tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30018925749155346912024-02-06T23:04:33.709-05:00Journalism or Bust!Documenting the achievement of a lifelong dream...JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-54469261416435092372021-09-06T20:02:00.001-04:002021-09-06T20:02:28.718-04:00In Memoriam: Death of a Mentor<p style="text-align: left;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgQcehcuxfb_o9BouRlDfb4qB72G2tLhVvbPHmbvhZ8_iTaqqC6-YeQZG3rmRfk-osWQ5Xo5dKg5E8POq0KfhIk8Iew5LxXWdERDjkLRfnl0OGSF0EhERIglWYTINqiIlprxNrgwxGxer/s249/Faulkner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="203" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgQcehcuxfb_o9BouRlDfb4qB72G2tLhVvbPHmbvhZ8_iTaqqC6-YeQZG3rmRfk-osWQ5Xo5dKg5E8POq0KfhIk8Iew5LxXWdERDjkLRfnl0OGSF0EhERIglWYTINqiIlprxNrgwxGxer/s0/Faulkner.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Francis D. "Proinsias" Faulkner, PhD<br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>1945-2021</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm not quite sure what event or thought crossed my mind yesterday to cause me to think about him. I've been having a personal "quarrel" with social media (primarily Facebook) since the final days of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annus_horribilis" target="_blank"><i>annus horribilis</i></a> known to almost all of us as 2020. The constant skirmishes with people that I used to remember being somewhat smart and collegial had me pull away from my primary window to the outside world at the height of the worst pandemic event our planet has witnessed since the Spanish Flu outbreak just over 100 years ago. Scrolling through countless "shares" about the coronavirus, the conspiratorial aftermath of the then-recent US presidential election, and the toxic mingling of the two into incoherent uneducated gibberish pushed me to the point where I would only give the site occasional glances to check in on the lives of those I was connected with through that platform (I would later go even farther, removing all of my personal information except for my name). Because this 21st century version of the "town square" concept was the only way to keep tabs on some family members and close friends, I could not go through the final act of deleting the account completely.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">When I was on good terms with Facebook, one of the things I looked forward to annually was the birthday greetings that would come flooding in from a good portion of the 500+ "friends" I have on that site. If one shares their birth date with the public, members can anticipate the well wishes to start (depending on where they lived) as early as the afternoon before the actual day and they would continue sometimes up to a few weeks later in the form of apologetic "belated" felicitations. From the time that we linked there up back in 2014, one of the first ones that would arrive for me would be from Francis (Frank) Faulkner, a man that I considered a mentor, a contemporary, as well as a friend who I met through my University of Massachusetts (UMass) journalism certificate program days. This "earlieness" was due to him taking up residence in the Philippines--12 hours ahead of the US Eastern time zone--in what turned out to be the final years of his most interesting life. Since I removed my data, none of my friends were reminded about my birthday (it's a day in June) and no greetings were received. As it turned out, I would not have received one from him this year anyway because of his passing in late May.</div>
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<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cW1mfQ0iD-6NugA5C9svyIY3WXRvDTEccX0Ejg1VvbglY4PrsHBhn7Ipq1Z3TlHKx1d8InYc0h-wdH7Q6Pr8md0UdTB1cd-YzCwrBC_be5seYFXpXcQ8tk30dLndtj8iMSiP32bhwE84/s500/photo_20210602_W0059476_0_20210602.jpgx.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="500" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cW1mfQ0iD-6NugA5C9svyIY3WXRvDTEccX0Ejg1VvbglY4PrsHBhn7Ipq1Z3TlHKx1d8InYc0h-wdH7Q6Pr8md0UdTB1cd-YzCwrBC_be5seYFXpXcQ8tk30dLndtj8iMSiP32bhwE84/w255-h247/photo_20210602_W0059476_0_20210602.jpgx.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>An undated photo of Frank during his time in the US Army's 101st Airborne Division</i></div><p></p><p>I had the pleasure of having "Professor" Faulkner as my instructor for three (<i>Introduction to Journalism, Newswriting and Reporting, </i>and <i>Interviewing Skills for Journalists</i>) of my seven online courses during the program. Over that time, we got to know about each other's common backgrounds and shared military experiences (he was a member of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division and served a tour in South Vietnam in the early 1960s; he would later serve as the Executive Officer of Westover Air Reserve Base from 1986 through 1983). It was after that Army stint that he dove deep into the journalism field. He described that period between 1965 and 1967 while a correspondent for United Press International in his February 1981 Communication Studies dissertation titled <i><a href="https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8110327/" target="_blank">Bao Chi: The American News Media in Vietnam 1960-1975</a>, </i>as a "shakedown"<i> w</i>here he rubbed shoulders with a veritable "who's who" of correspondents and photographers assigned to Saigon who covered their own portions of that 15-year war in Indochina. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYEWXLHZ2aYX7-nloOg4Qy-0J-Lrwo18kX5bbAUOZ3mJHP5OVyajQpxoI6zDxcvge6MBkPtTQzJolHbkuBZKzCPIdctEBCUT9392lRMNrXxazRNBcJrijyh3xsUQNrE0rk8aAJzZMtHqv/s500/0804.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="500" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYEWXLHZ2aYX7-nloOg4Qy-0J-Lrwo18kX5bbAUOZ3mJHP5OVyajQpxoI6zDxcvge6MBkPtTQzJolHbkuBZKzCPIdctEBCUT9392lRMNrXxazRNBcJrijyh3xsUQNrE0rk8aAJzZMtHqv/s320/0804.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>A photo of Frank while assigned as a war correspondent at the UPI's Saigon news bureau (<a href="http://vietnamphotography.com/units.php?UID=3" target="_blank">photo</a> courtesy of VietnamPhotography.com) </i><br /></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">In an October 1965 news <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/138744629/" target="_blank">article</a>, Francis T. Leary, the UPI vice-president and executive editor, called him out among other in-country reporters in a rebuttal to a retired Army general's claims of the press being "derelict" in their coverage of the war for American audiences. Specifically, he cited accounts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paul_Revere" target="_blank">Operation Paul Revere</a> II, the second in a series of four joint US/Vietnamese operations to sweep out North Vietnamese insurgents from the central highlands region of South Vietnam's Pleiku Province. Mr. Leary responded to that criticism by saying, "it is a pity that Gen. Marshall did not acquaint himself with the UPI file before joining the clique that attempts to smear the press generally in an effort to smoke screen government and military information shenanigans designed to keep the press from doing its job." Faulkner was identified as one of seven UPI journalists who saw "considerable front line action" for that specific operation. Although I can no longer confirm this, this very public exchange between the Army officer and the UPI executive might have been the impetus for Faulkner's later dissertation (there is no mention of either man in that document's acknowledgement).<br /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">According to his <a href="https://obits.masslive.com/us/obituaries/masslive/name/francis-faulkner-obituary?pid=198872239" target="_blank">obituary</a>, he returned to Springfield, Massachusetts where he worked as an investigative reporter and city editor at the <i>Springfield
Daily News</i>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stringer_(journalism)" target="_blank">stringer</a> for <i>The New York Times</i>, and also taught journalism at both UMass and Holyoke Community College from 1974 until his unceremonious departure in the summer of 2012. It was in the fall of 2011 that I got to make his acquaintance for my aforementioned journalism "intro" course. In an exchange we had at the beginning of that semester, he told me that he was also co-teaching a class called "Journalism in the Age of Terror", one that was geared toward military intelligence analysts and journalists--two things that I consider myself to be. He told me that "in the current age, and with something I term Fourth Generation Journalism, the old rules of military, law enforcement, and diplomacy no longer matter to the conduct of nations or non-state players...and because of this, journalism and intelligence should change, perhaps must change." </p><p style="text-align: left;">We never continued that conversation but we had some exchanges in the summer of 2014 when I was out of work and looking at using my newly minted journalism certificate to help secure any type of employment opportunities. I reached out to him to ask him if I could use him as a professional reference and to look over a new version of my resume (he gladly said "yes" to both). I made the changes he recommended and actually got a few "nibbles" (but no true "bites") when I submitted it for reporter/multimedia journalist positions in three different states. As I said in my <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2015/01/a-review-of-my-year-of-application.html" target="_blank">last blog posting for 2014</a>, I was offered a job in a new line of work for me and I've been going strong for the past 6-1/2 years. I sometimes have regrets that I could not land my "dream job" but it was an opportunity for "reinventing" myself and that courage to step outside of my "comfort zone" is directly attributed to the mentorship and friendship I received during that year-long period that Frank and I were instructor and student. </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZKSrUpGjP2EzKXxmITqBJaj1tfNUJHjWarlj3j15fZP337OZvhT4Y8kOfF7dD7IiDpzeO7XmlnYv-Rb4ujUVXDJHLyKxVDci-BfnjNWFyO14Uj52NTapg0fga9UzFNmM4XJhsneJ4UONw/s200/index.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZKSrUpGjP2EzKXxmITqBJaj1tfNUJHjWarlj3j15fZP337OZvhT4Y8kOfF7dD7IiDpzeO7XmlnYv-Rb4ujUVXDJHLyKxVDci-BfnjNWFyO14Uj52NTapg0fga9UzFNmM4XJhsneJ4UONw/s0/index.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i>A photo that Frank posted to his Blogger.com profile <a href="https://www.blogger.com/profile/15823489276881368514" target="_blank">page</a> (he laughed when I called him "the most interesting man in the world")</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i> </i></div><p style="text-align: left;">In the years since then, Frank split his time between Dingle in Ireland's County Kerry and the Philippines' Mindanao island. The photos he posted for sale at his FineArtAmerica.com <a href="https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/proinsias-faulkner/shop">page</a> show how he lived out the last years, surrounded by sun, surf, and the essence of life with a new family. He passed on May 28th at the age of 76 after a short illness and he leaves behind two adult daughters and a 7-year old son along with two grandchildren. The obituary also lists "countless cousins, friends and former students around the world" and I consider myself lucky to have been included in that grouping. I hope to honor his legacy and use his passing as a catalyst to get me to start blogging again (last month marked the 10-year anniversary of its creation and today is also the 10th anniversary of me starting my certificate program with UMass). It won't be easy but I am willing to give it my best.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">While born as a "Francis", Frank preferred to use Proinsias (the Gaelic version of his name) in his later life to honor his Irish heritage and lineage. As someone who claims a similar (but minor) <span>hereditament from my father's mother's side of the family, I would like to close this tribute with a traditional Irish blessing of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of that emerald island:<br /></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p><i>“May the Irish hills caress you.<br /><span style="font-weight: 400;">May her lakes and rivers bless you.<br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">May the luck of the Irish enfold you.<br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.”</span></i></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">Although, understanding the"cheeky" way that he viewed life, this one might be more appropriate:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>“As you slide down the banisters of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.”</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">Beannaigh Proinsias duit ... go dtí go mbuailfimid arís. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></div><p></p>JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-62605084661833013352016-09-05T23:13:00.002-04:002016-09-05T23:25:07.185-04:00Double Debate Disappointment<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>This September presidential debate was supposed to be the pinnacle of my budding journalism career path but it was canceled (and moved to alternate location) back in mid-July. </i></div>
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Like other significant emotional events we humans experience in our lives, I can vividly recall where I was when I first got word about Wright State University's <a href="http://webapp2.wright.edu/web1/newsroom/2016/07/19/wright-state-university-decides-not-to-host-presidential-debate/">19 July decision</a> to back out of the first presidential debate that was supposed to happen practically in my own backyard a few weeks from now. I was on a business trip out to North Dakota and was checking email on my smartphone after lunch before stowing it inside my car before entering a secure military facility. The cryptic teaser from the <i>Dayton Daily News'</i> app said that a "major announcement" was scheduled for 2pm that afternoon at the campus (I was an hour behind in the Central Time Zone) but no supporting information was provided prior to the event. It wasn't until I stepped out about an hour later to check for messages that I got to see just how devastating that press conference would be to the school, the local area and, on a personal level, to me.<br />
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<i>Wright State University President David Hopkins addresses the media on 19 July about his decision to withdraw from hosting the first US presidential debate at the school's Fairborn, Ohio campus. (YouTube clip courtesy of Wright State University)</i></div>
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School President David Hopkins announced that Wright State was withdrawing as the host location for the first presidential debate on 26 September, citing security concerns and a lack of contributions from the local community to help offset the expected $8 million price tag for that historic event. Just three days before this decision, 86 people were killed and nearly 500 were injured when a Muslim terrorist used a large cargo truck to drive through crowds of pedestrians celebrating Bastille Day in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Nice_attack">Nice, France</a>. Citing the university's restriction on preventing people from entering a public university's open campus, he stated that he couldn't assure "the safety of our students and the community” during such a high-profile activity. An increase of security protection measures at this late moment would have overburdened an already strained debate tab in the wake of recent remediation efforts to help make up for funding shortfalls within the school's overall operating budget. “I can’t dip into more reserves to do this debate,” Hopkins said. With his hands virtually tied and no additional financial support to the school from regional- or state-level authorities, he notified the Commission on Presidential Debates at noon and the debate was quickly moved to Hempstead, New York's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a> for that same September date.<br />
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<i>Wright State University's Ervin J. Nutter Center was to have served as the host location for the first presidential debate of the 2016 general election campaign season.</i></div>
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This post is not meant to analyze, in the wake of the rationale used for withdrawing as a host, how Wright State was ever awarded the debate in the first place. I am an acquaintance of the consultant the school used to lobby for the event and none of those points were brought up in any of our conversations. The proposed facility for the debate--the university's Ervin J. Nutter Center--hosted John McCain's <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?280808-1/mccain-vice-presidential-announcement">announcement</a> of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee back in August 2008 and hosted sitting Vice President Joe Biden for a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2012/09/av-vp-stumps-in-miami-valley-for-obama.html">rally</a> at the school's Student Union building in September 2012 (my <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2012/10/bts-biden-fairborn-rally.html">BTS coverage</a> of that rally hints at the security measures required for high-profile political visitors). My concerns about that eleventh-hour decision revolve around how this area will be seen on a national level after Wright State's backpedaling away from that previous commitment considering the importance Ohio has in the general election strategies for both parties. The other venues--Hofstra, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_University_in_Saint_Louis">St. Louis' Washington University</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Nevada,_Las_Vegas">University of Nevada Las Vegas</a>--are moving forward to complete preparations for their hosting gigs and the moderators for those debates were just announced late last week.<br />
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<i>My activities during the 2012 presidential cycle were my first foray into political news coverage and photojournalism.</i></div>
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With all of this bad news, there was still a very slim sliver of hope for attending one of these events. Because of its location, I selected the Wright State debate as my only choice when I submitted for media credentialing through the organizer's web site in late June As a "local", I was hoping to score some "compassion" points due to my previous (and current) diligence in participating within the local presidential media circles. While the 2008 contest had me at several events as a supporter, the 2012 primary and general election cycles had me out there <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/02/bts-air-force-one-arrival-and-2012.html">covering</a> many of the major party candidates as a journalist when they would stop in the southwest and central portions of the state (as the above graphic details). During the Ohio elections two years later, I was able to attend events where I got up close and personal with many of the candidates for statewide offices. The 2016 cycle started early for me with the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2015/07/ohio-governor-throws-hat-into-very.html">presidential candidacy announcement</a> by Governor John Kasich in July of 2015 followed by a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2015/09/av-carson-rally-at-cedarville-university.html">visit to Cedarville University</a> by Dr. Ben Carson in September. This past March was very busy with four separate events (<a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/03/av-trump-holds-raucous-republican-rally.html">two</a> <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/03/av-buckeyes-feel-bern-at-sanders.html">rallies</a>, a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/03/av-buckeye-boss-buoyed-by-balloting.html">town hall</a>, and a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/03/av-big-dog-barnstorms-for-bride.html">speech</a>) in the Dayton and Columbus areas prior to the 15 March primary election. Over the past three months, I've been formally credentialed to cover <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/06/av-clinton-castigates-competitors.html">three</a> <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/07/av-dems-debut-determined-dynamic-duo.html">separate</a> <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/08/av-clintonkaine-coach-cavalcade.html">events</a> for the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton (I applied to get into a <a href="http://www.whio.com/news/national-govt--politics/gop-nominee-mike-pence-takes-hillary-clinton-local-stop/HZvAJDrTNGnzvPQztFcvKP/">10 August Mike Pence event</a> here in town but was perfunctorily declined by the Trump press office due to press space and safety concerns).<br />
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<i>My "Hail Mary" pass to get into one of the debates was politely deflected by the debate credentialing staff late last week.</i></div>
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Soon after the cancellation of the Wright State event was announced, I was contacted via email by the debate organizers to ask what my intentions were regarding credentialing for any of the other debates. I took a couple of days to do some mental planning and while it would have been awesome to request covering the first debate at its new location, the logistics and timing just were not in that date's favor. I looked over the remaining two and I noticed that the second one--the one with the town hall format--is going to be held in St. Louis (a little over 5-hour 360-mile drive from my location versus a 10-hour 635-mile excursion to the East Coast) and is slated to be held on a Sunday evening instead of a Monday night. The shorter distance and not having to use an extra days' worth of vacation time pushed me towards responding to that inquiry with a "Hail Mary" decision by their 1 August deadline date. This past Thursday afternoon, I heard an out-of-place email announcement from my phone for the account I have set up for this blog (and my media activities). I quickly glanced at the sender info and my heart skipped a beat seeing that it was from the debate staff. I tapped on the screen and up popped their response to my request; unfortunately, it was the negative one displayed above.<br />
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Before the credentialing window is closed for that second debate, I wonder if I can try a "Hail Hail Mary" and forward a link to this post to provide the necessary context and history that an online application site simply cannot do. As I've learned during many situations over my advanced number of years on this planet, the worst thing someone can tell you is "no" but you will never get that answer unless you make the request. So here goes...<br />
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<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
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<blockquote>
<b><i>To whom it may concern,</i></b>
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<b><i><br /></i></b><b><i>I humbly appeal for your reconsideration for my media credential request for the 9 October debate in St. Louis, Missouri. While it might be seen as a consolation prize for the canceled Wright State event, it would immediately serve as the highest pinnacle attained in my budding journalism career path. Please contact me through established channels if you have any questions regarding this request. To help me in setting up travel arrangements to that venue, a quick reply would be sincerely appreciated. </i></b>
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<b><i><br /></i></b><b><i>Thanks in advance for your second look.</i></b>
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<b><i><br /></i></b><b><i>JoB!</i></b></blockquote>
JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-59614411335791559282016-08-21T23:32:00.002-04:002016-08-21T23:32:58.983-04:00In Memoriam: John McLaughlin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>One of the many iterations of the McLaughlin Group cast, as depicted in this Al Hirschfeld lithograph. Occupying the center is John McLaughlin with (clockwise) Eleanor Clift, Morton Kondracke, Fred Barnes, Jack Germond, and Clarence Page in his periphery (<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81Rqw%2B20PcL._SL1500_.jpg">image</a> courtesy of Margo Feiden Galleries Ltd., New York).</i></div>
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I wasn't completely surprised when I heard about the passing of political commentator John McLaughlin back on August 16th. News of his failing health, to include him missing the episode that was taped just four days prior--his first absence in the 34-year run of <i>The McLaughlin Group</i> television show, had come through my many social media feeds and helped softened the blow of hearing that he had succumbed to prostate cancer at the age of 89. I have not been a loyal viewer of late but a recent "peek-in" showed him looking rather gaunt and purposely placed in his host chair to perhaps provide as much comfort to him as possible. His voice sounded weaker but his mind--via the topics he personally chose--appeared to remain faithful to him right up to the very end. This recent imagery, however, does not do justice to the grandiose giant who changed how American political discourse was presented to the masses via the medium of television.<br />
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<i>Recording a 1992 episode of The McLaughlin Group are (from left to right) Eleanor Clift, Morton Kondracke, John McLaughlin, Clarence Page, and Fred Barnes. (photo by Stephen Crowley and courtesy of The New York Times)</i></div>
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Conformity and contradictions were a constant through the host's long life. John Joseph McLaughlin was born in Providence, Rhode Island in March 1927 and raised in a devoutly Catholic and Democratic home. This upbringing, to include parochial preparatory education, swayed him towards joining the priesthood after graduating high school and he was ordained a priest in 1947. Earning advanced degrees in both English and philosophy from Boston College (and later a Doctor in Philosophy from Columbia University), McLaughlin began teaching high school in Fairfield, Connecticut where he supposedly honed his erudite manner that was on display throughout his television career. When in New York, he became involved in Jesuit public relations as a lecturer about sexuality issues--a topic not normally associated with a celibate servant of God.<br />
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<i>Then-Jesuit priest Reverand John McLaughlin pictured during his campaign for one of Rhode Island's US Senate seats in 1970. (UPI Telephoto <a href="https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1024w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/08/02/National-Politics/Images/Merlin_12174180.jpg">courtesy</a> of The Washington Post)</i></div>
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In the late 1960s, his dabbling into politics--supposedly another "taboo" subject to those in the priesthood--drove him towards an unsuccessful US Senate primary run as an anti-war Republican. That campaign would have two major impacts upon his personal and professional future. For that failed bid, he hired Ann Dore to be his campaign manager and she would eventually become his first wife after he renounced his vows in 1975. McLaughlin's run also attracted the attention and eventual friendship of a fellow Jesuit, Pat Buchanan, who was an advisor for the Nixon White House at the time. McLaughlin was hired by Buchanan to work as a fellow speechwriter and administration advocate and he was one of the last to defend the soon-to-resign president as late as 1974.<br />
