journalism blog

The rhetoric is hot when the times call for cooler heads in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Men who want to be president like Donald Trump saying we should consider closing mosques. Rand Paul asking people to sign petitions to keep Syrian refugees out of the country. Ted Cruz telling college students it’s “absolute lunacy” to

The flames of autumn are falling to earth. Our beautiful run of clear, warm weather is slowly coming to an end. The millions of leaves now cover our yards and lawns and need to be blown to the curb. The turning back of the clocks foreshadows the cold darkness of winter. The beauty of nature in the

It should be the most important day of the year. It’s why we fought the Revolutionary War. We wanted the right to govern ourselves. We wanted to call the shots. We wanted to say who would represent us. We wanted the people we voted into office to hear us and listen to us. It’s the foundation

They had a lot to decide that summer of 1787 in Philadelphia. The Constitutional Convention was called for the 13 states to fix the Articles of Confederation. They weren’t working. Too many conflicts among the 13 independent states. A weak federal government with no ability to tax. Any changes had to be by unanimous vote.

“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.” -President John F. Kennedy October 22, 1962 Fifty three years ago tonight

If we say it faster, will it sound more urgent and important? ABC News thinks so. If you watch ABC World News, you’ll have to listen faster. I’m not criticizing their content. Although they are not shy about using the broadcast clichés that should make us all cringe. They are going after the young viewer, who research shows,

It is the most famous speech in American history. Given by the most important president in our history, honoring the soldiers who died in the most decisive battle in the country’s history. Gettysburg is a special, even sacred place. I have great interest in history, particularly events that changed its course. My wife and I

It starts with a thought. After you think about it long enough, you put it on the page. It’s the first step. It can gush out of you, or it can be a painful trickle. I’ve written over a dozen pieces for this blog. Most of the sentences gushed out. But writing about the thing itself

Family, Money, Community, Security. These are four things we all care about. I’m sure you can name others. In the news business, we were always looking for stories that had viewer benefit. What could they get out of a story? How did it affect their lives? Why should they pay attention in this world of

You can never anticipate what you may find when you start to search your family history. My wife had asked me to clean out an old metal box full of her late parents’ papers. I knew there was a handwritten history that her aunt had researched years ago. It traced their Irish heritage back for