NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

Dear Oldest Niece;

I’m watching you grow up. It’s amazing. It’s fantastic. You are turning into a beautiful and kind young woman. Makes me feel a bit old, actually.

With that said, if this blog were a time capsule, there are a few things I want you to know. Things you might not. Things that probably won’t even make sense right now in your young life on this planet, but I need to say these things anyway.

First of all, when your grandmother died, before the day I even knew what a blog was, I wrote out her history for you in a small journal. It’s locked away and you can have it when you get older. There were things I wanted you to know, small items of who she was and little details.

Her favorite song was “All in the Game” by Tommy James. Your grandfather is quite partial to “American Pie” by Don Mclean. Music is important.

Read at least one play by William Shakespeare and try to get it. For me, it was “Julius Caesar.” Then go read something totally fluffy. It all balances out. I tend to lose myself in goofy television shows like Lost or Doctor Who. It keeps the buzz of the real world out for awhile and it helps. But read. It’s important. And, always look at learning something new, even if you don’t want to. You never know when it will come handy to have.
Have a favorite poem. When your mother and I were kids, your grandmother would read the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” to us aloud. Read out loud. It’s cleansing. Also read “To Kill A Mockingbird” at least twice. Scout is in all of us. Living in a small-town, books will open up a sometimes very condensed, noisy world where there isn’t very much to do.

I want you to know if I could teach you any lesson, it would be to be kind and to be an Ambassador in good faith to those things that you believe in and to people in general. Pick your battles carefully. Sometimes you won’t win them, but don’t let that set you back. It might for a time, but just embrace the pain as well as the victories. This is how you move forward.

It all passes within in time, suffering and joy. But it all comes back around.

When you get angry, walk away. If you are furious with someone, try to at least understand where they are coming from. You might not understand the static coming from walking in their shoes, but you might at least find compassion. Compassion for others is important.

Don’t do what others do because you think you should. Do what you know is right for you. Don’t just join the pack. In a pack mentality, people tend to eat their own at times. Find your own path.

If you upset someone else, make sure that your inner self didn’t take action for harm. If it did, apologize to them. Then make amends with yourself.

It doesn’t matter what society tells you to look or act like. Be yourself. People say cruel things. Don’t be one of those people. You have control over that.

Life is always not fair. Your great-grandfather told your mom and I many times that Mr. Right died along time ago. He was right. But, this isn’t a bummer. It just is what it is and in the long run, you will appreciate the good that comes your way.

NO ONE, and I mean no one is going to take care of you in a pinch. They will love you, they will protect you, but if you are ever alone in an uncomfortable situation where your parents or I am not around, all you have is yourself. The things you know are right or wrong, your intelligence and your heart will protect you. (And, if not, I will take a bat to someone. Yeah, I’m non-violent and all but a bat and a mighty swing from Mama Bears and Aunt Ticks can teach a good lesson.)

Hide nothing, yet tell little when it comes to people you don’t know that well. Transparency is important, but don’t talk just to hear yourself prattle. Learn from your Aunt Tick (Newscoma) With that said, remember, if it appears to be taboo, it probably is. Listen to your gut. Keep your cards close at hand, because when you ch0ose to give one of those cards away, it’s a gift. Yours to give, the person you choose to receive.

If you do something incredibly stupid, forgive yourself. Just try not to do it again. (Once again, learn from the master of this, yours truly.)

Do something everyday that scares the hell out of you. You will be afraid, but do it anyway.

Like yourself. This is important.

Be playful. Have fun. Embrace the good. Try to look the bad in the eye and move forward. There are times in anyone’s life where they are victimized. Deal with it, learn from it and then move to the next step. Don’t let others define who you are.

If someone is a smart ass and says deliberate things to you to get a rise out of you, remember, if you let them, they win. Ignore it.

Being a rebel with a cause is worthy. Being a rebel without a cause is chaos.

There is more. Much of it is written in a small gift to you, and one to your sister, when you get older.

One more thing, know that I love you if you were my own child.

Love you kid,

Newscoma/Tick

The world, my friends, is changing.