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<i>President Richard Nixon shakes John McLaughlin's hand during this photo taken May 3, 1974. (photo courtesy of the National Archives)</i></div>
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After working for a short period of time in the Ford administration, McLaughlin and Dore started a political consultancy which led to his initial attempt as a talk show host on a local Washington, DC radio station in 1980 which lasted less than a year. With the Reagan administration taking the nation's helm in 1981, he was hired by the <i>National Review</i> to serve as their editor in the nation's capital until stepping down in 1989. The following year, funded by wealthy Nixon backers, he started Oliver Productions (named after his pet Basset Hound during his Nixon years) which now gave him the mechanism and medium to introduce the programming that just had its final airing this week. McLaughlin would serve as the "brainy blowhard" host and he would invite guests that would represent what he believed to be disparate segments of the American political spectrum. Buchanan became a "regular" early on and he was joined by the likes of conservative commentators Morton Kondracke, Fred Barnes, and Robert Novak (Jack Germond, then a syndicated columnist with <i>The Baltimore Sun</i>, and a few others represented the token liberal perspective). The show's raucous format (President Reagan once said it was "the most tasteful programming alternative to professional wrestling") was a significant change from the measured and civilized televised exchanges seen on Sunday morning political shows like <i>Meet the Press</i> and <i>Face the Nation </i>and <i>The McLaughlin Group</i> aired as an alternative to them across the country via syndication through many Public Broadcasting Service outlets.<br />
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<i>A screen capture of the July 20, 1985 edition of The McLaughlin Group. From left to right are Bob Novak, Morton Kondracke, John McLaughlin, Jack Germond, and Fred Barnes. (image courtesy of YouTube)</i></div>
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With over 300 outlets for his original show by 1984, McLaughlin began to capitalize on this success and branch out to take on more political programming. That same year, he rolled out <i>McLaughlin: One on One</i>, an interview show, that aired weekly on PBS up until ending in 2013. He ventured over to cable television where he hosted an eponymously titled nightly talk show on CNBC from 1989 through 1994 and a short-run <i>McLaughlin Special Report</i> on MSNBC in early 1999. Being so widely known led to a number of cameo appearances--usually as himself--on television shows (<i>Alf</i>,<i> Murphy Brown</i>, and hosting the 200th episode of <i>Cheers</i>) and motion pictures (<i>Dave</i>, <i>Independence Day</i>, <i>Bulworth</i>, and <i>War, Inc.</i>). Perhaps the greatest pop culture homage paid to McLaughlin came via comedian Dana Carvey's nearly perfect over-the-top impression of the commentator on several episodes of <i>Saturday Night Live</i> in the 1990s.<br />
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<i>This cold opening to a March 1992 edition of Saturday Night Live shows Dana Carvey's over-the-top impresswion of the conservative television host. (video courtesy of YouTube)</i></div>
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While attaining professional acclaim, McLaughlin did struggle in his personal life. A $4 million sexual harassment lawsuit was brought against him in 1988 by a former assistant. While it was settled out of court, it and other similar alleged incidents of this type created a strain in his marriage to Dore (who served as Reagan's last labor secretary) that led to dissolution in 1992. Issues between the host and contributor Novak led to the latter leaving the show that same year to start a similar one on CNN. In 1997, at the age of 70, McLaughlin <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/22/style/cristina-vidal-and-john-mclaughlin.html?_r=0">married</a> 36-year old Christina Clara Vidal, a vice president for operations in his production company, after meeting in a New York City bookstore seven years earlier. That marriage also ended in <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2010/04/john_mclaughlin_and_cristina_m.html">divorce</a> in 2010 after 13 years. <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/16/saying-goodbye-to-john-mclaughlin-tv-s-original-tough-political-talker.html">According</a> to long-time contributor Eleanor Clift, McLaughlin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer "some time ago and that had spread" in recent months. The final show he participated in had recorded voiceovers for a segment about Pope Francis with the assistance of his companion, Maritza, at his home. His speech was so slurred that captions were provided so viewers could understand his words. His longtime friend Buchanan hosted in his absence. He died early in the morning of August 16 and Maritza sent Clift an email saying that "he went to join his beloved Oliver in heaven." I forgot to set up my DVR this morning but, luckily, will be able to record an encore showing of the final episode of the program that aired this weekend.<br />
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<i>John McLaughlin , right at podium, for an October 1985 reception honoring his television show. Long-time friend Pat Buchanan (left) and President Ronald Reagan (center) look on.(<a href="http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-ronald-reagan-at-reception-for-mclaughlin-group-with-host-picture-id72367034">photo</a> by Karl Schumaker and courtesy of <a href="http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/president-ronald-reagan-at-reception-for-mclaughlin-group-news-photo/72367034">Getty Images</a>)</i></div>
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I believe the first time I ever watched <i>The McLaughlin Group</i> was during my first tour in Japan in the mid-1980s. With the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service being the only English television available to the military population, I was included in that captive audience with that show getting interspersed with other American news, sports, and entertainment programming. After I got married and returned stateside, my viewing decreased because my wife was not enamored with the "tenor" of those weekly discussions and would normally leave the room to escape the "constant yelling". When CNN lost its monopoly over cable news in the mid-1990s, I migrated over to those new outlets and eventually settled upon MSNBC right around the period of the 2004 presidential election cycle.<br />
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<i>John McLaughlin gives what turned out to be his final "bye bye" closing at the end of the July 29 edition of The McLaughlin Group program. (screen capture courtesy of YouTube)</i></div>
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As a regular viewer of their offerings, I noticed (and still do notice) some of the components of McLaughlin's "experiment" embedded into the formats. One of the most obvious is what some in the business refer to as "debate dungeons"--off-set guests, sometimes in different cities or countries, who go to small local videoconferencing rooms to participate in mutual onscreen discussions. During McLaughlin's funeral service, a friend of John mentioned in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x87-TVsBVMI&t=4550s">eulogy</a> that a distancing arrangement was imposed to increase the distance between the contributors in order to make them feel comfortable enough to be able to "differ from one another--sometimes politely, sometimes shouting" which made for good television.<br />
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<i>Show regular Tom Rogan <a href="http://www.tomroganthinks.com/2016/08/mclaughlin-group.html">posted </a>this photo of The McLaughlin Group's on- and off-camera team for the episode that John missed the taping. He died four days later of prostate cancer. (photo courtesy of Tom Rogan)</i></div>
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A personal lesson that I can take away from John McLaughlin's life related to the purpose of this blog is that he didn't start his media career in earnest until he was in his mid-50s--the same stage of life I'm at currently. One of the avenues I've thought about pursuing is op/ed and I would like to model myself after the opinion scions of yesteryear--Joseph Alsop (of recent <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/theater/the-columnist-dissects-joseph-alsop.html?_r=0">The Columnist</a></i> fame), William F. Buckley, Gore Vidal, Edward R. Murrow and Eric Sevareid come to mind (George Will would be a modern-day contemporary from that group). Sometimes derided as "eggheads" or "intellectuals" by their less-educated critics, these men possessed an educational pedigree that helped them transcend single issues or "groupthink". Familiar with disciplines that incorporate reason, reflection, and perspective into providing logic-based solutions for complex problems, these opiners usually won their debates simply by just showing up. Unfortunately, our modern-day educational systems generally do not provide those classical tools to the wider student population that could be combined with their own areas of expertise to lift up the overall discourse and increase buy-in to solutions that do not fit comfortably on a bumper sticker.<br />
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<i>Political commentator (and long-time friend) Pat Buchanan delivers remarks at John McLaughlin's funeral mass at Washington, DC's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on August 20. (screen capture courtesy of YouTube) </i></div>
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One drawback to those aforementioned individuals was that they often came across to their audiences (and opponents) as acting aloof or like condescending "bullies" because they believed in, as McLaughlin so often alluded to, the "metaphysical certitude" of their own conclusions. In my years of online activities on local and national message boards, I've had similar experiences with individuals who could not (or often chose not) to permit themselves to view things outside of their chosen paradigms or ideological "bubbles". I could flood their inboxes with citation after citation from reliable and totally credible sources and they would either try to "attack the messenger" (i.e. every story included in <i>The New York Times</i> must always have a liberal bias even if it is citing a wire service as its source) or simply ignore them. I've lost countless layers of skin from my fingers responding to ignorance or obtuseness regarding issues or subjects that do not require a lot of intellectual capacity to fully comprehend so I can totally empathize with their frustrations and responses outside more scholarly confines. Perhaps that's what John McLaughlin suffered from during those 34 years of hosting his program...but I can imagine hearing him yelling "WRONG!" from beyond the grave just to be disagreeable.<br />
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-19243955961709925632016-08-10T23:07:00.001-04:002016-08-10T23:07:09.072-04:00A/V: Clinton/Kaine Coach Cavalcade Concludes in Columbus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Democratic running mates Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine wave to supporters at the end of their bus tour rally at the </i><span style="text-align: start;"><i>Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center</i> </span><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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On July 31, Ohio's capital city played host to the conclusion of the Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine post-convention three-day bus tour swing through the nation's Rust Belt. Starting in the Philadelphia suburbs on July 29th, the nominees made several stops in central and western Pennsylvania before crossing over into the "Buckeye State" late on the evening of the 30th for a rally in Youngstown. After an impromptu stop at a Cleveland-area church and another at Ashland's Grandpa's Cheesebarn for a quick food break, their two buses rolled into the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center to an estimated crowd of over 5,000 enthusiastic spectators who waited nearly two hours beyond the scheduled start time.<br />
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<i>Mayor Andrew Ginther speaks to supporters for the Clinton/Kaine bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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Braving a high temperature and heat index that caused around a dozen people to seek out medical attention, the attendees were received by two high-profile central Ohio-area Democratic politicians and Clinton/Kaine statewide leadership team members. Andrew Gintner, the city's recently elected mayor and three-term US representative Joyce Beatty provided exuberant endorsements of the nominees who were formally paired less than 96 hours prior to the rally. After a short delay to reconfigure the stage, Roger Teeters, a Vietnam-era veteran, provided introductory remarks and greeted Secretary Clinton and Senator Kaine as they alighted from the lead coach.<br />
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<i>US Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio's 3rd Congressional District talks to the crowd prior to the start of the Clinton/Kaine bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus on July 31.</i></div>
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Seeking to build upon the emotional high from their party's very successful convention, the nominees continued to attack their Republican rivals on several central issues. After outlining Donald Trump's dubious business record and details-lacking proposals for his presidency, Kaine stated "we cannot put a nation as great as the United States in the hands of an empty-promising, self-promoting, one-man wrecking crew. We just can’t do it, folks. We just can’t do it."<br />
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<i>Roger Teeters, a Vietnam-era veteran, introduces the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees to the crowd at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>bus tour rally in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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During her turn at the microphone, Secretary Clinton highlighted Mr. Trump's outsourcing practices that appear to run counter to the rhetoric from his stump speeches. "He makes dress shirts in China, not Brooklyn, New York. He makes furniture in Turkey, not Cleveland, Ohio. He makes barware in Slovenia, not Jackson, Ohio. And he goes around saying he wants to put America first and American workers first."<br />
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<i>Several thousand supporters braved high heat and humidity levels to welcome Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine to their bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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In addition to those economic issues, Clinton concluded her remarks by alluding to the then-brewing controversy regarding the Republican presidential nominee's comments about the parents of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humayun_Khan_(soldier)">Captain Humayun Khan</a>, an Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004 while protecting his subordinates, and their joint appearance at the Democratic convention. During an ABC interview conducted the day before the Columbus rally, Trump tried to defend himself against Khazir Khan's claims that he had never sacrificed anything in his life but the businessman made the situation worse when he suggested that Khan's wife Ghazala stood silently by his side and was not allowed to speak at the convention due to her Islamic faith.<br />
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<i>An enthusiastic crowd welcomes the arrival of the Clinton/Kaine buses for the nominees' rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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Both Ohio and Pennsylvania are critical to each of the major party's Electoral College strategies. With a combined 38 votes in that quadrennial presidential selection process, they have gone to the Democrats in both 2008 and 2012 and recent polling trends shows the Clinton/Kaine ticket with a growing lead among likely voters in those states in the wake of the respective party's July conventions. Without them, the Republicans' attempt to secure the 270 electoral votes required to win the White House would be nearly impossible.<br />
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<i>Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton takes the stage while vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine watches on at the beginning of their bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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<i>Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine addresses the supporters attending the Columbus, Ohio bus tour rally at the city's </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>on July 31. Sitting behind Kaine is is wife, Anne Holton.</i></div>
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<i>Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, center, speaks to the crowd for the Columbus, Ohio bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>on July 31. Sitting behind Clinton are her running mate Tim Kaine, right, and his wife, Anne Holton.</i></div>
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<i>Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, right, and his wife Anne Holton, left, lock arms with presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the conclusion of their bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
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<i>Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets supporters at the end of the Clinton/Kaine bus tour rally at the </i><i style="text-align: start;">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center </i><i>in Columbus, Ohio on July 31.</i></div>
JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-26198277752932343132016-07-04T00:30:00.001-04:002016-07-04T00:30:09.323-04:00A/V: Dems Debut Determined Dynamic Duo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (left) locks hands with Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren at the start of a campaign rally held at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal on June 25th.</i></div>
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In a move that belies the importance of Ohio's role in the upcoming general election for president, the Democratic Party offered up two of their most influential members during a 90-minute campaign rally at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal this past Monday. Presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, making her third appearance in the Buckeye State within a two-week span, was greeted by an overflow capacity crowd that had already been warmed up by fiery remarks from the campaign's most recent and most progressive surrogate, Massachusetts freshman senator Elizabeth Warren.<br />
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<i>Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, left, addresses the crowd at the Democratic campaign rally for the party's presumptive presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, right, at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union terminal on June 25th.</i></div>
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Once the only female Democratic senator to withhold her endorsement
of the former US Secretary of State and New York lawmaker, Warren has
come to Clinton's aid with several solo campaign events in recent weeks but this was the first time
that both women have appeared together during this cycle. She brought the Cincinnati crowd to their feet when she formally made that long-awaited formal proclamation. "I'm here today because I'm with her. Yes, her," the Massachusetts senator enthusiastically stated. 'We’re all here today because we’re with her and we’re going to work our
hearts out to make Hillary Clinton the next President of the United
States!"<br />
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<i>Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton delivers remarks at the party's campaign rally held at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal on June 25th.</i></div>
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As she continued with her impassioned remarks, Warren did not hold back on her attacks of Republican presumptive
nominee Donald Trump. "What kind of a man does that?", she asked the crowd when bringing up Trump's recent self-centered comments regarding the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/19/politics/donald-trump-2006-hopes-real-estate-market-crashes/">2008 recession</a>, the previous week's <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/06/24/483353866/make-britain-great-again-donald-trumps-remarkable-reaction-to-brexit">"Brexit" vote</a> in the United Kingdom, and <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-keeps-up-attacks-on-judge-gonzalo-curiel-1464911442">continued legal issues</a> with his now defunct for-profit eponymous university. "I’ll tell you what kind of man: a small, insecure money-grubber who fights for nobody but himself."<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren (left) and </i><i><i>presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (right) wave to the crowd </i>at the conclusion of a
campaign rally held at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
on June 25th.</i></div>
<br />
During Clinton's time at the podium, she continued her campaign's recent adoption of overtly disparaging her presumed November opponent's qualifications to serve as America's next leader. Citing Warren's ability to "get under Donald Trump's thin skin", the presumptive nominee added, "she exposes him for what he is: temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be president of the United States." With one of the leading voices on progressive matters flanking her on stage, Secretary Clinton conveniently mentioned her support for a rise in the minimum wage, debt relief for college loans and other economic issues considered important to that wing of the Democratic Party. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Mayor John Cranley, address the crowd before the
start of the Clinton/Warren campaign rally held at the Cincinnati Museum
Center at Union Terminal on June 25th.</i> </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i></i></div>
Bolstered by an unmistakable chemistry that was evident during this
rally, speculation will certainly grow in the weeks leading up to this month's convention over the potential of a Clinton/Warren ticket to run
against Trump and his yet-to-be-announced running mate. She would join a list rumored to be populated by several of her US Senate colleagues (Virginia's Tim Kaine, Ohio's Sherrod Brown, and New Jersey's Corey Booker) as well as two current Obama administration cabinet officials (HUD secretary Julian Castro and labor secretary Tom Perez). The campaign's decision is not expected to be announced until that Philadelphia event starts on July 25th.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Overflow crowds lining up to gain admittance to the Clinton/Warren
campaign rally held at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal on
June 25th.</i></div>
<br />
Ohio's swing state status holds true again this presidential cycle with
recent polling showing the race to be extremely close at this
pre-convention stage. As of the time of this posting, RealClearPolitics <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/oh/ohio_trump_vs_clinton-5634.html">data</a>
shows Clinton with a 2.5 percent advantage over her presumed Republican
rival. With the primary season over,
the campaign has purchased significant ad buys in Ohio and other
battleground states to transition towards their general election message
and opponent. In a bid to counter this Democratic event, the Trump campaign <a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/07/02/trump-announces-visit-sharonville-convention-center/86636416/">announced on Saturday</a> an appearance by the candidate at a convention center in the Cincinnati suburbs on July 6th to help shore up support in this traditionally conservative portion of the state.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A handful of supporters of Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump stood just across the street from the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal during the Clinton/Warren campaign rally on June 25th.</i></div>
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-61753514282464058352016-06-23T23:25:00.001-04:002016-06-23T23:25:21.270-04:00A/V: Clinton Castigates Competitor's Corporate Credentials <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8-Eewku6Dx0scYug7r_Jkdz6z0LZk7Ymv3l_2gPUpxNTMbm6Bz-hWQEYp7FBnlCJ5XT7ErGQ7P6SarB2gO_RgFupNdzsd22vgAVPoqgRpeRGhkHUKuhQPsYSh2ubxkW1nc_VGE8eIGQI/s1600/IMG_2587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8-Eewku6Dx0scYug7r_Jkdz6z0LZk7Ymv3l_2gPUpxNTMbm6Bz-hWQEYp7FBnlCJ5XT7ErGQ7P6SarB2gO_RgFupNdzsd22vgAVPoqgRpeRGhkHUKuhQPsYSh2ubxkW1nc_VGE8eIGQI/s400/IMG_2587.jpg" width="343" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton delivers an economic speech that savaged her Republican opponent's business record on Tuesday at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus, Ohio.</i></div>
<br />
In a national display to show just how important the "Buckeye State" is for the Democratic Party keeping control of the White House for the next four years, its capital served as their presumptive presidential nominee's venue to stake her claim for being a better steward of the nation's economy than her expected Republican rival come the fall. Employing a delivery style that featured both snark and sobriety, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provided a sharp lambasting of the business resume of her general election challenger, New York businessman Donald Trump, during an address given Tuesday afternoon at Columbus' <a href="http://forthayeshs.ccsoh.us/">Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center.</a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Supporters listen to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's economic speech inside an automotive technology bay at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday.</i></div>
<br />
This city-wide alternative magnet school was selected to host the event
due to its multi-track curricula for preparing students for professional
and technical careers in the workforce. That latter role was evident to
those in attendance due to the speech being presented inside one the
facility's automobile technology bays. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Former Ohio governor (and current Democratic US Senate candidate) Ted Strickland addresses the crowd at Columbus' Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center prior to Hillary Clinton's economic speech.</i></div>
<br />
At the beginning of her <a href="http://time.com/4378220/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-economics-business/">45-minute speech</a>, Secretary Clinton reminded
the audience about the dire condition of the US economy when President
