not as part of his ``suspension'' of his campaign to concentrate on getting out the bailout.It was hard to imagine McCain not participating. It would look like a round of Final Jeopardy with only one contestant because the other two ended the game with

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-9358381543429422862008-09-23T14:45:00.003-04:002008-09-23T15:03:15.455-04:00

As part of their struggle to survive in today’s wired world, newspapers must devise ingenious methods to generate advertising revenue.To its story announcing that two tipsters will split a $275,000 Broward County (Florida) reward for providing information that led police to arrest a man accused of gunning down a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent, MiamiHerald.com linked audio from five 911

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-30084133269192954762008-09-03T16:17:00.003-04:002010-07-21T12:49:33.192-04:00

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-24680117276514543202008-09-03T16:12:00.003-04:002008-09-12T15:45:47.874-04:00

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-32690627577417746232008-08-28T10:43:00.013-04:002009-06-03T09:05:26.935-04:00

Take some time to read from the speech in which Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts rendered the rear end of Republican presidential candidate John McCain to his fellow Americans. I wonder if viewers throughout the nation, not just those in New England, saw Kerry's talk at the Democratic National Convention. This fear is based on the fact that R.D. Sahl, anchor at New England Cable News, said he was

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-54134980105447445582008-07-17T13:50:00.028-04:002008-12-09T07:45:57.389-05:00

In the clump between Granby Heights and Route 116, this is the only tree that's pockmarked like this. I've heard woodpeckers here, and I'm guessing this has to be the work of woodpeckers. Or maybe it's sick. A fungus or something. Perhaps it is the work of a bear. Bears roam occasionally into Granby Heights. But why only this tree? Some things are singular or singled out, or both.Because I'm not

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-54468890169216816162008-07-12T20:36:00.020-04:002008-12-09T07:45:58.303-05:00

This photograph of a total eclipse of the sun was taken in 1919 to prove Einstein's general theory of relativity. Reading this summer, in Ann Hagedorn's ``Savage Peace,'' about the attempt by two teams to photograph the eclipse sparked my interest of taking impeded images of the sun. Everyone knows that it is harmful to gaze at the sun, but these pictures allow us to look as long as we want with

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-79993785623116310102008-07-08T14:02:00.019-04:002010-07-17T18:24:35.472-04:00

Inside Trader Joe’s this past winter I came across Meg, a high school friend who had been away from the Amherst area for years. She said that Amherst during her absence had lost its soulfulness and become cold. The people had become cold to each other. I hadn’t noticed the change as sharply as she did, but only because I have lived in western Massachusetts for the last 25 years, so it had come

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-70679745526374974152008-06-25T07:26:00.008-04:002008-06-28T11:21:53.251-04:00

``Nightly News'' on NBC produced an interesting report that Asian economies including China have been buying greater and greater amounts of recycling from the United States -- the figure rose to $6.1 billion in 2006 from $1.2 billion in 2002.This is a by-product of huge economic growth of the national clients of firms that sell recycled goods. An eco-system, however, is quite vulnerable to being

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-19188230407801082262008-06-20T15:13:00.010-04:002008-06-28T11:23:16.625-04:00

A lot has been made, including in Congress, of the idea that gas prices would not be as high as they are today if it weren't for speculators playing in the oil commodities market.In an NPR interview, Andrew Liveris, CEO of the Dow Chemical Company, made a comment that makes me wonder if there is an implicit agreement between speculators and the big oil companies for the oil companies to put much

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-2441976965205271982008-06-18T10:34:00.011-04:002009-06-03T09:08:20.372-04:00

For maybe half a minute Rush Limbaugh came off like a classy guy. On Monday, June 16, Limbaugh mentioned the untimely death of Tim Russert three days earlier. Limbaugh explained that he would have mentioned the passing of the ``Meet The Press'' host during his program Friday but all he had by the end of that show was an e-mail marked ``Not for reporting'' because the Russert's death had not

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-10911964528356218822008-06-18T09:15:00.007-04:002008-07-09T14:21:09.705-04:00

Last night, ``NBC Nightly News'' ran this succinct report on the consequences of the weakening of the US dollar. The network hooked its story on the proposed takeover last week of Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser, by InBev, a Belgian beer company. The report also refers to the possible transfer of the Chrysler Building to foreign ownership.The point is that the extent to which fewer

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-62736791775423976952008-06-17T16:43:00.002-04:002008-06-28T11:28:39.269-04:00