I keep watching this and I have been all week as I know many of you have as well.

Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearby roads to keep the clergymen isolated.

Many Yangon residents seemed pessimistic over the crackdown, fearing it fatally weakened a movement that began nearly six weeks ago as small protests over fuel price hikes and grew into demonstrations by tens of thousands demanding an end to 45 years of military rule.

The corralling of monks was a serious blow. They carry high moral authority in this predominantly Buddhist nation of 54 million people and the protests had mushroomed when the clergymen joined in.

This has been all over the news all week. But, from a news business perspective, I can’t help but be in awe of the changes that we are seeing in news coverage.

Guys, I started with acetate and cut and pasting measure copy that we ran, on paper, through a wax machine. Images like this in an immediate fashion about the conflict in Myanmar is amazing.

And this was posted today on CNN:

United Nations envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari arrived Saturday for talks with senior government officials aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to ongoing clashes between the military’s ruling junta and pro-democracy activists, a Western diplomat told CNN.

This is important on a whole lot of different levels.

Editorial note: The video I linked to does show the shooting of a Japanese photographer. If you go see this, keep that in mind.

Bad link fixed. Sorry about that.

If you have been watching Mad Men, as I have, the ick factor from Thursday night’s episode with Roger Sterling was truly, umm, icky.

I mean it was more than icky. And, with that said, it was also one of the most fascinating hours of television. Because as disgusting as Sterling (John Slattery) was, you also understood him because fear is fear. And our own inner struggle to understand mortality, something we have no control over.

People can relate to the human emotion.

For whatever reason, I’m smitten with this show. I was born in 1965, so the only real association that I’ve have with this time frame are two very different windows, neither one an accurate entity but you work with what you have.

1.) Movies from this period of time (and what good-hearted American didn’t have a crush on Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and Rock Hudson or James Dean.)

2.) Stories my mother told me. Now, she didn’t grow up in Manhattan, but she was a product of the late-fifties, early sixties. She was smitten with Elvis Presley, Paul Anka (I know, so odd) and it involved into her love-affair with not only President John F. Kennedy, but with his wife, Jackie O as well. It was the time of her childhood and her political awakening. And as a child, I was smitten with these tales. And she would spin tales about how all of this evolved into what she accredited to the introduction of the Beatles, when she was a young wife pregnant with her first child. My mom credited major portions of her life to the music of the time. She was a musician, but I think most people do this as well.

So, I watch this show and see how there is always levels of darkness underneath the glamor. How women were treated as objects. How they knew it and how some of the women were already unifying, although they didn’t recognize it, into fighting back. And some do it with intelligence while others are just stumbling along, which is normal I would think in a time of transition. Then there are the other women who feel they are expected only to be an extension of their husband’s lives, their friends.

I cannot imagine living in a world where I was expected to dress pretty and sit back, saying nothing. It’s just not imaginable to me.

And now on to the men, Pete is a jerk. He is, but he’s also the one who is forward thinking, that sees that the world is changing, but is not enough to be his own man (Daddy issues) to approach it honestly. Instead, he backstabs, cheats and lies to get ahead. He revels in Don Draper’s missteps, because he sees it as victory for himself, because he’s got some reverse ego going on.

And as you watch it, you realize he’s not acting out of character.

And Don Draper, you are not the marrying kind, but I’m also a product of my generation. I realize that the mystery is intriguing. But, our suave, smoking-drinking establishment yet anti-establishment hero is still just seeking validation.

And someone who will keep the monsters away, the ones grabbing at his ankles underneath the bed he chooses to sleep in that particular evening. The mother he never had perhaps.

Psychologically, the show walks a thread of showing that although things are slick on the surface, you can slide off into the abyss anytime.

This past week has been one of those times that I’ve been so busy that the running around has somewhat taken a life of its own.

I know, you’ve had those as well. Where, when you finally sit down to take a breath, you wonder if you’ll ever get back up again.

Yesterday, I needed a few minutes to myself. I just needed to take a deep breath, put the computer aside, a place of no distraction, no emails, no instant messaging, no news. Nothingness for just a few minutes.