Obama took office in January 2009 and how his policies helped those
across the country and in Ohio recover from that financial crisis. As
for her strategy for continuing that progress, she said "America’s
economy isn’t yet where we want it to be, but we are stronger
and better positioned than anyone in the world to build the future that
you and your children deserve." Clinton said that her speech the next
day in North Carolina would roll out goals for building a "stronger,
fairer economy" but she used the remainder of her time on that day to
remind the American people what the Republican presumptive nominee has
already promised to do with our economy if he is elected by bringing up
statements given during his party's primary debates and while out on the
campaign trail. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Local educational representatives await the start of Hillary Clinton's economic speech at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday.</i></div>
<br />
<br />
Much like the <a href="http://time.com/4355797/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech-transcript/">rebuke</a>
she gave in San Diego, California earlier this month that highlighted Trump's lack of foreign policy experience, Clinton quoted her opponent 's own words in a point-by-point analysis of how the Republican's positions
on banking regulation, the national debt, tax rates for corporations
and the rich, immigration and trade policies would jeopardize both the
US and global economies. She then pivoted to his well-known personal
financial issues in the entertainment industry. "He’s written a lot of
books about business. They all seem to end at Chapter 11," was a swipe
at Trump's <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/21/carly-fiorina/trumps-four-bankruptcies/">multiple bankruptcy filings</a> for failed business ventures over
the past 25 years. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton poses for a photo with Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judicial candidate Jim Reese at the conclusion of her economic speech in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday.</i></div>
<br />
With recent <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/oh/ohio_trump_vs_clinton-5634.html">statewide polling</a>
showing Clinton and Trump in a statistical tie, her campaign has made Ohio
one of several "battleground" states in which to focus personal appearances by the candidate and
her surrogates as well as <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-clinton-outspending-trump-23-million-1466369566-htmlstory.html">media ad buys</a> in an early attempt to paint
Trump as unfit for the presidency prior to the party conventions and
the official start of the general election season. Clinton's initial appearance
after securing the nomination from Vermont senator Bernie Sanders was a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/13/hillary-clinton-trump-orlando-muslims/85820028/">kickoff event held in Cleveland</a> that
was muted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Orlando_nightclub_shooting">Orlando nightclub shooting</a> that happened the day
before. It was recently announced that Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren
will make a <a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/22/hillary-clinton-coming-to-cincinnati-monday-with-elizabeth-warren/86232138/">joint appearance</a> with Clinton in Cincinnati next Monday.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton poses with a supporter for a cellphone photo at the conclusion of her economic speech on Tuesday at Columbus, Ohio's Fort Hayes Metropolitan Educational Center.</i></div><br />
JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-80739953417958728222016-05-08T23:55:00.000-04:002016-05-08T23:55:05.080-04:00A/V: 2016 SPJ Region 4 & 5 Spring Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cincinnati, Ohio's "Queen City", served as the host for this year's Society of Professional Journalists' joint regional spring conference in April</i></div>
<br />
Perhaps it was the notification I received in my email inbox on Monday that thanked me for attending. Maybe it was Tuesday's observance of <a href="http://en.unesco.org/world-press-freedom-day-2016">World Press Freedom Day</a> that I saw continuously featured on my Google News feed. Or perhaps I'm energized by that evening's primary election rhetoric and the <a href="https://twitter.com/Reince/status/727665447684820992?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet">historic nature</a> of the choice made by Indiana's Republican voters. Whatever the reason, I knew I had been putting off posting about this event for far too long. Three week-long out-of-state business trips intermixed with my regular hometown office responsibilities and a slight seasonal cold have put me slightly over 30 days behind in documenting my experiences at this annual gathering of rising young stars from journalism academia. With the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2013/04/spj-region-4-spring-conference-dayton.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/04/av-2014-spj-region-4-conference.html">2014</a> and <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2015/03/av-2015-spj-region-4-spring-conference.html">last year's</a> conference under my belt, my streak continued with this year's offering held at Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center on a blustery April day.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists was one of the various sponsors for this joint regional spring conference. </i></div>
<br />
The Society of Professional Journalists holds spring conferences across the country in the March/April time period for three primary reasons. The sessions bring journalists, college students and journalism educators together to provide them insight and exposure to the latest topics and trends in this profession. This proximity to similar individuals helps to promote networking among the attendees that can prove beneficial relationships and contacts in future assignments. Through the organization's Mark of Excellence Awards program, selected panelists judge the work of student journalists to determine their region's best in newspaper, magazine, art/graphics, radio, television and online media. The previous Dayton, Columbus, and Athens events were strictly Region 4 (Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania) affairs. Once every four years, a joint regional spring conference is co-hosted with schools and journalists from Region 5 (Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky) and Cincinnati's tristate positioning along those boundary lines made it an ideal location.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>A DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone flies above the grounds of Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center before the start of the joint regional SPJ spring conference.</i></div>
<br />
While I skipped the reception and job fair held for attendees the evening prior, the bulk of the conference activities were held on Saturday April 2nd. Dubbed "Looking Back, Moving Forward", the aim of this year's joint regional conference was to highlight historical moments in journalism, trending tools and technologies in the field, skill sharing and sharpening, and understanding the sensitivities and nuances of racial and gender diversity. The year 2016 represents the 100th anniversary of the awarding of the Pulitzer Prizes, the 50th of the introduction of legislation that would become the Freedom of Information Act, and the 46th of the shooting of war protesters on the Kent State University campus in 1970. Because of the limited time and the variety of session offerings, I had to make hard choices as to which ones I would participate in so my experience will probably differ from that of other attendees.<br />
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<i>Brandon Bellenger, president of the SPJ's Florida chapter, provided a drone demonstration prior to the start of the SPJ Region 4/5 Spring Conference held at Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center.</i></div>
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Driving the 60-plus mile distance in early morning traffic conditions, I arrived about 30 minutes prior to the formal start of the conference. After picking up my name tag and "swag" bag, I made my way to an outdoor location to view a drone demonstration. Brandon Bellenger, an associate editor for Debt.com and current president of the SPJ's Florida chapter, visited this gathering as part of their organization's Loan-a Drone program to familiarize journalists with rules and technologies involved with flying these unmanned vehicles to perform news assignments. He brought the <a href="http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-3-pro">DJI Phantom 3 Professional model</a>, made in Shenzhen, China by Dà-Jiāng Innovations Science and Technology Co., Ltd., and gave members of the crowd opportunities to take control of the vehicle. Winds and current FAA regulations limited this display to a patio area and, unfortunately, even windier conditions later in the day cancelled drone flights during his afternoon session spot.<br />
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<i>Patti Newberry, SPJ Region 4 director (far left at the podium), provides opening remarks for the conference's "super session" panel discussion on the use of video when reporting confrontations between law enforcement officials and members of the general public. Participants included (from left to right) independent journalist Brandon Smith, Lt. Steve Saunders of the Cincinnati Police Department, Julie Wilson from the Hamilton County (Ohio) Office of the Prosecutor Attorney, Cincinnati Enquirer city hall reporter Sherry Coolidge, and media/First Amendment lawyer Jack Greiner.</i></div>
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Heading back indoors, the day's formal activities began in the ballroom with a "super session" involving the legalities and ethical issues surrounding the release of video recordings that capture the activities of police officers in the performance of their duties. Due to the recent controversy surrounding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Laquan_McDonald">2014 death of Laquan McDonald</a> by Chicago police officers (and the 14-month delay in releasing dash cam video of the incident that apparently showed 16 shots being fired at the knife-possessing victim in a 15-second period) and other high-profile examples of possible instances of the use of excess force by law enforcement in Ohio over the past 18-24 months, a panel discussion was held to discuss the topics of determining when video is available, how and when should its owners release it and the same restrictions for its use by journalists. One of the participants was <a href="https://twitter.com/muckrakery">Brandon Smith</a>, the independent journalist who filed the Freedom of Information Act request that forced the city of Chicago to release that McDonald video. In the wake of that release, murder charges were subsequently filed against the officer, several top police officials were fired or demoted, and a Department of Justice civil rights investigation was launched into that city's police tactics. After a short collage of the instances was shown, all the panelists provided their own unique perspectives of the multifaceted issues surrounding public release of potentially disturbing and materials that may not show the entire event or provide an inconclusive accounting.<br />
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<i>University of Cincinnati professor (and 1982 Pulitzer Prize Local General or Spot News Reporting winner) Bob Jonason brought original copies of The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel that documented that paper's coverage of the March 1982 Indiana flooding.</i></div>
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<i>Photojournalist Marcy Nighswander stands in front of the photo she took at the October 1992 presidential town hall debate in Richmond, Virginia. Her work was incorporated into a larger Associated Press submission that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993.</i></div>
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<i> While not an award winner, photojournalist Marcy Nighswander's most popular picture was one she took of President Clinton's pet cat Socks at the White House Press Room podium in March 1994.</i><br />
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<i>Pulitzer Prize winning journalists (from left to right) Bob Jonason, Marcy Nighswander, and Peter Bhatia shared their award experiences with attendees during the </i><i>SPJ Region 4/5 Spring Conference held at Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center.</i></div>
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At the conclusion of the "super session", attendees were given the opportunity to attend smaller sessions that appealed to their individual interests. The first one I chose to stop in for was the session highlighting the "Pulitzer Prizes @ 100" and I was definitely not disappointed on that decision. In 2014, our conference's keynote speaker was a Pulitzer winner from the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> and last year's event at Ohio University featured a recent winner for his coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2014. For this year's event, the organizers were able to entice three former winners to talk about their achievements. Bob Jonason, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, won his Pulitzer in 1983 for the <i>Fort Wayne (Indiana) News-Sentinel's</i> editorial staff's coverage of local flooding the previous year. Photojournalist Marcy Nighswander was part of an Associated Press team that won for its coverage of the 1992 US presidential campaign. Peter Bhatia, the current editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer, has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes at newspapers in California and Oregon.<br />
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<i>Stephen George, the executive editor of Louisville Public Media, gives the keynote speech for the SPJ Region 4/5 Spring Conference held at Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center.</i></div>
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Upon completion of that session, I joined the rest of the attendees back in the Marriott's grand ballroom for lunch and the conference's keynote speech. After a short presentation to Sue Porter who recently retired from the Scripps Howard Foundation after a 39-year career for that company and an update from SPJ National President Paul Fletcher, the audience heard remarks given by Stephen George, the executive editor of Louisville Public media regarding investigative reporting and government accountability. He was introduced by Region 5 director Deborah Taylor Givens.<br />
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<i>Gusty afternoon winds grounded after-lunch demonstrations of the SPJ Florida chapter drone at the SPJ Region 4/5 Spring Conference held at Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center.</i></div>
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With two separate regions meeting at the same place, the follow-on award ceremony was split up and I decided to use that time to again try my hand again at drone navigating. Unfortunately, a rapidly approaching cold front created local wind conditions that exceeded the safe operating limits of the aerial vehicle and forced the display to be a stationary one. <br />
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<i>Michele Day (at table), a student media advisor at Northern Kentucky University, looks on as NKU assistant communication professor Alyssa Appleman leads the discussion on language issues that face today's journalists.</i></div>
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<i>Dr. Emil Dansker, a former journalist and educator (and member of the Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame, watches a clip from Kent 1970: Covering the Confrontation, a film he co-produced in the early 1970s documenting the Kent State shootings.</i></div>
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The afternoon agenda had two rounds of sessions scheduled and I chose one reflecting upon the present and one providing introspection on the past. Northern Kentucky University's Michele Day and Alyssa Appleman hosted an informative presentation on the potential language pitfalls today's journalists face when reporting on issues involving race, ethnicity, gender and other culturally sensitive subjects. The accompanying slideshow provided online reference sources to successfully navigate through those evolving issues. The latter session, titled <i>Kent 1970: Covering the Confrontation</i>, featured a clip of a presentation given to a similar SPJ regional conference back in 1971 about the Ohio National Guard infamous shooting deaths of four students on the Kent State University campus the previous year. Dr. Emil Dansker, a 66-year member of the SPJ, member of the Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame, and co-producer of that very video. He co-presented with <span class="st">Idris Kabir Syed, a lecturer from Kent State's Department of Pan-African Studies who, in conjuction with the school's <a href="http://www.m4tf.org/">May 4 Task Force</a>, have made a <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/04/kent_state_student_group_connects_may_4_shooting_to_tamir_rices_death.html">controversial link</a> between that historic event and the November 2014 shooting of Tamir Rice, an unarmed 12-year old African-American boy, by Cleveland police officers responding to a 911 call at a community center playground.</span><br />
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<i>A Disney journalism-themed print was one of the silent auction items up for bid at the SPJ Region 4/5 Spring Conference held at Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center.</i></div>
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<i>Cynthia Knapp's Ribbon Arch Study III adorns a wall inside Cincinnati's Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center.</i></div>
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<i>The Tangeman University Center building rises behind the University of Cincinnati signage on the main campus.</i></div>
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<i>University of Cincinnati's McMicken College of Arts & Sciences building on the school's main campus.</i></div>
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As I mentioned above, this was my fourth consecutive spring conference and I do enjoy these opportunities to mingle among authentic journalists and not the "citizen" or "hobby" capacity in which I currently serve. The one thing that I missed from this year's event was that it was not held on a school campus. The University of Dayton, The Ohio State University, and Ohio University served as motivating scholastic backdrops to inspire and motivate whereas sitting in Marriott conference rooms evoked a sterile, generic environment that I deal with on a regular basis in the corporate world. To reduce that feeling, I made the very short trek over to the University of Cincinnati campus and reveled in the architecture and energy of that 5,000-member on-site academic community. If I remain in the SPJ (my "post" graduation membership ends early next year), I would like to attend a regional conference outside of Ohio's borders (although I did sneak across to northern Kentucky to take the skyline photo at the beginning of this post)...what say you, Michigan, West Virginia or western Pennsylvania?JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-18369813551897496482016-03-14T07:56:00.002-04:002016-03-14T07:56:39.280-04:00A/V: Buckeyes Feel the "Bern" at Sanders' Columbus Rally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Vermont senator Bernie Sanders addresses enthusiastic attendees at his rally at the Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center on Sunday evening in Columbus, Ohio.</i></div>
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Just two days before a potentially close and contentious Ohio primary election, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders held an enthusiastic rally in Columbus on Sunday evening to capitalize on the momentum gained in last week's surprise victory in neighboring Michigan. Already in the state's capital for two other events later in the evening, his campaign hosted this gathering for over 7,000 supporters at the Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center to advocate his own political positions as well as contrast them against those held by the Republican presidential candidates and his own party's primary opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.<br />
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<i>Attendees firing up the crowd prior to the start of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders' rally at the Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center on Sunday evening.</i></div>
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Prior to a brief stopover at the Ohio Democratic Party Legacy dinner and participation in a CNN town hall event at another venue on the OSU campus, the Democratic candidate spoke for nearly an hour to an enthusiastic crowd that cheered wildly when Sanders touted his plans for tuition-free state colleges and universities, universal health care, campaign finance reform, fair foreign trade and the federal decriminalization of marijuana. He reserved special attention to Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner who accused his campaign of planting protesters at Friday night's University of Illinois-Chicago rally that was eventually cancelled due to the threat of violent confrontations between them and Trump supporters. "A candidate for president of America ought to condemn violence, not encourage violence," the senator stated to his audience based upon Trump's passive acceptance of such behaviors at his events.<br />
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<i><span class="st">Attendees cheer for Vermont senator Bernie Sanders during a rally </span>at the Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center on Sunday evening.</i></div>
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The self-branded socialist has been tapping into the populist mood widely felt in both parties in this year's election cycle and he did that again last night when he said "the word is getting out that every person in this room, every person in America has enormous power if he or she is prepared to use that power" and <span class="st">that "change never happens from the top down, but from the bottom up." Prior to Sanders' arrival, the crowd heard remarks from several labor and state campaign organizers with former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, a 2008 Clinton supporter but now an endorser for Sanders, making the final introduction.</span><br />
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<i><span class="st">Vermont senator Bernie Sanders shows solidarity with his supporters at the conclusion of his rally </span>at the Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center on Sunday evening.</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/oh/ohio_democratic_presidential_primary-5313.html">Recent polling</a> has Sanders trailing Clinton but the gap has been shrinking as the election draws closer. After last week's upset in Michigan where he pulled out a win after trailing by nearly 20 points, he and his supporters are confident that they can do the same in Ohio, a state similar to Michigan in both demographics and economic insecurit<i>y</i>.<br />
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<i>Vermont senator Bernie Sanders waves to well-wishers as he exits Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center after his rally on Sunday evening.</i></div>
<i> </i> JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-56355816423696053762016-03-12T19:02:00.001-05:002016-03-12T19:02:54.618-05:00A/V: Trump Holds Raucous Republican Rally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses supporters at a rally held at Wright Brothers Aero in Vandalia, Ohio on Saturday morning.</i></div>
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With Ohio's Republican primary election less than four days away, another high profile politician paid a visit to the Miami Valley to garner support from the region's electorate. On Saturday morning, billionaire businessman Donald Trump flew in to the Dayton International Airport to appear at an rally held at the adjacent Wright Brothers Aero facility in Vandalia, Ohio. An overflow crowd of several thousand people greeted the current Republican delegate leader in his attempt to boost his totals and to clear an easier path to securing the party's nomination at their June convention in Cleveland.<br />
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to attendees upon his arrival at a rally held at Wright Brothers Aero in Vandalia, Ohio on Saturday morning.</i> </div>
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Although delayed by almost 50 minutes, Trump impressed the gathering by pulling up in and debarking from his private jet to walk the short distance to the podium on the stage. Speaking for nearly an hour, he touched upon many of the policy positions that resonate with is followers to include building a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico to stem the flow of illegal immigration and supporting the waterboarding of terrorism suspects.<br />
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<i>A Trump supporter and a young boy attending a rally held for the Republican presidential candidate at Wright Brothers Aero in Vandalia, Ohio on Saturday morning.</i></div>
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Due to <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/oh/ohio_republican_presidential_primary-4077.html">recent polling</a> showing Trump and Ohio Governor John Kasich in a very tight race, the billionaire brought up elements of Kasich's corporate biography and his record in office by connecting the former Lehman Brothers' managing director to the 2008 recession and highlighting a heavy reliance upon hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" when explaining the state's economic recovery since 2010. He also called him an "absentee governor" due to the amount of time Kasich has spent out of the state to campaign for the presidency.<br />
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<i>Secret Service agents surround Donald Trump after an attendee attempted to reach the stage at a rally held at Wright Brothers Aero in Vandalia, Ohio on Saturday morning</i> </div>
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This was the first Trump event since Friday night's rally on the University of Illinois-Chicago campus that was postponed due to security concerns after violence broke out between protesters and supporters inside the venue. At least half a dozen individuals were escorted out of the morning rally for attempting to interrupt the event with one local man taken into custody after leaping over a security barrier and getting to within 10 feet of the stage. Secret Service agents briefly heightened security by surrounded the candidate as a protective measure and the rally was allowed to continue after that delay.<br />
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs personal items prior to boarding his plane at the end of a rally held at Wright Brothers Aero in Vandalia, Ohio on Saturday morning.</i> </div>
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At the conclusion of the rally, Trump was escorted along a fenceline to
greet attendees and to sign personal items for supporters on the way back to his plane.