I want to see an advertisement for the Best Business Bureau.Until then I will not be satisfied.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-80421987519421360942008-06-12T17:59:00.009-04:002008-06-28T11:30:30.083-04:00

We live in a world running out of food, out of fuel, and out of room.Yet the tone of a June 11 Associated Press report that life expectancy in the United States has passed 78, ``as top diseases decline,'' demonstrates an eerie detachment from the consequences of scarcity.The AP marched out complaints that the United States wasn't doing as well as other countries. Expectancy in Japan, Switzerland

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-47805672516502523892008-06-09T12:47:00.028-04:002010-07-24T20:25:52.622-04:00

I put up the first two videos because they are reportedly the only surviving footage of Woody Guthrie. The last one I included because it's lots of fun -- images of Woody juxtaposed with scenes from New Orleans and some hokey effects. Of course, Woody and Utah were balladeers of freedom, if you will, but I won't tire you with that.``Ranger's Command:'' This one has Woody singing ``John Henry'

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-21927585552100498552008-06-08T12:28:00.033-04:002009-06-03T09:10:36.633-04:00

I suspect all that a lot of people know about Martin Luther King Jr. is his ``I Have a Dream'' speech that he delivered to Aug. 28, 1963 March on Washington. That and the Mountaintop sermon. What fewer people know about the march is that Bob Dylan sang there! ``When The Ship Comes In,'' with Joan Baez; ``Only A Pawn in their Game,'' concerning in part Medgar Evers, an NAACP field secretary

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-88311335878018111332008-06-07T21:20:00.008-04:002009-06-03T09:15:28.295-04:00

When I encountered Utah Phillips, he was standing at the bottom of the narrow stairway that led to the basement at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts. I would have had to go out of my way to keep my head down to avoid eye contact, which is not what he wanted. He had just finished a set of songs and stories of the lives of hobos and workers who provide their labor, as the

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-53996007082629514952008-05-27T16:17:00.015-04:002008-07-10T15:12:22.196-04:00

In ``Iron Man,'' Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), techno-genius and massively successful head of weapons manufacturer Stark Industries, is captured by guerrillas in the Kunbar region of Afghanistan. The guerillas force Stark to make, with material they just happen to possess, a rendition of his latest and most lethal weapon.Monitoring his work via closed-circuit TV, the rebels discern eventually

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-58997775613342631702008-05-19T13:15:00.012-04:002010-07-21T12:53:41.297-04:00

I screwed up my first post about the debate on how to pay for a new septic system at Granby Heights in Granby, Massachusetts. The 35-year-old septic system, which is already obviously incontinent, especially on hot days, could ``fail'' this year. A new one should be installed before the ground freezes, according to the engineering firm consulting with the Granby Heights Association.Cost of the

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-19226777446120790472008-05-18T18:20:00.009-04:002010-07-21T12:56:30.137-04:00

If this primary season proves anything, it's that religion is everywhere. ConsiderBarack Obama's former pastor.Rev. John Hagee, televangelist, who has called the Catholic church ``the great whore,'' and who for some reason felt compelled to endorse John McCain, with McCain, seeing fit to spend precious campaign time standing by Hagee as the Rev. announced his endorsement. (How many people knew

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-58310073235031182122008-05-16T10:25:00.016-04:002010-07-21T12:58:22.480-04:00

We went to Gloucester during the off-season; based on what we saw last year on the postcards in the inn lobby we figured that the city and the beach would be impossibly crowded during the summer. Of course the off season was also cheaper, especially in 2007. There are always trade-offs to everything, however. In our case the trade-off for a better rate, a quiet inn and an empty beach was that

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-42284243453734571132008-05-08T08:32:00.029-04:002010-07-21T13:02:37.097-04:00

Charlie Patton (1891-1935) is a canonized unknown. If you've heard of him, chances are someone has tried to persuade you that he was great. The guitar and the voice scrape and rail against desperation. If you claim not to have heard of Charlie Patton, chances are you have no trace of awareness of him in your unconscious. There is no middle ground.In 1900, Patton moved with his family to Dockery

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-80507977748178331672008-04-28T15:12:00.010-04:002008-04-30T10:44:12.573-04:00

Something is driving Norbert Flatow.``When I see a red light, I get off the gas and coast to the light,’’ Flatow said in a letter that appeared in The Miami Herald in March. ``Impatient drivers behind me speed up and pass me, only to brake hard when they get to the light; they have gained exactly one car length. They are wasting gasoline, polluting the air and wearing down their brakes.’’I assume