I’ve been working out of two offices which can be, in a word, confusing. Some mornings I forget where I’m supposed to be (not really, but you get my point.)

So I went to lunch. Chinese food was calling my name, so I went and had lunch alone. Sometimes I do that. I don’t mind eating by myself and yesterday it was nice to just clear my head. The lady who runs the restaurant (she’s been there for years) has always been a bit of a sourpuss, but yesterday, we connected.

She was watching a soap opera. I have no idea what the name was but it visually was quite beautiful. And there were samurais in the soap opera which apparently was set back when samurais were popular. I know very little about the Chinese language but the show was subtitled in Mandarin, so you can imagine that I had no idea what was going on.

But, I watched it and was sort of getting the gist of it all, and man, if there wasn’t a lot going on. I figured out our samurai hero was conflicted about something and I was sort of getting into it. The words didn’t matter, but you could see the emotion of it all. Emotion and passion doesn’t need translation.

When she noticed I was watching the show having no idea what was going on but watching nonetheless, she smiled at me and told me a little bit about it.

She called it a soap opera and said her family sends her the videos from home. She mentioned what city she was from but I didn’t recognize it.

This means little, I guess, but I needed just a few minutes like this yesterday. A moment with a woman (who in the past had been a little bit grouchy when I would come in to eat) who smiled when she noticed that I was paying attention to something that obviously meant a lot to her.

For whatever reason, that smile made me feel pretty good.

Who would have thought a samurai soap opera would make two very different women who had seen each other for years have a moment?

And, the few minutes cleared my mind.

Just a slice of life moment, you know. I really should start paying attention to the little things. There usually the things that cheer us up in the long run anyway.

Lindsey wrote something that gave me pause. And man, did she ever get this right.

People (myself included) read newspapers and get f**king giddy when they notice things that are wrong. It’s probably because newspapers purport to be publications of prestige and record; we are the final word, the bit that, were we in a movie, would be spinning toward the camera in a dramatic attempt to have meaning and finality. So when I f**k up a news page, I am essentially pissing on posterity. That’s not an easy burden to carry.

When I read the last two lines, I realized she said something so well I’ve not ever been able to verbalize.

Lindsey, sometimes I feel the same way for what’s it’s worth.

• Doctor Who
• People who don’t read about politics and just listen to Drudge or Fox.
• LOLcats.
• YouTube (especially Chris Crocker.)
• Roy Liechtenstien.
• Dogs, especially mine.
• Sharks
• The Vols, especially this season.
• Blogs
• Brie, with apples
• Indecision.
• People who eat and talk at the same time
• Fred Thompson
• Robot Chicken
• Beer
• George Bush
• People’s love for Banana Pudding, as I am not fond of it.
• Crayons
• My quest to win the lottery without ever buying a single ticket.

There is more.

Yeah, and people who don’t want to have a conversation and would rather just try to mock.

Long day.

Several months ago, I pontificated about Brittney Gilbert leaving Nashville is Talking, I have written about what I felt was the neutering of AC Kleinheider’s voice over at Volunteer Voters and I sat back with an open mind.

I did.
There is a conversation over at Music City Bloggers right now about Gwen Kinsey’s statements to Liz Garrigan at the Nashville Scene. There are opposing view points but a lot of the community that participated at the conversation at NiT are talking about this new development.

Ironically, Nashville is talking about Kinsey’s quote. They just aren’t doing it over at that blog, they are doing it over at MCB. I have posted at both places in the spirit of disclosure over the past couple of years.
I wonder what some of the blogs on the eastside of the state have to say about this.

First of all, let’s take a look at what Kinsey has affectively done.

You see, I disagree. Completely. Things are changing in media, but you guys knew that.

I said this over at Brittney’s blog some time ago, and to be honest, I haven’t changed my mind.

Many people I have met over the time I’ve been blogging have told me (and several in Nashville) that when they read blogs that do link and focus on news that they want a bit of personality to go with it. One man was sitting with the blogger formerly known as Huck (He’s still Huck) and said to me “I want to feel a connection with the blogger that I’m reading. I want to read what they are saying, and then go see what they are talking about.”