He departed the area shortly before noon to attend another rally in
Cleveland in the early afternoon which is scheduled to be his last in the state prior to the Tuesday election. <br />
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's private jet departs Dayton for an afternoon event in Cleveland after a rally held at Wright Brothers Aero in Vandalia, Ohio on Saturday morning.</i><br />
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JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-19991657744970009442016-03-11T23:30:00.000-05:002016-03-11T23:30:05.142-05:00A/V: Buckeye Boss Buoyed by Balloting Bounce<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Ohio governor John Kasich begins his town hall event in support of his recently surging presidential campaign at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Moraine, Ohio on Friday evening.</i></div>
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Encouraged by improving polling data that indicates a tightening of Ohio's Republican presidential primary race, Governor John Kasich started a 4-day, 10-event trek across the Buckeye State in a bid to continue his White House bid past next Tuesday's elections. After a visit to Lima earlier in the day, the candidate made a stop in the Miami Valley on Friday evening to conduct a town hall meeting attended by over 800 people at the Fuyao Glass America plant located in the Dayton suburb of Moraine.<br />
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<i>Republican presidential hopeful Governor John Kasich speaks at a town hall event at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Moraine, Ohio on Friday evening.</i></div>
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Introduced by his wife Karen, Kasich provided opening remarks and then entertained questions from the audience inside the former General Motors Moraine Assembly factory that appears to have been selected to tout his economic accomplishments during his nearly six years as Ohio's governor. Closed in December 2008 due to high fuel prices and the decreased demand for trucks and SUVs, the facility was purchased by China's Fuyao Glass Industry Group to produce automotive glass products for GM and other automakers. This 2014 acquisition was heavily influenced by a nearly $6 million grant provided by <a href="http://governor.ohio.gov/Portals/0/pdf/JobsOhio_Overview_FINAL.pdf">JobsOhio</a>, a state economic development agency created by Kasich shortly after taking office in 2011. Nicknamed "the Happy Warrior" because of his positive messaging and an aversion to personally attack his opponents, he spent 45 minutes listing his accomplishments as governor and as a 9-term congressman who enjoys a reputation for cooperation and consensus-building. Prior to the Kasich's arrival, several local politicians and company officials provided their own remarks to support the state's top Republican official to include former Dayton mayor and current US representative Mike Turner.<br />
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<i>U.S. Representative Mike Turner delivers remarks awaiting the arrival of Governor John Kasich at a town hall event at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Moraine, Ohio on Friday evening.</i></div>
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Although only leading in <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/09/fox-news-poll-kasich-ahead-in-ohio.html?intcmp=hpbt1">one recent poll</a>, <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/oh/ohio_republican_presidential_primary-4077.html">three others</a> have him within striking distance of the GOP's current delegate leader, New York businessman Donald Trump. As a <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/09/ohio_gop_sets_presidential_pri.html">"winner-take-all" state</a>, the candidate receiving the most votes walks away with all 66 delegates and 63 alternates in the race to reach the 1.237 total that secures them Republican Party's nomination. With the lowest total of the four remaining candidates, winning Ohio is crucial to Kasich's attempt to remain in the race and arrive at a potentially contentious brokered convention in Cleveland come late June to sell himself as the party's best bet at defeating Hillary Clinton, the Democrats' presumptive nominee. <br />
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<i>Ohio Governor John Kasich addresses the crowd near the end of his town hall event at the Fuyao Glass America plant in Moraine, Ohio on Friday evening.</i></div>
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Kasich<i> </i>was the second high profile political visitor to come to the Dayton area in the past three days. On <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2016/03/av-big-dog-barnstorms-for-bride.html">Wednesday evening</a>, former president Bill Clinton spoke at the annual Montgomery County Democratic Party's Frolic for Funds dinner to advocate for his wife's campaign. On Saturday, Trump is scheduled to make a stop at the Wright Brothers Aero facility in Vandalia, adjacent to the Dayton International Airport and both Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders will be attending events in the Columbus area on Sunday in advance of Tuesday's primary election.JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-77273283137200037072016-03-09T23:12:00.004-05:002016-03-09T23:12:27.669-05:00A/V: "Big Dog" Barnstorms for Bride<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Former President Bill Clinton stumps for his wife's presidential campaign at the Montgomery County Democratic Party's annual Frolic for Funds dinner in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday night.</i></div>
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In the first of several high profile political visits to the Miami Valley prior to next Tuesday's Ohio presidential primary, the Montgomery County Democratic Party welcomed former president Bill Clinton to speak at the start of its annual Frolic for Funds dinner at the Dayton Convention Center on Wednesday night. This event was the last of three appearances Clinton made in the state throughout the day in support of his wife's current Democratic presidential campaign that is running in a competitive race against that of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. Mayor Nan Whaley provided brief remarks to the overflow crowd prior to introducing the meal's guest speaker.<br />
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During this first trip back to southwest Ohio since participating in activities commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the Bosnian civil war in 1995, Clinton made a 40-plus minute appeal to the gathering of local, regional and state-wide officials to support Hillary Clinton against her current primary rival and potential Republican opponents in the fall general election. Touching upon the economy, energy, jobs and other topics important to Democratic voters, the former president endorsed the positions held by his spouse of over 40 years to be the best ways to tackle these issues. "I ask you to support her," in concluding his remarks, "because if Ohio supports her and gives her a victory in a week, she will be nominated and I believe she will be the next president." <br />
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<i>Mayor Nan Whaley introduces former president Bill Clinton at the Montgomery County Democratic Party's annual Frolic for Funds dinner in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday night.</i></div>
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According to <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/oh/ohio_democratic_presidential_primary-5313.html">recent polling data</a>, Hillary Clinton enjoys between a 9- to 30-point advantage for next week's Democratic match-up but those samples were collected prior to Sander's upset victory last night in neighboring Michigan, a state with labor-related issues and demographics that closely resemble those of Ohio. In already announced appearances, both Clinton and Sanders will attend two joint events in the Columbus area on Sunday evening in last-minute appeals to voters prior to the Tuesday primary election. Not to be overlooked, Republican rivals John Kasich and Donald Trump also have campaign stops in the Dayton area on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, respectively.<br />
<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-73704561142430175302016-02-01T07:13:00.002-05:002016-02-01T07:13:55.065-05:00Soap Box: The Fall Race We Deserve (But Probably Won't See)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>While Clinton and Kasich are their respective parties' most qualified candidates this campaign season, their capabilities are being eclipsed by voters' preference for style over substance.</i></div>
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Our copy of <i>The New York Times</i> arrived on the driveway early yesterday morning and, because of the current internet-based paradigm of "pushing" news before it's seen in print, I already knew what it contained regarding today's Iowa caucuses. On the eve of this long-awaited start to the 2016 presidential primary process, the paper's editorial board announced its choices for endorsements--the time-honored political practice of publicly bestowing support to or approval of a person or position. With a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/28/opinion/presidential-endorsement-timeline.html?_r=0">long history of endorsing presidential candidates</a> that goes back to Abraham Lincoln's first run for the White House in 1860 (and an overall 61 percent--24 out of 39 times backing the winner--accuracy rating for those general elections), the receipt of "The Gray Lady's" auspicious sanction was seen by many politicians as a needed boost to a flagging campaign or as yet another example of the inevitability of their cause or candidacy to the voting public. In today's social media-dominated world where everyone can have a platform and express an opinion, newspaper endorsements have diminished in importance but are still seen as "bellwethers" to gauge support within the media "establishment".<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In that Sunday edition, the editorial board unveiled Hillary Rodham Clinton as its favored Democratic candidate <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/hillary-clinton-endorsement.html">in a glowing piece</a> that clearly highlighted the attributes and qualities that make her the better choice over her main primary rival, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O'Malley--the other podium occupier now that Lincoln Chafee and Bob Webb both dropped out--did get a one paragraph mention). Endorsed on three earlier occasions (her 2000 and 2006 successful US Senate runs and her failed 2008 presidential bid), Clinton is seen by them as "one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history." Adding her tenure as Secretary of State to her previous resume (where she was in charge of nearly 70,000 employees and oversaw a budget <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_federal_budget">in excess of $60 billion</a>--a little over <a href="https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/VTNGSP">twice the gross state product</a> of the constituency Sanders represents in Washington) helped cement their case that she would be ready to lead the country on her first day in office. She is not a perfect candidate in their eyes (the on-going email server/classified documents issue "deserve forthright answers") but other recent and perpetual problems (Benghazi, her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky) only seem to matter to her most ardent opponents.<br />
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<i>Hillary Clinton waves to well-wishers after a June 2014 booksigning event in Beavercreek, Ohio.</i></div>
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Not to sound like I'm mimicking the <i>Times </i>but I brought up similar observations <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/06/i-probably-shouldve-skipped-this-one.html#more">in a piece I posted here</a> when Secretary Clinton came to a local bookstore for a signing event in June 2014. Back then, there weren't any announced opponents and I provided a "placeholder" for any unforeseen events (emails) that might derail her move back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In comparing 2008 to this year's campaign, there are certainly some similarities between the two. Like President--then candidate--Obama did during her first run, Sanders is running to her "left" and he is similarly attracting the attention and, if <a href="http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/ia/ia01272016_I62pmst.pdf">recent polling</a> is correct, the support of younger voters (those aged 44 and below). Unlike 2008 when Clinton had over half a dozen competitors for the nomination, it's really down to just two (although O'Malley's supporters could decide the result in Iowa's extremely convoluted delegate selection system) so no one will be coming out of nowhere to overtake her (she finished in third place behind Obama and former senator John Edwards). Neither Iowa or New Hampshire are "do or die" states for her but wins in one or both would make her task a lot easier when progressing to the 13 contests to be held on/around March 1st and the four delegate-rich primaries on March 15th (to include Ohio). It's hard to imagine that she would lose support in the states that she carried eight years ago and for Sanders to have the same impact in the states that Obama won in 2008. Unless something drastically goes wrong in the math (or outside events intrude upon the campaign), she should have a fairly clear path to securing the nomination and making history in already historic Philadelphia this summer when she becomes the first female presidential candidate from a major US political party.<br />
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In contrast to their near wholehearted endorsement of Clinton, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/a-chance-to-reset-the-republican-race.html">one given to John Kasich</a> can be seen as almost backhanded in its presentation. As a near wholesale rebuke of the GOP's tactics and messaging so far in the 2016 campaign, the board's support/approval of the Republican governor of Ohio only shows up in the third paragraph from the end. Entitled "<i>A Chance to Reset the Republican Race</i>", they eventually arrive at Kasich through a process of elimination and attrition among the top-tier contenders (no ink was wasted on Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul or Rick Santorum). When compared to the unabashed exchanges between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz--two supposed "outsiders" slugging it out for dominance with a compliant media hyperanalyzing and spooning out their statements to their respective audiences, the <i>Times </i>calls Kasich "the only plausible choice for Republicans tired of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race." <br />
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<i>John Kasich poses for a photograph with supporters at an October 2014 "Get Out the Vote" appearance in London, Ohio.</i> </div>
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Back in 2014, I <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/08/soap-box-turn-out-lights-this-race-is.html">provided some commentary</a> about the Ohio gubernatorial contest between Kasich and Ed FitzGerald, a Cleveland-area county executive who was that election's "sacrificial lamb" to go up against the incumbent. An <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_OH_820.pdf">early August poll</a> had the challenger suddenly in the lead and many started to feel that he could be on his way to the upset--that is, until the bottom fell out of his campaign due to personal oversights concerning his drivers license and potential whiffs of extramarital scandal that happened far too late to recover prior to the general election. In an historic result, Kasich won by nearly a 2-to-1 margin and captured all but two of the state's 88 counties. I attended a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/10/av-kasich-visits-london-during-get-out.html#more">"get out the vote" event</a> for Kasich in London, Ohio and got to see him up close and personal among the voters. Although it was a "friendly" audience, the governor did not back away from some of the achievements that have supposedly tarnished his conservative "cred" (expansion of Medicaid and his support for the poor and mentally ill that is directly derived from the faith he proudly wears out on his sleeve). With the importance of Ohio ingrained into Republican lore--namely that their candidate cannot win the White House unless they carry the "Buckeye State", Kasich might be the right guy at the right time for them.<br />
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While having fewer electoral votes than Florida (home turf of both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio), nominating Ohio's sitting governor for the top spot or VP candidate on your ticket at a convention in that same "swingiest of the swing states" might provide the unifying optics that modern campaigns and candidacies seem to crave above party platforms or policy positions. That is an unfortunate reality that we seemed to bring upon ourselves ever since the first Nixon-Kennedy debate back in 1960 where attention to visual details for the television audience may have swayed just enough voters to support the Massachusetts senator instead of the sitting vice president. Both Clinton and Kasich seem to have "issues" when measured by modern media metrics. As a woman, the Democrat's appearance will always be critiqued to a greater degree to any male that she runs against (even with an older--and frumpier-looking--Sanders). While Kasich is a good speaker and appeared to be cordial during my personal observances, many who have worked with him closely characterize him as "abrasive", "unpleasantly arrogant" and "prickly" (although I don't know why those qualities would disqualify him after witnessing the unbounded braggadocio of both Trump and Chris Christie on the stump and the debate stage). Pundits and personalities are now fixated on soundbites and rally attendance to gauge a candidate's ability to "connect" with voters instead of what they would do after they win. In a media environment that cares more about the number of eyeballs on their screens or the total clicks for their content, positioning the most qualified people to assume the mantle of the world's toughest job doesn't seem to be a priority anymore.<br />
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<i>Each party's personal preferences expressed in this Bob Gorrell <a href="http://assets.amuniversal.com/333e5b90a8ad0133384f005056a9545d">cartoon</a> (courtesy of GoComics.com).</i></div>
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So here we are...the start of the "Road to the White House". I'm hoping that the number of candidates doesn't shrink too far before they appear in my local area. I also wish to see two competitive races that spark even greater interest in the fall's general election (and the first presidential debate that happens right down the road from me at Wright State University in late September). We owe this not only to those who will come after us but to honor the traditions that were given to us by our predecessors dating all the way back to the Founding Fathers. Democracy is not just a topic in civics class--it is a lifestyle that must be exercised regularly and Iowa begins our nation's quadrennial routine tonight.JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-19865961227285052002016-01-18T23:30:00.001-05:002016-01-18T23:30:11.657-05:00A/V: Dayton MLK Day Observances<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>Bundled-up participants march along West Third Street towards the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning to observe the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday.</i></div>
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Single-digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chill warnings did not stop several hundred members of the greater Dayton community from marching and assembling on Monday morning to commemorate the life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr on the 30th anniversary of the federal holiday and the 87th anniversary of his birth. The march and rally were two of <a href="http://mlkdayton.org/assets/2016-mlk-celebration-program-updated12-30-2015.pdf">eight January events</a> sponsored by MLK Dayton Inc., a multi-racial, multi-ethnic organization established to inspire
citizens to act on the vision of social justice created by the legacy of the slain civil rights advocate.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Beginning at the Drew Health Center on the city's west side, the marchers headed east along West Third Street--co-named to honor Dr. King--to trek the approximate two mile distance to the Dayton Convention Center. The march was briefly halted on the Dayton Peace Bridge to include student and faculty members from nearby Sinclair Community College. The masses were eventually directed south along South Main Street to arrive at the rally destination. Once at the convention center, the attendees were provided a program to reflect upon Dr. King's vision of racial harmony and community involvement. Various information booths were set up along the main exhibit hall and several high profile speakers that included US Representative <a href="https://turner.house.gov/">Mike Turner</a> and Dayton mayor <a href="http://nanwhaley.com/">Nan Whaley</a> provided their individual MLK-related perspectives to the crowd. The capstone event, a celebration banquet themed "I'm Still Here" was to be held on Monday evening at that same downtown location. <br /><br />
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<i>The main route of Monday's march to the Dayton Convention Center followed West Third Street that is also known as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.</i></div>
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<i>Banners calling out recent African-American victims of police violence were displayed during Monday morning's MLK Memorial March in Dayton, Ohio.</i></div>
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<i>Marchers approach the Dayton Peace Bridge that crosses over the Great Miami River into downtown Dayton during Monday morning's MLK Memorial March.</i></div>
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<i>Students and faculty members from Sinclair Community College join the marchers on the Dayton Peace Bridge for Monday morning's MLK Memorial March.</i></div>
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<i>Although reduced to two lanes due to road construction, MLK Memorial March participants pass under Interstate 75 on their way to the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>MLK Memorial March participants pass by the historic Montgomery County Courthouse on their way to the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>Marchers make their way along South Main Street during Dayton's MLK Memorial March on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>MLK Memorial March participants walk past the city's Flyover sculpture along South Main Street on their way to the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>Civic, religious and fraternal groups from the local community displayed their affiliations during Dayton's MLK Memorial March on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>The Dayton Convention Center played host to the MLK Memorial Rally that followed the march on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>The Dayton/Springfield, Ohio chapter of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority hosted an information booth at the MLK Memorial Rally at the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>Mayor Nan Whaley, left center, and US Representative Mike Turner, center right, await the start of the MLK Memorial Rally at the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>US Representative Mike Turner addresses the MLK Memorial Rally attendees at the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
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<i>Marchers listen to the lineup of speakers at the MLK Memorial Rally at the Dayton Convention Center on Monday morning.</i></div>
<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-22267160498896414622015-12-09T22:48:00.002-05:002015-12-10T06:42:28.511-05:00A/V: GOP "Architect" Visits Dayton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Republican political consultant and policy strategist Karl Rove speaks at a book signing event at Books-A-Million in Beavercreek, Ohio on Sunday afternoon.</i></div>
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For an hour this past Sunday afternoon, many at an Ohio bookstore gathering were introduced to an American presidential election held in in the late 19th century to help them gain perspective on the very interesting political atmosphere in the present day. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove">Karl Rove</a>, a former deputy chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration and a man whose name is ubiquitous within Republican political circles, visited the Beavercreek, Ohio Books-A-Million store to sign copies of his latest book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Triumph-William-McKinley-Election-ebook/dp/B00ZPNZLN8/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1"><i>The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters</i></a>.<br />
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<i>An audience of approximately 50 people listen to Karl Rove discuss his new book at a signing event in Beavercreek, Ohio this past Sunday.</i></div>
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Involved in politics since his teenage years (and earning the nickname "the Architect" for designing Bush's gubernatorial and presidential election victories), Rove uses this book to highlight the overlooked legacy of the 25th US president regarding party unification, introducing a new party system and the adoption of strategic targeting of activities and messages to specific audiences. McKinley's victory over Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan">William Jennings Bryant</a> helped usher in the Republican dominance of American politics that held up until the election of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt">Franklin Delano Roosevelt</a> in 1932. He calls that 1896 contest "one of the great five realigning elections in American history" that paralleled the United States' transition from a developing agrarian nation to one with an industrial focus and a growing reliance on technology. He concluded his remarks by taking questions from the audience and providing his personal assessment of current events and the Republican's 2016 nomination campaign. <br />
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<i>The Beavercreek, Ohio Books-A-Million store hosted a book signing event with Karl Rove this past Sunday.</i></div>
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In addition to researching volumes of data for his book about one of <a href="http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/profileohio/ohiopresidents.aspx">Ohio's eight US presidents</a>, Rove has an intimate knowledge of the state's political climate and inner workings. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJg3z5c93zU">somewhat embarrassing event</a>, that insight was put on very public display on the Fox News Channel's live coverage of the 2012 presidential general election returns when he disputed the network's call of Ohio for President Barack Obama when only 73 percent of the ballots had been counted and the vote difference between the candidates stood at less than 30,000 (Obama's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Ohio,_2012">eventual margin of victory</a> over Mitt Romney was by a little over 166,000 votes). In addition to the Dayton area, Rove also scheduled events in <a href="http://mckinleymuseum.org/calendar/book-signing-with-karl-rove/">Canton</a> and <a href="http://www.josephbeth.com/Landing.aspx?ReturnURL=http://www.josephbeth.com/adultevents.aspx">Cincinnati</a> before concluding his 5-day Ohio swing in Columbus at the <a href="http://www.ohiostatehouse.org/news/karl-rove-to-sign-new-mckinley-book-at-the-ohio-statehouse-dec-9">State House</a> this afternoon (he does stop back at Cleveland's <a href="https://www.wrhs.org/events/karl-rove-comes-to-cleveland/">Western Reserve Historical Society</a> on Saturday the 12th).<br />