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-49025263156653453032008-04-23T07:33:00.010-04:002010-08-23T20:07:58.502-04:00

Four times in the last week I made foray into a sewer of civic debate by posting on-line comments after MiamiHerald.com stories. Very often people who post get a response, spurring lively debate. Once I saw the banter after a Nation article dumb down fast into an argument over whether one was old enough to remember Lithium as the premier anti-depressant, years before our modern age of Prozac. The

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-84588322219819017902008-04-20T21:39:00.048-04:002010-07-24T20:27:10.686-04:00

Because the New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival is scheduled to start Friday, April 25, I thought I'd post some photos I took in 1996 inside theJosephine Guest House in the city's Garden District. I was fascinated by the decor and the gorgeous and exotic folk art.I went down to Louisiana to attend Jazz Fest with my friend Susannah Pugh. She and I were reporters at the Springfield Union-News.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-9308829174613754792008-04-20T11:27:00.010-04:002010-08-23T20:14:25.082-04:00

Recent letters to The Miami Herald have focused on the sub-prime mortgage scandal and the real estate nose dive, the Democratic presidential primary, sexual predators, taxes, media companies, the possible legalization of hand guns in federal parks, the purpose of democracy, abortion, how to teach evolution in public schools, gas prices and global warming.None of these issues is unique to Miami.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-27381155766151121622008-04-18T11:02:00.008-04:002010-08-14T20:17:24.641-04:00

Is metropolitan Miami a bastion of liberalism or conservatism? The tone of letters from readers to The Miami Herald points to the left, according to Nancy Ancrum, the paper’s letters editor. This according to a column last month by Edward Schumacher-Matos, the ombudsman. ``…Ms. Ancrum says that, (in fact), she has a hard time finding letters in support of the Bush Administration or the Iraq War

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-5099094977119881122008-04-16T19:10:00.003-04:002010-08-24T11:46:34.593-04:00

Interesting that the stories at the bottom of the Washington Post's 10-most commented on deal with, essentially, the goodness of Obama's image. The fact that the topic doesn't get a higher priority perhaps means that the readers are content with Obama, that they don't need to read anymore about how he is liked. High up on the list is No. 4, Obama Painted As Elitest. The appeal to Obama supporters

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-24290507438585101792008-04-16T10:57:00.003-04:002010-08-23T20:11:54.611-04:00

We’ve got a bit of a problem at Granby Heights.For years I assumed the odor was coming from one discrete cesspool, but, while walking my dog in the woods, I never did see a cesspool. It never occurred to me that the problem was bigger than that. Our septic system is a big one, and, as we’ve learned, it’s broken in several places. I’ve seen what looks like a manhole cover in the woods. The cover

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-75843077358382974432008-04-15T09:04:00.035-04:002010-08-14T20:19:35.805-04:00

This is as close as I've come to Miami -- Myakka River State Park in Sarasota. I visit my parents once a year in Sarasota, and we've been to the park three or four times. It took these pictures from the tour boat circa 2002. The boat used a 1975 Cadillac engine, and it went no faster than 5 mph.The lake was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program of the New Deal.I didn't get any

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-44438032016756762052008-04-14T14:51:00.015-04:002010-08-14T20:23:00.996-04:00

The Herald reported that eight bouncers at a South Beach night club beat up on three University of Delaware students. ``Cinderella'' was one of the first to place the blame.Anyone waiting in line to be `chosen’ and given the `honor’ of paying 18.00 for a drink deserves a beating.To which ``mutton’’ replied, no more than one minute later,That’s why if you go to these dung holes, make friends

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-49215510912932884932008-04-09T16:28:00.004-04:002010-08-24T11:50:10.250-04:00

On her podcast of April 4, Kelsey Flynn asks Northampton, Mass., Mayor Mary Clare Higgins what she plans to do now that the warm weather is fast approaching. Higgins says she plans to spend a good amount of time walking her dog around the city’s Look Park. Flynn asks if the dog likes to ride the miniature train – actually the question had to have been whimsical because I don’t believe they

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-72156065213951110232008-04-08T20:54:00.008-04:002010-08-24T11:54:14.375-04:00

After hearing exactly one of Alex Beam’s installments of ``Hate Mail,’’ I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Beam really wants to do this podcast. Beam writes a column for The Boston Globe, and he gets mail from readers who disagree with him. What a surprise. Then he does this podcast in which some of the letters are read from, and then he defends himself. From his column he gets the First Word, and