That guy made a big impression on me. He said he wanted the connection with the blogger. He wanted the sense of community.

We knew things about Brittney that made us come back for more. She was extremely kind and gracious of getting new bloggers a bit of coverage, we know she doesn’t eat meat, she’s smitten with her boyfriend, she loves her dogs and we also knew that she was coming out of the shoot into a new media forum where the rules had not yet been defined. She had some of the nastiest trolls I’ve ever seen attack her at NiT as well as at Sparkwood and 21. She also mediated a dialogue on what bloggers where talking about in Nashville.

Some of it was news. Some of it wasn’t.

As a former Nashvillian, I really liked that concept and I was able to reconnect with the city I love. I was able to reconnect with some old friends and make some new buddies that I wouldn’t trade for love nor money.

With that said, Nashville is Talking was masterful at doing that.

Volunteer Voters is still working as it is a portal for Tennessee/National political news, but Kleinheider’s voice is missed. And it will continue to be missed.

I also whole-heartedly agree with Sean Braisted:

I understand the whole journalistic angle, but I think he always did a pretty good job of delineating his personal opinion from reporting the facts or opinions of others. In other words, we knew what was the actual news story, and what was his personal opinion. To say otherwise, is essentially to assume that the people who read the blog are utterly incompetent at telling the difference between facts and opinion; which may be true of many Fox News watchers or Phil Valentine listeners, but I’m not sure the same holds up when it comes to those who read blogs

So let me throw this out to you. I don’t get WKRN on my satellite package. I get WSMV, but I don’t have the option. But my eyeballs were on the ads that were up on NiT. My eyeballs are on those ads currently on VV. The Nashville community watched the Orne couple’s nine months of being pregnant and having a child. We read Big Joe on the Go and others.

And there was a connection to some degree. I don’t know these folks, but I felt like that the connection of putting a humanity and personality with someone who delivers the news was brilliant.

Blogs are not news most of the time, however, but some of them focus on the news of the day.  If Gwen Kinsey wants to focus on the news, which is her job mind you, I think that’s just skippy. Braisted was right when he said it’s her station and she can do what she wants with it.

But I still think there is such a missed opportunity here. If anyone pays attention, news organizations have tried to put the human element into the news they are delivering. They are doing that all over the place. My newspaper is in the midst of doing that as well. The Times-Gazette in Shelbyville has done this effectively. John Carney and I are old dogs in the news business and we both realize that community interaction is imperative in this brave new world.

The game has changed.  It’s a very delicate balance.

I’m glad that Garrigan asked about AC Kleinheider and the community’s confusion on WKRN’s decisions. I also understand ratings and numbers which is what General Manager’s do.

Ms. Kinsey in the blogging world of Nashville will be known as the GM who took away one community that worked and tried to fabricate one that could be controlled.  I’m not being ugly here, I hear she is a lovely woman who is nice. Know where I heard that?

Brittney Gilbert.

And I also know Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I dig Kleinheider. I’ll continue to read him.

And, Knoxville News Sentinel, you are getting it right in the steps you are making.

And I’m done with this.

It is what it is.

Huh.

Sorry, but this person didn’t come to mind as #1 pundit. 

I just didn’t expect this.

I also really never expected that Bill O’Reilly would ever have a popular nightly talk show  after “Inside Editon”.

I’m naive that way.

Or hopeful. You pick.

UPDATE: UAW/GM REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT.  This came out after I wrote my post, but I’ll leave it up anyway.

 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

With the UAW on strike, I’m reminded of Goodyear being on strike last fall which I covered as a reporter.

Our local economy, despite what people might say, took a hit. And, it was divisive in regards to people’s personal philosophies. That issue came down to health care for retirees in Goodyear’s situation as much as anything.

Here’s what the New York Times is saying about the UAW strike:

The stalemate apparently arose over the union’s demand for job protection for its work force at G.M., which is one-fifth its size in 1990. G.M., in return, had pushed for the creation of a trust that would assume responsibility for its $55 billion liability for health care benefits for workers, retirees and their families.