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<i>Political consultant Karl Rove is interviewed by local media prior to the start of his book signing event in Beavercreek, Ohio this past Sunday.</i></div>
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<i>Karl Rove talks with a former co-worker and his young son at the Beavercreek, Ohio book signing event this past Sunday.</i></div>
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<i>Karl Rove addresses the audience at his book signing event in Beavercreek, Ohio this past Sunday.</i></div>
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<i>Karl Rove poses with Books-A-Million staff members at the conclusion of his book signing event in Beavercreek, Ohio this past Sunday.</i></div>
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-61088599464480680452015-09-24T22:14:00.000-04:002015-09-24T22:14:01.682-04:00A/V: Carson Rally at Cedarville University<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Dr. Ben Carson speaks to attendees at a rally held for the Republican presidential candidate at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson made a campaign swing through southeast Ohio on Tuesday to help bolster his rising favorability polling numbers after a respectable showing during last week's second GOP debate. Sandwiched between a <a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/09/22/ben-carson-stops-in-cincinnati-after-muslim-comments/72606074/">morning event in the Cincinnati surburb of Sharonville</a> and an evening <a href="http://flyernews.com/ben-carson-concludes-dayton-right-to-life-event-at-ud-arena/">Right to Life Foundation fundraiser in Dayton</a>, he paid a visit to the campus of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedarville_University">Cedarville University</a> located in the shared named Greene County village. The Baptist evangelical school provided the appropriate backdrop for Carson to share views on his life, faith and politics to the capacity crowd assembled in the Dixon Ministry Center's Jeremiah Chapel. Prior to the start of the rally, Dr. Carson took questions from media members outside that venue during a 15-minute press availability where he further elaborated about <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/ben-carson-does-not-advocate-a-muslim-as-president-528790083718">comments made during a Sunday interview with Chuck Todd on NBC's <i>Meet the Press</i> television program</a> concerning religious criteria for presidential contenders .<br />
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<i>Cedarville University's Dixon Ministry Center served as the host of Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson's Tuesday afternoon rally in Cedarville, Ohio.</i></div>
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson walks up for a press availability prior to a rally held at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson answers reporters questions during a press availability at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>Cedarville University's Jeremiah Chapel appeared to be near its 3,400 seat capacity for Tuesday afternoon's rally for Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson in Cedarville, Ohio.</i></div>
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<i>Adam Brandt, a 2012 Cedarville University graduate, provides opening remarks at Tuesday afternoon's rally for Dr. Ben Carson in Cedarville, Ohio. In 1985, Brant's parents sought out Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, to remove remnants of a brain tumor missed during an initial surgical procedure at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.</i></div>
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson talks to rally attendees at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, left, takes questions from Cedarville University president Dr. Thomas White, right, near the end of the rally held in Cedarville, Ohio on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, center, greets well-wishers at the conclusion of the Cedarville University rally on Tuesday afternoon in Cedarville, Ohio.</i></div>
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<i>The campaign bus for Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson departs the Cedarville University campus after the Tuesday afternoon rally in Cedarville, Ohio.</i></div>
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-43135688289719044862015-08-30T22:15:00.002-04:002015-08-30T22:15:43.949-04:00Journalism's "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad" Week<i>(<b>NOTE</b>: I was going to use this phrase for a post back in February when the Brian Williams career "inflation" imbroglio, Jon Stewart's retirement announcement and the deaths of CBS News reporter Bob Simon and New York Times' columnist David Carr all happened in a very short span; however, this past week's events have greatly outdone that earlier gloom and deserve the headline.)</i><br />
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<i><span id="goog_223315632"></span><span id="goog_223315633"></span>Three separate (but unequally tragic) instances happened last week that created seismic-like waves in the journalism world</i></div>
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I call myself a "citizen journalist"--one who currently practices the tenets of this profession in a "when I can get to it", part-time role. I do not rely upon this activity to support myself financially and have been largely absent here over the past eight months. I also conduct it without having to put my personal freedoms, my reputation, or--as horribly depicted on live television--my life on the line. Unfortunately, all three of these examples were witnessed last week and I feel compelled to comment on all of them as a member of this extended "family".<br />
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<i>Members of the Al Jazeera staff pose for a photo to express their solidarity for their colleagues facing imprisonment in Egypt (<span class="fullname js-action-profile-name show-popup-with-id" data-aria-label-part="">Kamahl Santamaria</span><strong class="fullname js-action-profile-name show-popup-with-id" data-aria-label-part=""> </strong>photo courtesy of Twitter).</i></div>
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Last July, I started a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/07/my-journo-less-summerso-far-part-1-of-8.html">series of posts about my "journo-less summer"</a> following the completion of my journalism certificate program and the first subject that I covered was the trial of three Al Jazeera journalists by Egyptian authorities regarding their activities in that country during the 2012 military takeover of the government of then-president Mohammed Morsi. He had come into power after the 2011 "Arab Spring" uprisings against long-time strongman ruler Hosni Mubarak but Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood party fell out of favor with the ruling military establishment and he and his government were deposed in a large-scale crackdown two years later. Mohammed Fahmy, Peter Greste, and Baher Mohamed, employees of the Qatar-based satellite television network, were arrested on charges of aiding a terrorist organization by broadcasting false news about the military's activities during that overthrow. All three were convicted in June 2014 to sentences of between seven to 10 years in length and an appeal process was almost immediately started in response to the verdict.<br />
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This past February, Greste--an Australian--was deported to Cyprus and the others were released on bail to await the verdict of a retrial. On Saturday, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/faqs-al-jazeeras-journalists-trial-egypt-150317113935704.html">all three were convicted</a> of operating without a press license and broadcasting material that was harmful to Egypt and each received a three-year sentence (Baher was given an extra six months for having a bullet casing in his possession when first arrested). According to a <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2015/06/egypt-imprisonment-of-journalists-is-at-an-all-time-high.php">June 2015 report</a> by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Egypt's imprisonment of those trying to report the news is at historically high levels due to their believed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood political organization although some see it as retribution by those authorities who declared them to be a terrorist organization. That same month, the government passed an anti-terrorism law making any published information that contradicts the official version a criminal act and subject to prison terms, a move that further hinders that country's already restricted freedom of the press.<br />
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<i>Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos, center, is escorted out of a campaign press conference held by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this past Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa (video capture courtesy of Univision Noticias).</i></div>
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While not displaying the degree of censorship seen in that aforementioned Middle Eastern country, an incident happened in Iowa last Tuesday that shows that America can sometimes be the antithesis of free speech--at least when it comes to that of the political variety. During a press event for Republican presidential candidate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump">Donald Trump</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Ramos_%28news_anchor%29">Jorge Ramos</a>, the anchor for the Univision Spanish language broadcast television network's <i>Noticerio Univision</i> nightly newscast, confronted the New York businessman regarding his now notorious comments made about Hispanics and an announced plan to build a wall along the entirety of the United States' border with Mexico. This confrontation had been months in the making and that built-up angst quickly surfaced when Ramos began to question Trump' immigration policies without being called upon first. After several barbed exchanges between the two, security escorted the anchor from the venue but he was allowed to return after 15 minutes and the two immediately restarted their contentious exchange that seemed more like each regurgitating their own talking points rather than having a meaningful dialog.<br />
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American politicians and the press have had their moments over the country's 240-year history. Thought of as mostly made up of "left wingers", Republican officials normally preface any press criticisms with "liberal leaning" or "mainstream media" to their supporters to attract applause (and monetary donations). With the advent of the Fox News Channel and the near total dominance of conservative talk radio on America's airwaves, Democrats bring up "vast right wing conspiracy" to deflect any criticism from (and question the legitimacy of) those news and entertainment sources. However, it is extremely rare to see a credentialed journalist physically escorted out of a public event solely for doing their jobs (albeit, in this case, the lack of decorum and protocol from both participants was very telling). With the nearly two dozen announced and potential candidates for next year's White House run and the growing negative tenor emanating from the Republican race, there unfortunately might be other instances of such undemocratic flare-ups along the many campaign trails traversing the country.<br />
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<i>A moment of silence was held for the slain reporter and cameraman on Roanoke, Virginia television station WDBJ 24 hours after being murdered on-air by a disgruntled former employee (Steve Helber photo courtesy of the Associated Press).</i></div>
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The final event I want to bring up is probably the hardest one to talk about because of both the heinous nature of the crime committed and the many layers of professional and social discussions it feeds into. Early on Wednesday morning, during an on-air interview broadcast via the Roanoke, Virginia CBS network television affiliate WDBJ's morning show, a former station employee murdered reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward while at a remote location in Moneta. Vester Lee Flanagan, who went by the name Bryce Williams during his television journalism career, walked up to them and waited for the camera to pan back to Parker before he shot her, Ward, and Vicki Gardner, a local chamber of commerce representative for the interview, at point-blank range. Parker and Ward died at the scene from their injuries while Gardner was expected to survive after emergency surgery for a gunshot wound to her back. Flanagan fled the scene and was the subject of a five-hour manhunt before shooting himself when confronted by law enforcement officials outside Washington, DC where he died a short time later in a Falls Church, Virginia hospital.<br />
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When this news made its way to social media circles, the usual debates regarding gun violence, mental health, and Second Amendment freedoms launched with full fury. However, it was Flanagan's own use of Facebook and Twitter that provided a much more sinister element to his actions. Having been dismissed from WDBJ in early 2013 for displays of volatile behavior, he cited racial discrimination on the station's staff and called out Parker and Ward by name via those outlets. In an eerie depiction of a first-person shooter video game, Flanagan recorded his attack with his cellphone and later posted that video to his Facebook and Twitter accounts along with "tweets" about his rationale for the shooting. In a nod to more traditional communications, he also faxed a 23-page document titled "Suicide Note for Friend & Family" to catalog his perceived grievances by WDBJ staff members due to his sexual orientation and race (he was a gay African-American). Flanagan also introduced the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting">June 2015 murders</a> of nine members of Charleston, South Carolina's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church by an alleged white supremacist as well as other perpetrators of mass shootings in recent US history and cited all of them as a catalyst for his deadly actions.<br />
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I served in the Air Force for over 20 years and I can probably count fewer than all the fingers on one hand the amount of times that I was in a potentially hazardous situation where I thought my life might be at risk. Back in June of 2012, <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2012/06/av-high-winds-wreak-havoc-at-military.html">I posted a story</a> about a significant wind storm that blew threw this area and wondered how I should respond if placed in a life-or-death scenario and where my journalistic roles ended and my humanity took over but I never envisioned being in an "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_shooter">active shooter</a>" situation. Over the past few years, I have been in close proximity to people assigned security details because of perceived or potential threats and not once felt scared to perform my activities in their immediate presence. By the nature of the business, news crews normally announce to the world their location and composition when they are doing their jobs. This remote team had no chance against a well-armed and mentally unstable man and the historical odds of a journalist facing that kind of threat outside of a combat zone are slim to none. One would think an early morning remote from a tranquil lakeside setting would not be dangerous but, in today's 24/7 logged-in, socially connected, and mobile technology enabled society, we now realize that a person with a grudge--and a death wish--can change that in mere seconds.JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-65263485530978912252015-07-26T22:33:00.001-04:002015-07-26T22:43:48.063-04:00A/V: Ohio Governor Throws Hat into Very Crowded GOP Presidential Ring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Ohio governor John Kasich addresses the crowd attending his "special announcement" event at the Ohio Union building on the campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus last Tuesday morning.</i></div>
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In a 45-minute speech last Tuesday teasingly advertised as a "special announcement", Ohio governor John Kasich became the latest candidate to announce their bid for the Republican nomination for president in the upcoming 2016 cycle. Ending all suspense for the gathering's reason near the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg9q_inHH4M">18-minute mark</a>, he said, "I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support, for your
efforts because I have decided to run for president of the United
States." He made this declaration from the atrium of the Ohio Union on the campus of the Ohio State University, his collegiate alma mater and the location where he first expressed his desires for pursuing a political future.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In this initial televised introduction to many of the voters he desperately needs to gain even minimal traction with in the weeks leading up to the first GOP presidential debate on August 6th in Cleveland, the sitting two-term executive seemed to ramble as he attempted to lay out his reasoning why he decided to run. Starting with imagery of the "American dream" national ethos and ending with the "city on a hill" made famous by his personal hero Ronald Reagan, Kasich proceeded to mention numerous anecdotal examples of personal motivating people and events from his life while nearly forgetting to bring up his qualifications to be elected president or what he would do if elected. This is the former nine-term congressman and Fox News Channel host's second attempt at securing the White House with that earlier bid in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_primaries,_2000#Withdrew_before_primary_elections">2000 Republican primaries</a> ended prematurely due to poor fundraising.<br />
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His formal declaration last Tuesday brings the current total of Republicans seeking the party's nomination to 16 (although former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore is <a href="http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_30b836ff-1768-5bcb-9681-f942acfb711f.html">expected to announce</a> his candidacy in early August). Buoyed by political and economic successes in his adopted home state since winning a close election over the incumbent Democratic governor Ted Strickland in 2010 (and further bolstered by a landslide re-election victory over Ed FitzGerald last November), Kasich believes that he has the experience and the lengthy resume of accomplishments to contend with other fellow "establishment" candidates in the expansive field like former Florida governor Jeb Bush and current New Jersey governor Chris Christie. After a post-event interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity at that Columbus venue, Kasich's <a href="http://blog.4president.org/2016/2015/07/john-kasich-for-america-announces-upcoming-events-in-new-hampshire-south-carolina-iowa-and-michigan.html">first trip</a> as an announced candidate was to Nashua, New Hampshire for a town hall meeting at Rivier University and other locations around "the Granite State", the host of the nation's first primary contests. <br />
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<i>The Ohio State University's Ohio Union was the setting for alumnus John Kasich's "special announcement" event last Tuesday in Columbus.</i></div>
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<i>A line formed along Columbus' High Street for attendees for John Kasich's "special announcement" event last Tuesday at the Ohio Union on the campus of the Ohio State University. </i></div>
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<i>Protestors formed up across the street from the Ohio State University's Ohio Union last Tuesday for Ohio governor John Kasich's "special announcement" event at the campus' Ohio Union. </i></div>
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<i>Over 4,000 tickets were requested for Ohio governor John Kasich's "special announcement" event at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union last Tuesday.</i></div>
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<i>The latest announced Republican candidate for president, Ohio governor John Kasich, shakes hands with supporters at the conclusion of his "special announcement" event last Tuesday at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union.</i></div>
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<i> Ohio governor John Kasich (center right), his wife Karen (center left) and their twin daughters Emma (far left) and Reese (far right) stand on stage at the conclusion of the "special announcement" event at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union last Tuesday.</i></div>
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<i> Supporters stand above a John Kasich's poster while awaiting the start of his "special announcement" event last Tuesday morning at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union.</i></div>
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<i> Two-time Heisman Trophy winner and former Ohio State University football great Archie Griffin reads prepared remarks at the start of the "special announcement" event for Ohio governor John Kasich at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union last Tuesday.</i></div>
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<i>Retired US Air Force colonel Tom Moe, a prison of war for five years during the Vietnam War and former director of the Ohio Department of Veteran Services, leads the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of John Kasich's "special announcement" event at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union last Thursday.</i></div>
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<i>Former US Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire speaks to the crowd gathered for John Kasich's "special announcement" event at the Ohio State University's Ohio Union in Columbus last Tuesday.</i></div>
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<i> </i><i>Veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars await the start of Ohio
governor John Kasich's "special announcement" event at the Ohio State
University's Ohio Union last Tuesday in Columbus. </i></div>
JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-70718888584397766302015-03-29T22:21:00.002-04:002015-03-29T22:21:54.469-04:00A/V: 2015 SPJ Region 4 Spring Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Athens' Ohio University played host for the 2015 SPJ Region 4 Spring Conference.</i></div>
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The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_University">Ohio University</a> <a href="https://ouspj.wordpress.com/">chapter</a> of the <a href="http://www.spj.org/index.asp">Society of Professional Journalists</a> hosted members from all across the organization's Region 4 area (Michigan, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia) for its 2015 annual professional development Spring Conference on March 20-21 in Athens, Ohio. Over 150 journalists, educators and other associated personnel came for the unique networking and mentoring opportunities with other attendees as well as the staff of the institution's nationally recognized <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.W._Scripps_School_of_Journalism">E.W. Scripps School of Journalism</a>.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>An opening reception was held Friday evening in the lobby of the still-under-construction Schoonover Center, the new home of the Scripps College of Communication, a $34 million integrated communications facility for the university. On Saturday, following breakfast and a regional SPJ meeting, workshops delving into a variety of journalism- and media-related topics were conducted in the John Calhoun Baker University Center's conference room facilities.<br />
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The annual Mark of Excellence luncheon was also held to honor the region's best collegiate work within Region 4 for print, broadcast and online journalism outlets. <i>The Washington Post's</i> <a href="http://www.wesleylowery.com/">Wesley Lowery</a>, a Scripps school alumnus and winner of the <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2014-Breaking-News-Reporting">2014 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News</a> as part of the <i>Boston Globe's </i>team covering the bombing at that city's 2013 marathon, was the keynote speaker for the event.<br />
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A silent auction was held over the two days of various journalism and other related items that helped raise over $300 for the national organization's Legal Defense Fund. There were no immediate plans announced concerning the dates or location for next year's event.<br />
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<i>The still-under-construction Schoonover Center at Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication served as the host for the Friday night welcome reception activities of the 2015 SPJ Region 4 Spring Conference in Athens, Ohio.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA85PgvShOpsMzbPz0yKNWBukJp5BjWxVjIxN1NwFr0slOQMjArHmlDZ8RbAyM8_aDl6PRYaTwT_2CpqqOH7HknLSJey_Ql5aI_aYCx3EDeC_sn4wW6o6cByvMglwU9CXyBIA2JLxlGcgs/s1600/IMG_0492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA85PgvShOpsMzbPz0yKNWBukJp5BjWxVjIxN1NwFr0slOQMjArHmlDZ8RbAyM8_aDl6PRYaTwT_2CpqqOH7HknLSJey_Ql5aI_aYCx3EDeC_sn4wW6o6cByvMglwU9CXyBIA2JLxlGcgs/s1600/IMG_0492.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Kate Hiller, president of the Ohio University SPJ chapter, greets attendees at the welcome reception for the 2015 SPJ Region 4 Spring Conference in Athens, Ohio.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHqxupDEGbhM5F0cB20JObGjUUORUL_-IafKsK6stnsQiAbH76b53rJNcaIe1cYsRUIUsmpVPJ0wzFLlDmoUIs8vT3mAFav4Qz9b3aiRzhyphenhyphenuQMjNil-N7dfPHql359MYpzPl9z9zH_4r0/s1600/IMG_0497.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaHqxupDEGbhM5F0cB20JObGjUUORUL_-IafKsK6stnsQiAbH76b53rJNcaIe1cYsRUIUsmpVPJ0wzFLlDmoUIs8vT3mAFav4Qz9b3aiRzhyphenhyphenuQMjNil-N7dfPHql359MYpzPl9z9zH_4r0/s1600/IMG_0497.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>The Scripps College of Communication's Ohio Communication Hall of Fame is prominently displayed on the first floor of the new facility on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.</i></div>
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<i>A bust of noted newspaper publisher and news service creater E.W. Scripps sits outside the journalism school named after him on the second floor of the Scripps College of Communication.</i></div>
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<i>SPJ Region 4 director Patti Newberry, right, welcomed National Secretary-Treasurer Lynn Walsh to the 2015 Spring Conference welcome reception at the Scripps College of Communication's Schoonover Center on March 20.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14nqXdkT6I8-NO7wt5qWtSR2AfYTUyRF-T-oFqG2mZk2OU89z67BRDEBT75F6lgZ9inNzA9ze3QBmogCtjTJvmPsmTi2QBgy6SNhDOXu4EziUHtmaJ5s7kEgUFUPTfDCycmGK0t33tuG2/s1600/IMG_4172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14nqXdkT6I8-NO7wt5qWtSR2AfYTUyRF-T-oFqG2mZk2OU89z67BRDEBT75F6lgZ9inNzA9ze3QBmogCtjTJvmPsmTi2QBgy6SNhDOXu4EziUHtmaJ5s7kEgUFUPTfDCycmGK0t33tuG2/s1600/IMG_4172.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Ohio University alumnus Wesley Lowery, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for his role in breaking news coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, served as the keynote speaker for the Mark of Excellence luncheon at the 2015 SPJ Region 4 Spring Conference in Athens, Ohio.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7L8GiVlbdQYGF7yV7K_jdo_4xG8oWRw36HM4zGY7n_iLsFqsmmMngYsdS2iXzQ0OQ9WHRsjqKFoBDAzQiyXAbtRmwDTMBBO2a2XwV3xEgfz5vcFI_qoZA0PNa3p0XqulRGcl8HDJKygQc/s1600/IMG_0587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7L8GiVlbdQYGF7yV7K_jdo_4xG8oWRw36HM4zGY7n_iLsFqsmmMngYsdS2iXzQ0OQ9WHRsjqKFoBDAzQiyXAbtRmwDTMBBO2a2XwV3xEgfz5vcFI_qoZA0PNa3p0XqulRGcl8HDJKygQc/s1600/IMG_0587.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>A "super session" on the subject of the 2016 presidential election was held as the closing event of the 2015 Region 4 Spring Conference at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The panel, from left to right, consisted of WCPO-TV news reporter Tom McKee, syndicated columnist Thomas Suddes, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism instructor Nerissa Young, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Associated Press national politics writer Phillip Elliott.</i></div>
JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-53678806150837187532015-01-18T14:10:00.002-05:002015-01-18T14:10:57.825-05:00A Review of My "Year of Application"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XmBi5L4EVvDIl6aWczXsiZPVX_Y9H387RcYDBnyX8WYU8lrV9VKXOxSb1_UtAMePoSt80d5LlMPbfKjxYgjB2R8uJxkJdNE59sHiSERwp6PPp5lUK9v81L42owT4X3tiO_dldvlXMfQG/s1600/New-Years-2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XmBi5L4EVvDIl6aWczXsiZPVX_Y9H387RcYDBnyX8WYU8lrV9VKXOxSb1_UtAMePoSt80d5LlMPbfKjxYgjB2R8uJxkJdNE59sHiSERwp6PPp5lUK9v81L42owT4X3tiO_dldvlXMfQG/s1600/New-Years-2015.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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In a practice that--thanks to our ever-increasing reliance on electronic devices--is becoming less frequent, humans switch out their calendars in the annual event of "ringing out the old and ringing in the new" around this time of year. It serves as an opportunity of reflection, introspection and resolve to guide us along our paths in the new year. While I have no wall hanging to change out, I do have this blog to browse through for that same purpose. According to my <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/01/my-year-of-application.html">first post for the year that just ended</a>, 2014 was supposed to be my "year of application" and to spread my journalistic "wings" and, except for the tailing off near the end, I think I can claim success.<br />
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In that submission, I talked optimistically about using the skills I acquired through my then-recent completion of my Certificate of Journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the lead-up to being laid off from a job that I held for a little over five years (that was alluded to as a "year of transition"). I initially established a schedule that I would follow for my posting of new content onto this site that was slowly cast aside based upon wavering levels of interest as well as opportunities taken (and ignored) throughout that 12-month period.<br />
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Here's a breakdown of my 52 posts last year:<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>- "Soap Box" (opinion pieces):</b> a total of nine (with the last one being submitted in August). This was supposed to be the main focus for my efforts and those results fell flat. Of that small number, the majority stayed in the political arena but several had the media in my sights. While most of these were written with an analytical eye (and one that still bristles at trying to squeeze into the industry's column/word limit restrictions), one stood out due to its extreme length and the passion it stirred in me when I wrote it in just a few hours' time one August afternoon.<br />
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<i>Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald awaits a television interview at a scheduled tour stop in Springfield, Ohio in late September 2014. His campaign imploded one month earlier and I decided to share my disappointment in a 2,100-word letter I shared via this website.</i></div>
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In the wake of two embarrassing announcements concerning past questionable events in Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald's personal life, I <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/08/soap-box-turn-out-lights-this-race-is.html">drafted and posted an open letter</a> to him addressing my incredulity and disappointment over his (and the state's Democratic party's) decision to go forward with that candidacy. The letter portion alone had 2,156 of the post's 2,244 total words but I was extremely upset by the numerous missteps taken in last year's elections and Mr. FitzGerald's responsibilities as being at the top of the state-wide ticket. The words just seemed to flow from my fingertips onto my laptop's keyboard and I hoped that he (or someone in his campaign) took the time to read it and take my advice to heart. <br />
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<b>- photojournalism: </b>if my dearth of opinion was a disappointment, then the reporting opportunities I exercised with my camera and audio recorder greatly helped pick up the overall slack. I set a goal of one such event per month for 2015 and I'm proud to say that it was exceeded by 50 percent (18 "A/V" items over the 12 months). Taking advantage of my growing confidence to visit places and document events, I had a wide-ranging year revolving around politics, media, entertainment and history.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlJoTwG1asU4g_T_CNL1fu9IATIQ-VmTSOJYi690CVi12BwokAbNAmhcQ_c1njFita67EeOh8MO8y0gQ_pmbPspbhqFt4bVB36uBxXGpb2VjnYM6bJj1sS74LGWlP1T6pxxwutfMNrhutN/s1600/Walmart2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlJoTwG1asU4g_T_CNL1fu9IATIQ-VmTSOJYi690CVi12BwokAbNAmhcQ_c1njFita67EeOh8MO8y0gQ_pmbPspbhqFt4bVB36uBxXGpb2VjnYM6bJj1sS74LGWlP1T6pxxwutfMNrhutN/s1600/Walmart2.jpg" height="147" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Two views of the pet area at the Beavercreek, Ohio Walmart Superstore. John Crawford III (pictured in surveillance video on the left) was shot and killed in August 2014 at the end of the end of that same aisle I photographed the following month.</i></div>
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Two of those reporting events surrounded the homicide of 22-year old John Crawford III on August 5th while shopping inside a Walmart Superstore in neighboring Beavercreek, Ohio. While I did not adopt a "breaking news" stance and run over to that store as word of the incident was first announced that evening, I did attend two separate gatherings in the wake of official information releases surrounding that tragic event. Both were held in the outer parking lot of the store but that was the only commonality they had with each other (I wrote a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/09/bts-tale-of-two-rallies.html">"behind the scenes" piece</a> to describe my observations in September). I went into the store in late September after the special prosecutor announced that no criminal charges would be filed against the responding officers. I walked over to the pet area where the shooting took place and took the photo displayed above on the right. Seeing it in color and not through the grainy and optically distorted video of the store's surveillance cameras (provided on left for comparison) confirmed my initial suspicions that this was a case of police overreach but one that will never be proven in the courts because of the various "loopholes" written into our existing laws by state legislators. The pro-Crawford event I covered was a moving and emotional experience and it may have gotten more attention if it weren't for a similar racially tinged firearm tragedy that happened in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson just four days later.<br />
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Those two targeted categories occupied over half of the year's submissions but I'd like to bring up some of the others I shared during 2014:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUuuCzccl99rb9WrwlEQnWsUIA7muT5-X9JKCvasRzzdWNPPOxr3Kgoxu86acyPmju9tkm4_cGt3W3lxnLiSMASsfmf9wov7BHbVoFteY-Gc-RyucWVlq3UcmtIczNmnk8aw8WkJTXaqx/s1600/075a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUuuCzccl99rb9WrwlEQnWsUIA7muT5-X9JKCvasRzzdWNPPOxr3Kgoxu86acyPmju9tkm4_cGt3W3lxnLiSMASsfmf9wov7BHbVoFteY-Gc-RyucWVlq3UcmtIczNmnk8aw8WkJTXaqx/s1600/075a.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>President Barack Obama walks away from Air Force One shortly after landing at the Dayton International Airport in October 2012.</i></div>
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<b>- BTS ("behind the scenes"):</b> in addition to the one I already mentioned above, I did a <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/02/bts-air-force-one-arrival-and-2012.html">final recap</a> of my political coverage from the 2012 presidential election (to include covering the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2012/10/av-president-obama-flies-in-for-dayton.html">arrival of Air Force One</a> at the Dayton International Airport in October 2012).<br />
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<i>My "Journo-less" Summer...So Far observations merited an 8-part series of posts from July to September. </i></div>
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<b>- serialized story:</b> in previous postings over the life of this blog, I've tried to put as much into a single submission to keep the reader informed and to answer all of the questions. Last year, I deciced to try a multi-part series (<a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/07/my-journo-less-summerso-far-part-1-of-8.html">My "Journo-less" Summer...So Far</a>) that I extended into eight separate items uploaded over a nearly two-month span (ending the day before summer officially ended). In a way, I felt that I cheated by breaking that post up into the multiple items but that method has worked in all sorts of media and entertainment venues so why not try it here? I was going to do an "epilogue" for a few items that I wasn't able to squeeze in before the seasons changed but that submission got put on the back burner and wasn't finished before the end of the year.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjErEOPZXWFP4SZEzDg2HZqxS30dN-SkZvZjwrlU4mvDSwn02sHI_282s-7L9GKMpOj1MC1IerDvtEilHtLL5GVwSpFwgCOqVgvdDV-Tt2mO6QMqoqJY-O5dYSvjdrDYbje_QYx58ESQ9H3/s1600/Media.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjErEOPZXWFP4SZEzDg2HZqxS30dN-SkZvZjwrlU4mvDSwn02sHI_282s-7L9GKMpOj1MC1IerDvtEilHtLL5GVwSpFwgCOqVgvdDV-Tt2mO6QMqoqJY-O5dYSvjdrDYbje_QYx58ESQ9H3/s1600/Media.png" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i> A collage of subjects of my media observations during 2014.</i></div>
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<b>- media observations:</b> although some of my op/eds involved the news media, I posted 10 different items with my take on how several elements within that "complex" performed well, performed poorly or simply attracted my attention. Over the 12 months, I completed an earlier series on <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/01/morning-news-review-cbs-this-morning.html">network morning news shows</a>, highlighted the multitude of outlets carrying the president's <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/01/the-tsunami-of-sotu-coverage.html">State of the Union address</a>, submitted the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/03/my-media-vacation-part-2-of-3.html">second of three stops</a> during a 2012 media-related vacation, uploaded an <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/05/in-appreciation-randi-rhodes.html">appreciation item</a> for a retiring radio talk show host, shared the still-current "high water mark" of <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/05/my-three-day-tweet-kend.html">my Twitter presence</a>, described a frustrating attempt at <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/06/i-probably-shouldve-skipped-this-one.html">covering a Hillary Clinton book-signing event</a>, analyzed how the <i>Dayton Daiy News'</i> op/ed pages are supposedly <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/07/dayton-daily-news-ideas-voices-balance.html">"equally" divided</a>, commented on that same daily's <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/08/buddy-can-you-spare-500-words.html">call for community opinion contributors</a>, linked to an informative MSNBC discussion on the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/08/opinion-writing-101.html">finer points of op/ed writing</a>, and provided my <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/09/the-sunday-rundown.html">first impression of NBC News' Meet the Press reboot</a> with their new moderator Chuck Todd.<br />
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<i>Issues attracting my commentaries included a gay commander, the return of a superstar, contemplating a dystopian world and addressing personal procrastination. </i></div>
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<b>- commentary:</b> while not technically "op/ed", I took four stabs at providing my take on events or issues from my own life that had relevance to current events or to my pursuit of a journalism position. These varied from the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/06/a-more-frequently-witnessed-historic.html">first openly gay commander</a> at a local US Air Force intelligence unit, the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/07/the-abdicator-returns.html">return of Le Bron James</a> to the Cleveland Cavaliers, my <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/09/a-tiny-taste-of-day-after.html">scary thoughts</a> during a short power outage, and an <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/12/my-no-show-november.html">explanation</a> for not posting any items for an entire month.<br />
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<i>A mannequin displays the uniform worn by former Air Force One crew chief David Scheff at the Champaign Aviation Museum at Urbana, Ohio's Grimes Airport.</i></div>
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Not included in these categories above is the most personally impacting story I wrote in 2014 (and perhaps in my entire journalistic career). Back in April of 2012, I met a fellow Air Force retiree when I covered a<a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2012/04/first.html"> military related event in Urbana, Ohio</a>. I took a few photos and recorded a 7-8 minute clip of our conversation that I was going to draft into an article someday but, unfortunately for him, he never did see that day come about. When reading my local newspaper in early May, I saw a familiar face among the obituaries and immediately knew whose it was and where I had previously seen it. Embarrassed by my lack of follow-through, I immediately sat down and wrote a post to document our meeting two years earlier as well as others that I met during that wet and rainy April day. I felt absolved for my severe procrastination and was happy with the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/05/a-missed-opportunity.html">"Missed Opportunity"</a> piece I drafted but it wasn't until about a week later that things elevated to a substantial level. Through a family friend who found the link to the story I provided on the funeral home's remembrance page, the retiree's widow contacted me to personally thank me for what I wrote about her late husband. Over the months, we continued an email correspondence and it was in October that I had the chance to meet her in person and look through the mementos and personal effects of that former Air Force One crew chief. She continues to struggle through the pain of his loss but she felt comfort in what I wrote and that is probably one of the best feelings a journalist--or a human being for that matter--can have.<br />
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<i>The 2016 race for the White House is in its very early stages but will feature Ohio in at least one primary debate and a national convention (and could host the other party's gathering and a potential candidate as well).</i></div>
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Thankfully, I am starting a new job this coming week but it is in a different line of work that I'm accustomed to and my immediate focus will be to get up to speed as quickly as I can in support of that customer. After last year's statewide political races, my interest is still elevated for keeping a lookout on potential 2016 presidential campaign events in the local area. The Republican field is slowly coming to the starting line and the RNC recently <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/rnc-2016-debate-schedule-114329.html">announced a schedule</a> of only nine primary debates with three others pending (down from the 20 that were held for the 2012 race). The first one is tentatively scheduled for August at a yet-to-be-determined Ohio location. Will current (and term-limited) Ohio governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich">John Kasich</a> decide to run for the White House again? He just <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_gubernatorial_election,_2014">won reelection</a> by a nearly two-to-one margin and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Republican_National_Convention">Republican National Convention</a> will be held just a few hours up the road in Cleveland a year from this coming July. A decision for the setting for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Convention">2016 Democratic National Convention</a> should be announced in the near future and Columbus is one of the three announced finalists (along with Brooklyn and Philadelphia). I'll have my fingers crossed for the "Buckeye State"!<br />
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In closing, I will tell you that I applied for eight reporter positions at small newspapers in Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania during my prolonged unemployment stretch and it was this humbling string of rejections that has me thinking that I could not survive in my present economic realities as a journalist. The author friend I referenced in my January 2014 post has already completed seven novels and seems to be well-established within her particular genre of fiction. Based on those tangible results, she has demonstrated the motivation, the energy and the vision to fuel her pursuits that I can't seem to harness here. I did have a few spurts of focus and determination but the demands of seeking full-time work outweighed my ability to elevate my dedication level to anything above "hobbyist".<br />
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Despite this disappointment, I think I can live with that status for the foreseeable future. While posts here might drop off, I will still utilize Twitter and stay connected with my professional acquaintances through the SPJ and mingling with other reporters and photographers covering newsworthy events. Back in August of 2011, I started out here with the ambitious motto of "Journalism or Bust!" to document my journey of transforming myself into something I've always aspired to be. After three years of trying and achieving only minor successes, I must regrettably report that it isn't an all-or-nothing proposition anymore.<br />
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-10566963432409399802015-01-04T23:30:00.004-05:002015-01-04T23:33:05.649-05:00In Memoriam: Stuart Scott<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>An undated photo of ESPN sportscaster/host Stuart Scott who succumbed to cancer earlier today at the age of 49.</i></div>
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It was just before 11am this morning when I saw the news about the passing of longtime ESPN sportscaster/host Stuart Scott when it popped up in my Facebook newsfeed via a friend's status update. I knew that he had been ill of late but denials of <a href="http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/11/stuart-scott-espn-refutes-notion-hes-hospice/">unfounded rumors of hospice care</a> in early December were the last time I noticed any news about his condition. Although he put up a very brave 7-year fight, Scott succumbed to appendicial cancer, an extremely rare variety of this disease that affects about 1 in 9 million Americans and also was a factor in the death of legendary actress <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn">Katherine Hepburn</a> back in 1993.<br />
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<i>Stuart Scott (left) interviews members of the San Antonio Spurs after they won the NBA Finals in June 2014. (<a href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/newsroom/img/mt/2015/01/RTR3TYYW/lead.jpg?nho0fa">photo</a> courtesy of Bob Donnan/USA Today Sports/Reuters) </i></div>
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At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to honor his passing here with a "memoriam" post. The other two individuals to which I have extended this type of commemoration included World War II-era reporter and television personality <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2011/11/in-memoriam-andy-rooney.html">Andy Rooney</a> and <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2013/07/in-memorium-helen-thomas.html">Helen Thomas</a>, the groundbreaking White House correspondent--both passing away in their tenth decades of life and were active until the end. Each made their mark in a medium that many believe is becoming more irrelevant in an environment that Scott's television home, ESPN, and others helped to transform over the past 30 years. It was only after I reviewed his biography that I noticed his connections to journalism and saw that he did "pay his dues" prior to taking his talents to a worldwide audience.<br />
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<i>An undated screen grab showing Stuart Scott (left) and Rich Eisen (right) on the ESPN SportsCenter set. </i></div>
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According to his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Scott">Wikipedia biography</a>, Stuart Orlando Scott graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1987, earning a Bachelors of Art in Speech Communication and worked at the school's radio station as an undergraduate. After college, he worked as a news reporter and a weekend sports anchor for a South Carolina television station and it was in that latter role that he began to experiment with his now-famous non-traditional catchphrases when describing sports-related subjects ("cooler than the other side of the pillow" and "Booyah!" being the most notable). Scott made his national debut with the <i>SportsNight</i> show on the then "youth-oriented" and "informal" <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN2">ESPN2</a> network in late 1993 and his on-air style complemented the attitude and "swagger" network executives wanted for capturing that particular audience demographic.<br />
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<i>Ray Romano (left) and Tim Meadows (right) spoof an ESPN SportsCenter broadcast during a March 1999 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. (screen grab courtesy of Hulu)</i></div>
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Over the next 21 years, Scott would become one of ESPN's most familiar faces to viewers with his inclusion for the network's coverage teams of both the National Basketball Association and the National Football League as well as reality and game show offerings. He also <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779818/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t50">appeared in several movies and television shows</a> as either himself or in a sports announcer-related role based upon the personality he exuded during his regular stints with long-time co-host <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Eisen">Rich Eisen</a> and others he was paired with after Eisen's departure for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Network">NFL Network</a> in 2003. He was given what could be the ultimate professional honor when his on-air persona was <a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/124974">parodied by Tim Meadows</a> during a March 1999 episode of NBC's <i>Saturday Night Live</i>.<br />
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<i>Stuart Scott accepts the 2014 Jimmy V Perseverance Award during the 2014 ESPYS on July 16, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. (<a href="http://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2015/01/04/3613abe4-7695-487a-87b2-9f5407efe577/thumbnail/620x350/d203eedf697ed1adac536f101ecac6a0/stuartscott452250140.jpg">photo</a> courtesy of Kevin Winter/Getty Images)</i></div>
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While working an NFL game in Pittsburgh in November 2007, Scott had an emergency appendectomy performed and it was during that procedure when doctors initially discovered the cancerous tissue that, unfortunately, took his life after two subsequent recurrences in 2010 and 2013. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_0ieqSi7Q">July 2014 speech</a> when he accepted the Jimmy V Perseverance Award for his very public battle against this disease, he subtlety foreshadowed his demise when he made the following statement:<br />
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<i>When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.</i></blockquote>
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When those hospice rumors were circulating, his close friend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzy_Kolber">Suzy Kolber</a> and the <i>Monday Night Countdown</i> crew tried to send Scott some extra strength through their telecast:<br />
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News of Scott's death quickly spread via social media and accolades started pouring in from athletes, coworkers and even the <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/228445-obama-i-will-miss-stuart-scott">White House</a> to comment on his passing. The primary network immediately modified their television and radio programming to provide continuous coverage of their host's passing. Many of his colleagues were caught completely by surprise and had a hard time keeping their composure on the air.<br />
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<i>Before modernization in the late 1990s to satellite and digital technologies, the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service was not the most expeditious provider of live news and sports. </i></div>
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Like any other ESPN and ABC Sports viewer, I knew who Stuart Scott was but other than his pop culture idioms and metaphors, he didn't attract any undue attention from me but that could also be said for any sports-related programming since 1980. I cashed in my "fanatic" card when I endured five straight years living outside the United States and only having the often-delayed <i>Stars and Stripes</i> and the tape-delayed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Forces_Network">Armed Forces Radio and Television Service</a>, or AFRTS, to get my sports fix. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Charles_%28sportscaster%29">Nick Charles</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hickman">Fred Hickman</a> provided daily updates via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Tonight_%28CNN%29"><i>CNN Sports Tonight</i></a> telecasts and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_George_Michael_Sports_Machine"><i>The George Michaels Sports Machine</i></a> was a once-a-week nationally syndicated treat to supplement those cable news offerings. I normally don't get very excited about a sport until their playoffs start so regular season activities are noted primarily for "water cooler" value. I missed two Super Bowl telecasts in the 1990s due to military related travel and my early morning work start times preclude many prime-time bowl game or championship views.<br />