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-12381272631417764602008-04-06T11:02:00.011-04:002012-01-11T19:43:36.751-05:00

On April 2, I posted ``Crumbs Proffered by Crumbs’’ too see how many comments I could lure in from the outside world -- that is, from people who don’t know me or this blog. As of today I have three responses, but they are all from people I know. Because I depended heavily upon my intuition going in, I can only cast about in my mind for reasons for the result. It might have had something to

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-78403415803429322142008-04-02T09:15:00.003-04:002008-04-02T16:04:24.563-04:00

Often those who cry out for economic justice are gainfully employed. I’m persuaded of the sincerity of most of these folks. But not having enough money grows rules that poor people must abide by. They are weeds of the mind. There are too many for well-intentioned people of sufficient means to remember. One group of have-nots, those who collect unemployment insurance in Massachusetts, has to

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-80378028272824627852008-03-21T21:22:00.010-04:002010-08-24T12:02:31.400-04:00

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. And a frustrating one it was. During the week of Monday, March 17 I tried to get on the NPR listener call-in shows ``Talk of the Nation’’ and ``On Point’’ without success. It was an assignment for the Feedback Journalism class at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. My findings? Anecdotal information to buttress my clear impression that, in

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-18140191477921568972008-03-21T07:49:00.005-04:002008-04-15T14:00:55.623-04:00

Now I’ve screwed everything up. On March 18, through an electronic poll, MiamiHerald.com asked its readers how they, as Floridians, feel about getting the state's Democratic delegates from the state’s Jan. 29 primary counted at the Democratic National Convention. As you probably know, the Democratic National Committee told Florida Democrats that their votes won’t count because the state

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-24125776181582319052008-03-12T11:34:00.007-04:002010-08-14T20:25:47.966-04:00

To the links on this page I have added LinksLatinos Blog Zone, by Natalia Muñoz, who I used to work with in the Northampton, Mass. office of the Union-News.Muñoz is the founder and editor of La Prensa, a newspaper for Latinos in western Massachusetts. The blog is dynamite. Read ``All Talk'' and ``Five Easy Questions for the Green Candidate,'' for starters.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-37537967875865346402008-03-12T09:42:00.010-04:002010-10-20T14:10:38.462-04:00

Dear Messrs. Stropnicky, Byrn, Goode and Matheny:On March 10 I finished reading your ``Letters to the Editor’’ for the Feedback Journalism class at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The question is whether the book succeeds in telling the story of Bloomsburg, PA. I don’t know, because I’ve never been to Bloomsburg PA and I haven’t lived for 200 years, even in my mind, who has? But

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-26424311684500548392008-03-10T14:42:00.005-04:002008-03-10T15:15:55.253-04:00

The Internet has put many thousands of news sources, as they say, ``just a mouse click away’’ (ouch!). Now there is a mammoth pile of punditry and reports about the mind-numblingly myriad (are the alliterations bugging you? They’re killing me) events out there. Readers must choose between what to take in and what to neglect. Gone are the days when you can read a few newspapers and catch TV

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-49943529305411754182008-03-05T11:05:00.007-05:002010-08-14T20:29:10.594-04:00

Are the times a-changin’ at Starbucks? For the Hartford Courant, enough time has for customers to wake up and assess whether they get more of rush from patronizing one of the Seattle-based chain’s cafes than they did a week ago. Starbucks has taken action to avoid sinking like a stone. On Feb. 26, days after it announced the layoff of 600 employees, Starbucks closed 7,100 stores from 3:30 p.m.

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-84868136004311282862008-03-01T11:53:00.002-05:002008-03-01T11:58:19.708-05:00

The fun, and often the challenge, in reading letters to newspapers in Bloomsburg, Penn., many of them dating to the 18th century, is that they are written by folks who are convinced that their message is clear when, to a 21st century reader who has never been to Bloomsburg, they are baffling. The fun part is witnessing writers stumble. I admit that I often laughed at the attempts at communication

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103737953087832259.post-47673903906420626432008-03-01T11:48:00.003-05:002010-08-14T20:31:07.300-04:00

The Boston Globe did it right. The New York Times’ dubious piece that asserted that John McCain had an affair with a lobbyist whose ``clients often had with business before McCain’s Senate committee’’ – and thereby violating egregiously the public trust – was really nothing more than a stale recapitulation of a story of a man who has crusaded for government ethics. And who also has a habit of

Grace the Doghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16991868134798339304noreply@blogger.com0