So, we have another strike and the impact, if this should go on, could impact thousands of businesses.

This strike is of great significance. Strikes usually are. People get into mindsets and forget certain things. For whatever reason, unions tend to be a black or white issue. There is no gray in some people’s opinions on this.

Let’s not forget strikes impact families. Not just one person, but entire families. The lack of regular income impacts businesses. Last year, the financial blast to the head in Union City impacted small business first and restaurants took a beating. In some respects, they are still in recovery mode on this one.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Large suppliers including Delphi Corp., Lear Corp. and Tenneco Inc. temporarily laid off workers. The strike was expected to further strain companies, moving down the supply chain, in an industry where a quarter of auto suppliers already are in financial distress.

The trickle-down effect in less than two days. And Canadian industry might be laying off roughly 100,00 workers by week’s end.

Now, I know some of you are going to say UNIONS aren’t needed anymore. I disagree.

Don Jones is a Martin man who worked for Goodyear for two decades. He was interviewed by Newsweek last week. He also has a blog. That’s where the reporters from Newsweek found him and decided to interview him.

From Newsweek:

When Don Jones went to work on the tire line at Goodyear in 1970, he says the company promised him free health-care coverage for life. Those generous medical benefits came in handy when Jones suffered a series of heart attacks that led to a transplant after he retired in 1993. But as health-care costs soared, the company began charging him for coverage. He now pays about $215 a month in premiums and prescription co-pays, more than half his monthly pension of $385. Last year, though, Jones’s union, the United Steelworkers, agreed to take over running the retiree medical plan from Goodyear. “I actually believe my benefits will get better” when the deal is completed in the next few months, says Jones, 68. Goodyear should be optimistic, too. By funding a special health-care trust run by the union, it gets out from under an estimated $1.2 billion in future retiree medical obligations.

Read the rest of the story. Workers in large manufacturing environments are in transition. Don talks about what’s it’s like to be a retiree on his blog. Newsweek found Don through his blog.

But here’s the rub, the Goodyear workers I’ve spoken too are very worried, as usual, that Goodyear will be relocated off-shore. Goodyear reps deny this will happen but then again, it’s always a possibility. Of course everyone says they won’t, but then again, they might because anything is possible.

One of my friends said this last night: “There are no blue collar workers anymore. The middle-class is diminishing. No one seems to notice and no one seems to care.”

Goodyear has gone to 24/7 operations.

Now, The UAW and GM have been in marathon negotiations to end this quickly. And I hope they do. I hope they come to a managable and reasonable compromise.

Because, I’ve seen what a strike that lasts three months can do to a small community.

And, campers, it’s not good.

Wishing Rep. Mark Maddox get well wishes the morning. He has spent that last few days in the hospital.

Apparently it was a cranky gall bladder that was giving him trouble that has now been cheerfully removed.

I say cheerfully because I hear when that puppies cranky, it hurts like crazy.

Your morning political news gossip courtesy of Perez Coma and my sister, Homer, who knows everything. 

I talked to Mike McWherter last week and I posted my brief meeting with him on this blog.

As we were putting our paper to bed late yesterday, we got the obligatory press release that he was setting up an exploratory committee as we were packing up to go home. (Note: Mike send your press releases out earlier in the day. Having to tear up a front page when it was done to add your announcement made pagination technicians growl. And, you lose a day of media bliss especially with the big media boys in the big markets. And, tear it up we did. You are front page/top fold news because, well, your last name is McWherter.)

Friendly advice, dude.
McWherter most likely wants to be, as I would imagine, judged on his own merits. Being the son of a beloved and very well-liked politician like Ned McWherter (Ned Ray if you are from Weakley County), of course the man wants, and has, his own identity and should be judged on that. There are a few things I would recommend if he asked me which isn’t going to happen but, hey, I play armchair pundit all the time, so away we go.