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Although it might not be the most appropriate venue, I do harbor resentment about the transition of journalistic and media assets away from their more traditional roles and "beats" to focus reporting on the activities within the worlds of sports and entertainment. The precipitous growth of these "infotainment" sectors, in my opinion, demonstrates the erosion of the core tenets of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Estate#The_press">"the Fourth Estate"</a>--those of oversight of and informing the public about the activities occurring within a democracy. Countless hours of television and radio time are spent informing viewers and listeners about the minute details of a game or a team or a movie but we somehow can't get beyond the "debate dungeon" and "equal time" techniques regularly seen on cable news outlets or on the op/ed pages of most American newspapers. <br />
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<i>The Roman rulers provided "distractions" (in the form of bribes and public spectacles like the combat scene above) to gain and keep control within the empire.</i></div>
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At one time, sports and entertainment were pleasant diversions to the
mundane but vital realities of our lives but they somehow have become
the primary focal point for a growing majority of people in our current
society (and this is not just an American phenomenon). In Roman times, the phrase <i>panem et circenses</i> (more familiarly translated as "bread and circuses") was coined to describe the methods the ruling class used to distract the commoners from their birthright of political involvement within that society for their own gain through the use of bribes and/or distractions. This placation has direct parallels in modern times with the explosion of devices and outlets meant for "relaxation" or "refreshment" from the stresses and rigors of the human condition. Hundreds of television and radio channels, portable music, and social media feeds continuously accessible via wireless technologies can overwhelm individuals who are unaware of their life-numbing dangers (or perhaps they simply choose to quit paying attention anymore). More people today are probably more familiar with the terms "LOL" or "Booyah!" than they are with the concepts of legislation or budgeting or simple economics.<br />
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Support for a sporting team mimics--and sometimes exceeds--the level of fealty a citizen should have for their community or their nation. The permeation of corporate sponsorship, monies and influences into sports, entertainment, our news industry as well as our politics provides any astute observer a definite "tell" into their ultimate goal through their methods and motives. People like Scott and others at ESPN and in the other sectors mentioned above do perform a service but, unfortunately, that work is not for the audience we believe it to be nor for the benefit of society as a whole. <br />
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-62997613515545012962014-12-20T11:59:00.005-05:002014-12-20T11:59:58.309-05:00My "No Show" November<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUhLmKq8ytD_gAIeZspd6-a9O6qH8o_AUNPVJfz84RL5LWyXLughuFER-t9dzbxq0FYOY4euJPbFCWQ69Iw5GZNMTRHFGIs1YejxXCaGdoKz9HFAmHynPoX2VxnEasaXklyTJfnkU3YpJ/s1600/No-Vember1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUhLmKq8ytD_gAIeZspd6-a9O6qH8o_AUNPVJfz84RL5LWyXLughuFER-t9dzbxq0FYOY4euJPbFCWQ69Iw5GZNMTRHFGIs1YejxXCaGdoKz9HFAmHynPoX2VxnEasaXklyTJfnkU3YpJ/s1600/No-Vember1.jpg" height="400" width="363" /></a></div>
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<i>I hadn't missed an entire month since June 2013 and only done so twice in the 41-month run of this blog</i></div>
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Near the end of a productive year (51 posts in 10 months), it appears that I have done something I've only done once before in the history of my blog--I missed an entire month! A span of 38 days went by where I did not post any items to this website and that would be considered a "drought" instead of the few "hiatuses" I took while doing my journalism certificate program. A little bit of background information will help explain the rationale for my absence.<br />
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Back in July, I <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/07/my-journo-less-summerso-far-part-1-of-8.html">started an 8-part series</a> about my "journo-less" summer where I mentioned that I was unemployed at that time. Unfortunately, that
situation remains in effect and it seemed to come to a head in October
when yet another delay was going to push any job hopes off until early
in 2015 (at the earliest). Once my state jobless benefits ended in early August,
I've been on my own and things have become more critical on the
financial front as the months have gone by. With the day-to-day
anxieties weighing heavily on me, I did what any 50-something might
do--I ran away from home (with my wife's permission) and took a credit card-funded "road
trip" to get me away from my problems for just a little while. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4fSVUF5eE4iFgxVz6SOAYAuwP-8rXwn8tWi5My_B9csfWARXD2E775W0x_4jeMT5wFfp-qiFi9l4Yh5MQhQfIvVTySFve7rNOQHblJNg9ju7koYHbpigcq2DDO7n8d_I92Pb7WI5rZaAI/s1600/IMG_1266a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4fSVUF5eE4iFgxVz6SOAYAuwP-8rXwn8tWi5My_B9csfWARXD2E775W0x_4jeMT5wFfp-qiFi9l4Yh5MQhQfIvVTySFve7rNOQHblJNg9ju7koYHbpigcq2DDO7n8d_I92Pb7WI5rZaAI/s1600/IMG_1266a.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<i>I got to see one of the controversial Jon Husted posters firsthand at my county election board when I cast an early ballot for the November mid-term election. </i></div>
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Realizing that I would be out of the state for the general election on November 4th, I made the quick trip out to my county's election board in order to cast my ballot early. Although there was a line, it was not as long as the ones I remembered for the 2008 or 2012 presidential elections and it took me about 20 minutes from my arrival until I was back in my car for the return drive home. While I was there, I did notice a poster (displayed above) that attracted a lot of attention in statewide political circles.<br />
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Unlike the federal ballots where only the chief executive and their running mate are featured, Ohioans cast votes for governor, lieutenant governor, two "cabinet" positions (attorney general, treasurer) and two others (auditor, secretary of state) that have tangential state-level equivalency to the GAO and the Commerce Secretary (with election oversight responsibilities thrown in), respectively. It's that last position--and it's controversial incumbent--that caused some commotion between the two major parties in Hamilton County (the greater Cincinnati area). The <a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/10/22/husted-election-poster-polling-places/17741523/">issue surrounded a poster</a> that was supposed to hang in all of the state's polling places that had Jon Husted's name prominently displayed along with a fifth grade student's drawing encouraging voting. Since that Republican office holder was on last month's ballot, Democrats saw that as a violation of state rules governing open displays of campaign-related materials in the voting areas. This was elevated when Husted stepped in and cast the deciding vote in that Hamilton County case and paved the way for it to remain across the state. In fairness, only low information voters would've been swayed by this and the poster above was on the wall outside the door leading into the office where the machines sat. If one looks at the <a href="https://vote.ohio.gov/Results.aspx?race=Secretary%20of%20State">official results</a>, it appears that this issue wouldn't have made that big of a deal.<br />
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With my civic duty accomplished, I had a clear conscience to make my way back to Northeastern Pennsylvania to visit family members and walk through some of the haunts from my younger days to clear my mind and reconnect with my roots. Sandwiched between these visits was an employment-related trip to the Boston area. I arrived there on Election Day eve and was able to view the "Republican Landslide" that had been forecasted for months in Ohio as well as nationally via cable and local news outlets. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcjYJdbU2wdY6EzNRtmc3YvuIKSpKe0mpHKBxuD3M981RiLDSZoKIQmwsOo1h1RXs6_GnU-dVVIJlGe_9OWMr5RZUVKogK96-lQxdrzxPU096x2HYPNXZAiWDJYxSwN_3rk5JcpyQjMNIg/s1600/IMG_1484a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcjYJdbU2wdY6EzNRtmc3YvuIKSpKe0mpHKBxuD3M981RiLDSZoKIQmwsOo1h1RXs6_GnU-dVVIJlGe_9OWMr5RZUVKogK96-lQxdrzxPU096x2HYPNXZAiWDJYxSwN_3rk5JcpyQjMNIg/s1600/IMG_1484a.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>The front page of the Boston Herald on Election Day hinted at a very tight gubernatorial race between the sitting state attorney general (Democrat Martha Coakley) and a former cabinet official/businessman (Republican Charlie Baker). The latter won by just over 40,000 votes.</i></div>
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With the official portion of my visit was completed on the first day, I met up with an old high school friend and we made arrangements to spend part of the next day touring downtown Boston, primarily the area around the southern end of the city's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Trail">Freedom Trail</a>. After a late lunch at a place "where everybody knows your name", we meandered through the shops at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Market">Quincy Market</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faneuil_Hall">Faneuil Hall</a> for mandatory souvenir shopping before being guided by a <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/USA-The_Freedom_Trail.JPG">sidewalk-embedded trail</a> through the glass and steel downtown areas to see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_State_House_%28Boston%29">Old State House</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Meeting_House">Old South Meeting House</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Common">Boston Common</a>. Across from that last location stands the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_State_House">Massachusetts State House</a> where my astute eye noticed several ENG trucks with masts deployed for remote spots for the early evening news segments related to the very close <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_gubernatorial_election,_2014">gubernatorial election</a> between the state's attorney general <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Coakley">Martha Coakley</a> and former cabinet official and businessman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Baker_%28politician%29">Charlie Baker</a>. Because of the small margin of victory, the Democrat Coakley <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2014/11/05/martha-coakley-concedes-gubernatorial-race-telephone-call-charlie-baker/bbef08yOW5tPJAkYzBNfMK/story.html">did not concede</a> to her Republican rival Baker until after 8am that morning so there was still a media "buzz" in the air over this result when we were walking by. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPFH_gU86U_UGPcPQjIcoS4wAuWFd2IZbGzKrAzTosPJTnZH1gTicGe2-F3d7bbbFbygjpbybpteSAhhho1zVL63Z7iYXQwhEw1kJlP-drKXRAS_Obef8sGcdY9UvShevzc_ATy4fmQBy/s1600/IMG_0354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPFH_gU86U_UGPcPQjIcoS4wAuWFd2IZbGzKrAzTosPJTnZH1gTicGe2-F3d7bbbFbygjpbybpteSAhhho1zVL63Z7iYXQwhEw1kJlP-drKXRAS_Obef8sGcdY9UvShevzc_ATy4fmQBy/s1600/IMG_0354.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>A table was set up inside Quincy Market for people to offer their condolences to the family of the recently deceased mayor Thomas Menino. </i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95qgV3-9ifdJe99hDxtjCxpn6s8vqRrQ_f484roFt_In8u88cTjcquIkfbUgNFYgIolDW175LSx5ppO6Cd9jBMwPN-A-s_sCuWqmFVFNXa-IiI6eoHFCmHxnMMwNtioAU0VRzikt3L8Bf/s1600/IMG_0367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95qgV3-9ifdJe99hDxtjCxpn6s8vqRrQ_f484roFt_In8u88cTjcquIkfbUgNFYgIolDW175LSx5ppO6Cd9jBMwPN-A-s_sCuWqmFVFNXa-IiI6eoHFCmHxnMMwNtioAU0VRzikt3L8Bf/s1600/IMG_0367.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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<i>A newspaper rack inside Faneuil Hall provided tangible evidence of the midterm election results.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJH8rqvfm1LsFwLU_-F5Tpw2v10UqwYOf7W1QLDyuCxEwMHLSX1jHqiaemxF5L6AjekOyiCRnXZ9y7s48jKnbeKSIPGnn4RYna1YOjy-TTrfncW5ufX1ekq2lSFpRNK-GpBglesaA9sWU/s1600/IMG_0368.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJH8rqvfm1LsFwLU_-F5Tpw2v10UqwYOf7W1QLDyuCxEwMHLSX1jHqiaemxF5L6AjekOyiCRnXZ9y7s48jKnbeKSIPGnn4RYna1YOjy-TTrfncW5ufX1ekq2lSFpRNK-GpBglesaA9sWU/s1600/IMG_0368.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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<i>A souvenir shop featured several "Boston Strong" items to show the city's resolve after the April 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyi1UTrfYEemyFEz-ZL5eWPGb-WFfazjcL08gnEJRLH6hSNyMrHSWeVOcJ9bRshyphenhyphenhrkBz73txveue4HDEuvqFrpXpjU7VTID_kgPk83ofuGe7xIFrGq1TpUV0O6vjT5Ig0ZF2B6_SZy0fS/s1600/IMG_0389.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyi1UTrfYEemyFEz-ZL5eWPGb-WFfazjcL08gnEJRLH6hSNyMrHSWeVOcJ9bRshyphenhyphenhrkBz73txveue4HDEuvqFrpXpjU7VTID_kgPk83ofuGe7xIFrGq1TpUV0O6vjT5Ig0ZF2B6_SZy0fS/s1600/IMG_0389.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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<i>Television news ENG trucks deployed outside the Massachusetts Statehouse on the day after the November 2014 midterm elections.</i></div>
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While that election and the 18th century history were primarily in my mind, there were other events in Boston's more current history that also attracted my attention. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Menino">Thomas Menino</a>, the city's longest serving mayor, died on October 30th of a recently diagnosed illness and his body lied in state in Faneuil Hall on November 2nd with his funeral being held the following day. A table was set up inside Quincy Market for visitors to offer their condolences to the family. Although not as prolific as I would've thought, I did see several stores featuring "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Strong">Boston Strong</a>" branded merchandise for purchase. That slogan was popularized in the aftermath of the bombing at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon as a visible demonstration of the city's resolve to bounce back after that terrorist act. Although not pictured, we did walk through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Garden_%28Boston%29">Boston Public Garden</a> and near its western edge is the <a href="http://www.publicartboston.com/content/garden-rememberance-911-memorial">Garden of Remembrance: 9/11 Memorial</a>, a site that was dedicated in 2004 to the 206 individuals with Massachusetts ties who lost their lives due to those September 2001 attacks.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoRN2YmuqBbgfENJ-q_4B_3CPwxDdEF85Mj-Dv8SQNSFELDh0dfE29ZZtphRhcmXblqrOronP0TY92lhqOhdodcMYF89AmN2khwC0cumBjUQJDAIFq1PEG02zMDcogzge_9dj2bhhHuX8/s1600/10401344_859139910783636_5301195495109228380_n1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoRN2YmuqBbgfENJ-q_4B_3CPwxDdEF85Mj-Dv8SQNSFELDh0dfE29ZZtphRhcmXblqrOronP0TY92lhqOhdodcMYF89AmN2khwC0cumBjUQJDAIFq1PEG02zMDcogzge_9dj2bhhHuX8/s1600/10401344_859139910783636_5301195495109228380_n1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i> A quick photo stop at the Bristol, Connecticut campus of ESPN was purely by accident.</i></div>
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My time in Massachusetts went by much too quickly and I had to contend with a constant downpour during my return trip to Pennsylvania. While trying to find someplace to eat lunch, I happened to stumble across the world headquarters of ESPN and I grabbed a few pictures just outside their welcome center. Another reminder of my cognizance of current events came while driving along Interstate 84 when I saw exit signs for Newtown and Sandy Hook, the former being the location of the elementary school massacre of 20 young children and six of their teachers <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2012/12/unspeakable-horror-and-sloppy-news.html">two years ago this month</a>. My visit to "the Keystone State" drew to a rapid close and I made my way back to Ohio and the realities I was able to ignore for a week or so.</div>
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Despite my lack of postings to this blog, my <a href="https://twitter.com/journorbust">Twitter account</a> was frequently updated with what I was experiencing, viewing or thinking at the times of those updates. Here is a sampling of my "tweets" between those last two blog posts:</div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjta1rijSDW10naYxsuh1nnPKgrN-AnNMdCDKJs44-0iVfsAIj1WglJRhof5C8XP7H2qCrglSfOscIhyuHQZ5zu8MzL6z05yAMPD2z0TDGJWtwm61PkG2-Qpx3n3JPS7NXhejPry46-vlZg/s1600/28OCT.jpg" height="400" width="301" /></div>
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<i>The Brits really don't think very highly of the state of Ohio (at least from the results of an informal polling of Buzzfeed UK office staff and their own stereotypes of this country).</i></div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqrgKiF9jb7XZP90EsK-lW__nIg4wvsxsr4isuFuIDWW0p7reMP-s0FuHRgKa1SYSdmDME1A2YoxTj9CJUVcEyDRGDpuB6IiuPBiQsKWFgBDvu0Y1lLiEOlpS2Rt0M-dbpjsG8GN441Ba/s1600/Tweets1.jpg" height="150" width="400" /></div>
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<i>Here are my Boston-based "tweets" about the midterm elections.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_B7PnWlKuHATDuhFgfXv8_NqXttNcEvFmIQasJCjUFZ49LefTK2ZYGBzbn1Ll1yO4xqtfxQe05ychjigbJCXhma0FrjIPk_JXCmtjh5qu-cvozm-t0hPz2ffSv0WR-3yFCbrCbubTXOBI/s1600/Tweets2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_B7PnWlKuHATDuhFgfXv8_NqXttNcEvFmIQasJCjUFZ49LefTK2ZYGBzbn1Ll1yO4xqtfxQe05ychjigbJCXhma0FrjIPk_JXCmtjh5qu-cvozm-t0hPz2ffSv0WR-3yFCbrCbubTXOBI/s1600/Tweets2.jpg" height="208" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>One of the last editions of MSNBC's The Daily Rundown featured former host (and current Meet the Press moderator) Chuck Todd is pictured on the left. As of mid-November, it was "rebranded" as The Rundown, expanded to two hours and Jose Diaz-Balart was named as the host.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWoe7_C8Tc0zuEbrS98K8t8uVtm73kSMynbAYSoGFpe_Gj17Jlnr37P1ILTipSClQUtERLn3oyeBUo4bWAemeAu1u78SKGF7Wg7X_iM5riBuwF9kdrbuskLKk-Ghhgu9_NLq3m8ikcF4F/s1600/Tweets3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWoe7_C8Tc0zuEbrS98K8t8uVtm73kSMynbAYSoGFpe_Gj17Jlnr37P1ILTipSClQUtERLn3oyeBUo4bWAemeAu1u78SKGF7Wg7X_iM5riBuwF9kdrbuskLKk-Ghhgu9_NLq3m8ikcF4F/s1600/Tweets3.jpg" height="136" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Here are more MSNBC-related "tweets" (breaking news, Ohio politics, and a graphics "flub").</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFCqwj20Nb3Vp7YyZex3Qojy3SUj4kF8pwS9TucGCA732lCrhuJN8nvZfrf8RiQpGb06TI-YmESUxQdIlfK0znbz9UhS1uBX7EHq44oIfFmBi3CHcqzDTzJyJRUMp7QU4m8byNzIAFVQo/s1600/22NOV2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFCqwj20Nb3Vp7YyZex3Qojy3SUj4kF8pwS9TucGCA732lCrhuJN8nvZfrf8RiQpGb06TI-YmESUxQdIlfK0znbz9UhS1uBX7EHq44oIfFmBi3CHcqzDTzJyJRUMp7QU4m8byNzIAFVQo/s1600/22NOV2.jpg" height="400" width="351" /></a></div>
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<i>With Massachusetts still on my mind, I watched and "tweeted" about the Harvard-Yale football game on November 22nd.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDvck6vxOINcEFErrcxVInIg9ToInPZNw7hvwqELWgDHoOGO4BVmsVqPV5TYgK2vau4z7AUb_mlKYl6Dzd7AID8aR_SHU0ia_bqoE46MLapzXeNkAM0f2HXAYDEF5LA7AmZ2DyEzB6Laz/s1600/24NOV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDvck6vxOINcEFErrcxVInIg9ToInPZNw7hvwqELWgDHoOGO4BVmsVqPV5TYgK2vau4z7AUb_mlKYl6Dzd7AID8aR_SHU0ia_bqoE46MLapzXeNkAM0f2HXAYDEF5LA7AmZ2DyEzB6Laz/s1600/24NOV.jpg" height="393" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>All of the major news outlets covered the grand jury announcement surrounding the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.</i></div>
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<i>The biggest paper (by weight) is normally delivered on Thanksgiving Day due to the amount of holiday shopping sales circulars.</i></div>
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In my present personal and professional "funk", I have found that microblogging via Twitter to be a viable (but more terse) alternative to forcing myself to put fingers to laptop keys and composing the longer pieces that I usually favor here. The last one on the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/12/av-50-years-on-from-memorable-dayton.html">UD MLK 50th anniversary remembrance</a> required a focused effort to compose and upload to this blog and I really don't have the enthusiasm right now to search out new reporting opportunities. I'll probably wind up doing some sort of end-of-year recap to close out my 2014 activities unless inspiration can break through my mental malaise to reignite my passion and get me out of my chair and behind my camera lens (it's taken me over a week just to get this post done).<br />
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After the <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/friday-night-news-dump--rising-sun-edition-375323715635">incredible news week</a> that just passed, one might think that it would be easy to pick a topic or two and just go to town on it but that assumption factors in a person who wants to write and, unfortunately, I'm just not feeling it right now. I can only hope this is a temporary thing and that I will rediscover the enthusiasm that I have openly shared here and on my Twitter account over the past three years because I really wouldn't want this initiative to end on such a sour note. Just between us...this "annus <span class="st">horribilis</span>" cannot end soon enough!<br />
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-51017365172775515012014-12-03T21:52:00.002-05:002014-12-03T21:52:10.413-05:00A/V: 50 Years On From a Memorable Dayton Visit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Elizabeth Roth Turner, left, and Ted Clark, right, attendees at the November 1964 speech given by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the University of Dayton Fieldhouse, were in the audience at the Kennedy Union ballroom reflection event on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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On an overcast December afternoon, over 70 people attended an event to commemorate one held on a snowy November night 50 years ago last Saturday involving the appearance of an American civil rights icon in the city of Dayton. The University of Dayton's Office of Multicultural Affairs, the University Libraries, and the MLK Planning Committee hosted this gathering at the school's Kennedy Union ballroom to reflect on that November 1964 visit by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to discuss the social justice issues that continue to exist in this country a half century after his advocacy. Remarks were provided by <a href="http://www.wiredforbooks.org/herbertmartin/">Dr. Herbert Walker</a>, a poet, performer and Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the school, <a href="https://www.udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/sociology/thompson_miller_ruth.php">Dr. Ruth Thompson-Miller</a>, an Associate Professor of Sociology in the College of Arts of Sciences, and <a href="https://www.udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/english/morgan_thomas.php">Dr. Tom Morgan</a>, an Associate Professor of American and African American Literature in the Department of English.<br />
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<i>A newspaper clipping from the Dayton Daily News provides an overview of Dr. King's November 1964 visit to the University of Dayton for the school's Freedom Forum lecture series. (<a href="http://www.jumpbackhoney.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/ddn-november-30-page-20-a-edit.jpg">graphic </a>courtesy of the Dayton Daily News and the University of Dayton archives)</i></div>
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On November 29, 1964, Dr. King, in the auspices as president of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Christian_Leadership_Conference">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</a>, visited the University of Dayton to make a speech as part of the school's Freedom Forum lecture series. That event was held at the campus' <a href="http://scottymoore.net/dayton.html">fieldhouse</a> less than two months after he was named the winner of and less than two weeks before traveling to Norway to receive the <a href="http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_nobel_peace_prize_1964/">1964 Nobel Peace Prize</a>. Due to the <a href="http://www.jumpbackhoney.com/?page_id=238">chance discovery</a> in the spring of 2008 of a reel-to-reel tape from the event, a recording of most of the Alabama minister's remarks on race relations in the United States and his unwavering support of non-violent solutions for social injustice from that night exists online today (King's comments start at the 10:30 mark in the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/penultimate-ltd/nov-29-1964">posted audio</a>). An <a href="http://www.jumpbackhoney.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/ddn-november-30-page-20-a-edit.jpg">account</a> of that night was published in the <i>Dayton Daily New</i>s the following day to include remarks from protestors outside the venue. A <a href="http://www.jumpbackhoney.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mlk-563x1024.jpg">January 1999 article</a> for the <i>Campus Report</i>, the school's staff/faculty newspaper, printed a recollection of that speech by <a href="http://academic.udayton.edu/kenrosenzweig/dcjd/Pictures/Kelley%20Jack%20Death%20Sep%2020%202004/6.htm">Father Jack Kelley</a>, a former UD professor of religious studies and an advocate for social justice and interfaith dialogue, who also sat on the same stage with Dr. King on that wintery November evening. <br />
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<i>Dr. Tom Morgan, an Associate Professor of American and African American Literature in the Department of English at the University of Dayton, makes introductory remarks at the 50th anniversary reflecting event at the school's Kennedy Union ballroom on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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After introductory remarks by Dr. Morgan, Dr. Walker took to the podium to provide his personal excerpts from and insights about Dr. King's speech. Walker, a self-professed "packrat of effluvium" and the person who possessed the audio recording of that 1964 event, was a child of the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Migration_%28African_American%29">Great Migration</a>" movement of African-Americans from the rural South to more urban areas of the country during the 1940s and he shared some of his childhood experiences within the confines of segregation before starting his commentary. On a visit back to his original home when he was 12 years old, he remembered his mother's warning of being on his best behavior and "minding his P's and Q's" in public to reduce the chances of attracting undue attention by law enforcement officials, a warning that is, unfortunately, still passed down to young males in many African-American households today.<br />
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<i>Dr. Herbert Walker, a poet, performer and Professor Emeritus at University of Dayton, delivers his personal selections from Dr. Martin Luther King's November 1964 speech at the school's fieldhouse to a Kennedy Union ballroom audience on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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Remarks about slavery, segregation and racial tensions peppered Dr. King's words on that long-ago November night and Dr. Walker stated that fallout from these past injustices still exist in the present day. "Open your newspapers every day", he said, "turn on your televisions. You can look around in your community and you would have to agree with me that we still have a long way to go."