First of all, I know very little about where McWherter stands on the issues. I know he’s a democrat, worked on Lowe Finney’s campaign and has been in the wings around his Pop for years, but little is known about him to the layman. I went to his website and all that was on it was a brief political statement and a box for me to sign up to get emails from his campaign. Not a bad idea, but there wasn’t any information about the reasons why we should vote for him. I’ve lived in his dad’s hometown for a long time, and worked in media most of that time. I’ve had very little contact. I DO know his sister, who is an amazing woman, a cancer survivor and very active in the community and one of the nicest individuals to grace the planet. She is amazing.

McWherter’s family is enmeshed in this community, but as I said before, other than knowing he’s a lawyer and was the treasurer of Lowe Finney’s successful state campaign against Don McLeary, that’s about the extent of my knowledge. I know he’s a lawyer and he’s in the beer biz.

Yup, that’s it.

But, sadly, the man has been around for years and in my own backyard and I know very little. As he is “exploring” at this point, I think we will find things out pretty soon.

Now, a couple of my politician buddies will probably give me hell about saying this. So be it, but one of the biggest mistakes politicians make is they meet interested constituents and do the shake and greet in smaller rural venues, but there is still an air of distance many times. John Tanner has been in politics since I was a kid, and you do see him around and he’s pretty accessible. Sometimes he will stare at you like you have mustard on your face, but he will talk about things. I’ve known Sen. Roy Herron forever, and last time I saw him he asked if I was still at the newspaper and if I’d become a full-time blogger.

Name’s in the paper every week, Roy. Do you have a subscription? (I tease. Not really.)

You see, the thing is that it’s always a good idea to pay attention.

McWherter was chatty the night I met him and I do believe his tour across the state will be beneficial and he does appear to be extremely accessible which will benefit him. I also liked his candor, and I can’t help but think he is going to make great strides in his quest of meeting average Tennesseans.

But people aren’t voting as much these days. It’s just a fact. So, how do candidates and the parties they represent combat this issue and inspire people to get out and vote?

My suggestion is simple, and this advice goes to the Tennessee Democratic Party as well. Bill Hobbs is a blogger and has been hired by the state’s GOP office. He recently released a pamphlet called “Who is Fred Thompson?” and included quotes from conservative bloggers around the state who are have a level of influence and a readership. Honestly, from a marketing perspective, this is just damned clever.

I’m not seeing the Democrats in the state pushing toward successful internet campaigns of creating a message to the online generation of voters. I see individual spurts from savvy politicians, but not a combined, concerted effort. And, alas, it’s needed.
So, get on it. Blogging is electronic word of mouth.  Word of mouth gets you elected. Social networking is free and effective. I get updates on Twitter all the time from presidential candidates. I know where Obama is going to speak nightly, how Fred Thompson is on a tour of playing catch-up after his recent announcement that’s he’s running, John Edwards is probably the most effective in sending e-mails and keeping the dialogue going online. A candidate can’t be on CNN every waking moment, but they can have 24/7 internet visibility.

Example: Steve Cohen has a FaceBook account. I get updates and you always know where Cohen is standing politically. Online, he’s everywhere and has, from a PR perspective, moved out of the shadows of being a freshman congressman quite effectively. He’s a You Tube favorite. Mainstream media covers him when he’s being all Steve and they spin his “eccentric liberal” reputation. But I can Google his name and there is always new information and his people/bloggers are very good at keeping it out there. If I Google, let’s say Tanner’s name, I’m getting bloggers’ perspectives and the occasional press release which are very consistent but very little of the “spin” is from the Dems or from himself. And sadly, when you do Google his name, there is the inevitable Michael Moore confrontation sitting near the top of a search engine.

McWherter, be revolutionary in this state. I’m no fan of Lamar Alexander, and the flannel shirt and faux good old boy foof  won’t play in 2008. We live in a world of digital overload. Use it. And let it work for you.

Because it is what it is.

McWherter can do this. He can be revolutionary in this aspect. But we need to know more about him. We are in a world of transparency in politics.

Must freak old-school politicians out on a daily basis.

And the world continues to turn.

Yeah, I’m planning a party.

Birthday: Oct. 7.

Born: 1965.

Every year should be groovy.

Dontcha think?

Of course, my birthday is everyone’s birthday.

Yeah, I like that sentiment.

Everyone should celebrate their own birthday. If they don’t, who will?