These words mirror King's when, reflecting on the then-recent deaths of
four African-American girls in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing">Birmingham, Alabama church bombing</a> and
the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers%27_murders">brutal murder</a> of three civil rights workers near Philadelphia,
Mississippi, he said "all of this reveals to us that we still have a
long way to go. It means we have a long, long way to go before the brotherhood of man is a reality in our country." For his conclusion, Walker brought up King's aspirations of regulating human behavior instead of legislating morality because"legislation cannot change the hearts of men but it does change the habits of men" and while the goal of first class citizenship for all people can be achieved, "we must not use second-class methods to obtain it."<br />
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<i>Over 70 attendees filled the Kennedy Union's ballroom on Tuesday afternoon for the 50th anniversary reflecting event of Dr. Martin Luther King's November 1964 speech at the University of Dayton's fieldhouse.</i></div>
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Dr. Thompson-Miller followed Dr. Walker and began by saying "the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King was on the campus of the University of Dayton in 1964 at the height of the Jim Crow era says so much" about the school's commitment to social justice which allows for students to "get something back" after they graduate and makes her feel proud of her association to the institution. From the November 1964 speech, she brought up the topics of economic injustice, "conniving measures" of voter suppression, and the categorization of African-Americans as "criminals" that also sound familiar and applicable in modern America. <br />
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<i> Dr. Ruth Thompson-Miller, an Associate Professor of Sociology in the College of Arts of Sciences at the University of Dayton, addresses the audience for the 50th anniversary reflecting event of Dr. Martin Luther King's November 1964 speech at the University of Dayton's fieldhouse on Tuesday afternoon.</i></div>
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In reprising King's "long way" theme, she reflected upon her <a href="http://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2011-05-9215/THOMPSON-MILLER-DISSERTATION.pdf?sequence=2">doctoral research</a> with a group of elderly African-Americans who were exhibiting physical and psychological maladies normally seen among military members and first responders, labeling it "segregation stress syndrome", for simply surviving the turbulent and "war-like" segregationist years in the
South. This accumulation of many stressful events eventually led African-Americans,
like Rosa Parks of the Birmingham Bus Company strike fame, to fight back
against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws">Jim Crow</a>-inspired, racially motivated injustices in order to achieve full citizenship for all. Thompson-Miller stated that research indicates an inter-generational aspect to this syndrome where those who were directly impacted worry more about their decedents' access to quality education and just treatment in this country's current social environment instead of special treatment or reparation "handouts" for themselves. She ended her remarks by mentioning King's <a href="http://izquotes.com/quote/319868">famous quote</a> about segregation being on its deathbed but updated it by saying that it remains on "life support" due to the racial divisions in our schools, our neighborhoods and in our daily social contacts in 21st century America. Citing a 2011 book by Ohio State University law professor and civil rights activist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Alexander">Michelle Alexander</a>, she stated that there are more people of color that are in prison, on parole or in some manner of probation or surveillance system than were enslaved Africans prior to the start of the Civil War. While she alluded to King's not forgetting the victims of the Birmingham church bombing, Thompson-Miller added the names of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown">Michael Brown</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin">Trayvon Martin</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Renisha_McBride">Renisha McBride</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Tamir_Rice">Tamir Rice</a> and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/source-walmart-gunman-was-carrying-toy-rifle/">John Crawford</a> to our collective American memories. <br />
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<i>Dr. Tom Morgan, Dr. Ruth Thompson-Miller and Dr. Herbert Martin entertain questions from the audience for Tuesday afternoon's 50th anniversary reflecting event of Dr. Martin Luther King's November 1964 speech at the University of Dayton's fieldhouse.</i>
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Dr. Morgan completed the formal portion of the event with his personal reflections of how Dr. King publicly called attention to America's failures to live up to the dream of equality for all. He brought up the activist's goal of obtaining moral ends through the use of moral means and this should be a goal to which that afternoon's attendees should aspire as well. He next excerpted three different speeches--the 1964 UD appearance, one from a 1957 visit to St. Louis, and the last given at Southern Methodist University in 1966--that embodied the "we've come a long, long way" theme that describes the progress of race relations in the United States. He then moved on to comments made by King about the psychological effects on both whites and blacks about the institution of slavery, a system "that ends up giving the segregator a false sense of superiority while leaving the segregated with a false sense of inferiority". Citing a recent Eric Michael Dyson <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/opinion/sunday/where-do-we-go-after-ferguson.html">article</a> in <i>The New York Times </i>about the activities in Ferguson, Missouri, Morgan brought examples of disparate racial perspectives that hamper any honest communications on very important issues. For example, Dyson states that Officer Darren Wilson's description of Michael Brown's physical characteristics and the use of the impersonal pronoun "it" in his grand jury testimony reflected the perceived "menace" that dwells in the white mind when confronting an unknown young black male. He also brought up existing misconceptions when whites offer new "tough love" ideas to black communities to solve intraracial crime problems.<br />
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<i>Dr. Herbert Martin, right, being interviewed for a local television station prior to the start of the 50th anniversary reflecting event of Dr. Martin Luther King's November 1964 speech at the University of Dayton's fieldhouse on Tuesday afternoon.</i> </div>
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Morgan ended his time by commenting on a <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mlk-a-riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard/">September 1966 <i>60 Minutes</i> interview</a> between Dr. King and correspondent Mike Wallace. During an exchange on the subject of "black power", he stated "a riot is the language of the unheard" because, at that time, America had failed to hear the economic plight of African-Americans up through the 1965 Watts and several other urban uprisings earlier that year. That comment did not compromise his staunch advocacy of non-violence to resolve those issues but he felt it would be "morally irresponsible" not to address the "contingent intolerable conditions" within the society that spark actions by those who feel no other alternatives to engaging in violent rebellion. The English professor further elaborated upon the significance of King's riot comment in the use of his metaphor by another writer who conceptualizing the actions seen during riots in Chicago in the 1960s. "A riot is not random or illogical but rather an attempt to communicate when all other means have failed," he said, "and if we think about today, our challenge is to recapture and reanimate King's dream, to make it a living reality, one that can still provide hope for our collective nature."<br />
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<i>The University of Dayton's Kennedy Union ballroom served as the site for the 50th anniversary reflecting event of Dr. Martin Luther King's November 1964 speech at the University of Dayton's fieldhouse on Tuesday afternoon.</i> </div>
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The three speakers hosted a short question and answer session and it was at the end of this exchange when two individuals who were in the audience for that November 1964 Freedom Forum event were asked to provide their thoughts about the speech and its effect upon their lives. The first to speak was Elizabeth Roth Turner, an educator from Oakland, California who was then living with a family in Fayetteville, Ohio and simply wanted to expand her then-rural horizons when she tagged along on their trip to Dayton for King's appearance. Her future experiences involved working with the poor in the rural South and in Appalachian coal mining areas before she started a business school in Chicago that attracted many African-American and minority students. Earlier in the day, she received news that the area where she currently lives in the Bay Area is located was affected by <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Second-night-of-Bay-Area-protests-over-Ferguson-5918155.php">Ferguson-inspired protests</a> that turned violent. The other attendee, Ted Clark, is a retired IRS agent originally from Delphos, Ohio who had a personal connection with the <a href="http://www.bmbcdayton.org/#!about_us/c1ztv">Reverend George Lucas</a>, the forum coordinator and pastor who was instrumental in getting Dr. King to attend. His comments primarily focused on the sights and sounds in the audience of nearly 6,500 people for that speech and he admitted that, up until the recent news coverage, he wasn't even aware of the counter protesting going on outside the fieldhouse.<br />
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<i>Handouts for upcoming Dayton area Dr. Martin Luther King life and legacy recognition activities were circulated at the 50th anniversary reflecting event at the school's Kennedy Union ballroom.</i></div>
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This reflection event was part of the University of Dayton's MLK
Celebration 2015 which currently has seven events scheduled in January
to commemorate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader. More
information on those and other OMA happenings can be found at <a href="https://www.udayton.edu/studev/oma/index.php">this link</a>.<br />
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JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-78935166727726790282014-10-25T17:28:00.001-04:002014-10-25T21:58:47.466-04:00A/V: FitzGerald, Neuhardt Host Dayton Town Hall Meeting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald talks to attendees at the Dayton town hall event on Thursday evening.</i></div>
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Although running far behind his opponent in the polls and in campaign funds, Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_FitzGerald">Ed FitzGerald</a> stopped in Dayton on Thursday evening to a small but supportive gathering just 12 days before next month's general election. Introduced by his lieutenant governor running mate, <a href="http://www.edfitzgeraldforohio.com/about/sharen/">Sharen Neuhardt</a>, he spoke extemporaneously for approximately 50 minutes on a variety of issues to a crowd of about 70 people at the Dayton Cultural & RTA Center, just east of the main downtown area. This event was <a href="http://www.ohio.com/blogs/ohio-politics/ohio-politics-1.297397/ed-fitzgerald-to-hold-town-hall-forum-in-akron-oct-15-1.528089">one of eight scheduled</a> earlier this month by the campaign to counter the lack of debates between FitzGerald and his Republican opponent, the incumbent governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich">John Kasich</a>. <br />
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<i>The Dayton Cultural & RTA Center served as the venue for the FitzGerald/Neuhardt town hall meeting on Thursday evening.</i></div>
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After Neuhardt's introductory remarks, FitzGerald lauded his partner and brought up the fact that he introduced her as his running mate in that same location back in January. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate then immediately went on the offensive against the Kasich campaign's decision not to participate in any pre-election debates. He called out his rival as "the <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/09/john_kasich_ed_fitzgerald_wont.html">first governor in 36 years</a> to refuse to participate in a debate," and said that their only joint appearance they have had so far this general election season was earlier that day in front of an <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/10/john_kasich_for_ohio_governor.html#incart_m-rpt-1">editorial board</a> for Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper. When asked at that meeting if the lack of debates is diminishing FitzGerald's campaign, the Democrat responded, "it diminishes democracy because you have a responsibility to debate your opponent when you’re running for something like governor." Neither Kasich or any of the major statewide Republican office holders (Attorney General Mike DeWine, Auditor David Yost, Secretary of State John Husted and Treasurer Josh Mandell) have accepted invitations from civic groups or media outlets to submit themselves to answering questions from the press or the public. <br />
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<i>Doris Adams, Greene County Democratic Party chair, catches up on the news while waiting for the start of the FitzGerald/Neuhardt town hall meeting in Dayton on Thursday evening. </i></div>
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FitzGerald next brought up the state's economy which, according to his statistics, ranks <a href="http://www.plunderbund.com/2014/10/22/ohio-ranks-45th-out-of-50-states-in-job-creation-business-school-reports/">45th out of the 50 states</a> in terms of job creation since the 2007-2009 recession period. "We have <a href="http://georgezeller.com/ohusajob1014.pdf">23 months in a row</a> of being below the national job creation average,' he said, citing that the rest of the country, as a whole, has gained back all of the jobs we lost during the recession. To refute how Kasich can declare to be a job creator, FitzGerald brought up the fact that every state lost jobs during that recent economic downturn but the 200,000 jobs he is claiming on his watch is still 100,000 less than the pre-recession total. He further tarnished this achievement by stating that most of these new positions are for "low wage and minimum wage" jobs and that the state's poverty rate has gone up over the past four years, with one of every four children living in a household below that critical economic threshold.<br />
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<i>Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald waits for his running mate, Sharen Neuhardt, to complete her opening remarks at the Dayton town hall event on Thursday evening.</i> </div>
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FitzGerald's final major point before taking audience questions was human and civil rights when it comes to the constituencies of women and minorities in the state. In July 2013, Governor Kasich <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/07/01/ohio-gov-john-kasich-signs-new-abortion-restrictions-into-law/">signed legislation</a>
that placed significant abortion restrictions on Ohio women by reducing funding levels for Planned Parenthood in the state budget. At the earlier editorial board meeting, his Democratic opponent asked him, "What problem was that solving? Why did you do that?" when he restricted healthcare options at crisis centers but he never received a response, even knowing that his position is already on the record for supporting that procedure in cases of rape or incest. As with the other inquiries posed to him during that session, the governor refused to respond. <br />
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<i>An audience member poses a question to Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald during the Dayton town hall meeting on Thursday evening. </i></div>
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One of the concerns FitzGerald has with this lack of direct comparison
between the candidates or public
accountability in a debate format revolves around Kasich not providing
his political or personal views for voters to base their electoral
decisions. He specifically highlighted "right-to-work" legislation that
is currently being deliberated in the Statehouse and asked the governor
directly at the editorial board meeting what <a href="http://www.plunderbund.com/2014/10/15/basic-kasich-failure-to-answer-right-to-work-question-means-hes-for-it/">his position was</a> on those anti-union measures. "He wouldn’t answer it," FitzGerald said. "He was asked three, four, five times and he just said that’s speculative...that’s
what politicians say when they don’t want to tell somebody the truth." He then pointed to "right-to-work" initiatives being passed in the neighboring states of Michigan and Indiana by similar "non-commital" stances by those state's Republican governors. Regarding what benefits this silence might have for his rival, FitzGerald said, "If we’re all unlucky and he is reelected, he can run for president and he can tell the national groups that are for right to work and are anti-union--I’m all for you."<br />
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<i>Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald (center) signs an autograph for a supporter after the Dayton town hall meeting on Thursday evening while his running mate, Sharen Neuhardt (right), looks on.</i></div>
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Although held at the same venue as the <a href="http://www.journalismorbust.com/2014/01/av-democrat-duo-debuts-in-dayton.html">January ticket kickoff</a>, this event was in stark contrast to that more upbeat and optimistic atmosphere seen at that earlier gathering when many felt that the incumbent governor might be vulnerable to defeat. Nine months ago, the center was packed with exuberant supporters but Thursday evening's had only 70 people who understood and accepted the campaign's dire situation, to include the candidate himself. In August, several negative allegations surfaced surrounding FitzGerald's personal conduct and judgment that took the race from an upset possibility to one, if <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/governor/oh/ohio_governor_kasich_vs_fitzgerald-3758.html">recent polling</a> materializes, one that Kasich should comfortably win. While the kickoff attracted statewide attention, just two Dayton news outlets were present for the start of the town hall with only one, the city's daily newspaper, staying for the entire event. Several local politicians were in attendance but one noticeable no-show was Dayton's first year Democratic mayor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Whaley">Nan Whaley</a>. During the January event, she had a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5h_kYclj9AKBdaHfI1oWS-DP5FY635GfxtJ027ljcZ0J942YbRc1cmDBgFIHH3H3SdWcEO_yM8xCnHpv5wTydkfQvy3JvyKJ5QRyhbuE3FyPIFdJOWQ4f10FkYIig_CkJuJX0DNTpBmaH/s1600/03a.jpg">visible on-stage role</a> when she introduced the new gubernatorial team but it was unclear why she did not attend Thursday's town hall.<br />
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<i>Only one major media outlet stayed for the entire FitzGerald/Neuhardt town hall meeting on Thursday evening. </i></div>
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With a shared understanding that things will probably not go their party's way on November 4th, FitzGerald did provide the attendees some upbeat news in terms of "get out the vote" initiatives. "We’ve had over one million voter contacts in the last 4-5 weeks," the Democratic candidate announced which is about half of the number of votes he and the other statewide candidates would need to beat their Republican opponents. Because of FitzGerald's poor polling numbers, the campaign has diverted its diminished funding to the entire Democratic ticket and to grassroots initiatives to hopefully attract enough voters who do not normally show up during non-presidential election years. Although reduced by an entire week, Ohio's early voting period started on October 7th and will run through November 2nd, the Sunday before Election Day. <br />
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-18242086769839351332014-10-18T16:01:00.000-04:002014-10-18T16:01:19.667-04:00A/V: "Eddie Munster" Visits Fairborn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Former child actor Butch Patrick meets the first people in line for his guest appearance in Fairborn on Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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In an event designed to draw attention to the city's upcoming Halloween Festival, Fairborn welcomed former child actor Butch Patrick to Foy's Variety Store on Friday afternoon for a well-received guest appearance for his western Ohio fans. Patrick is best known for playing Eddie Munster, the werewolf son of Herman and Lily Munster, on the eponymously named prime-time situation comedy that ran on CBS from 1964 to 1966. After that show's run, he made guest appearances on other television series and also had roles in several Walt Disney movies. In 1971, he landed the starring role as Mark on the "psychedelic" fantasy show <i>Lidsville</i> that ran for two seasons on Saturday mornings through 1973. <br />
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<i>People line up along Fairborn's Main Street awaiting their turn to meet Butch Patrick at Foy's Variety Store on Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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Michael Foy, owner of a variety store, a nearby restaurant and several other costume stores in the downtown Fairborn area, contracted with Patrick for the 5pm to 9pm appearance. During late September and the month of October, the city's business district transforms into a Halloween-centric spectacle with all manner of spooky decorations and objects on display on storefronts and on top of buildings. The 3rd Annual Fairborn Halloween Festival will be held on October 24th and 25th and is billed by the Fairborn Area Chamber of Commerce as a family-friendly event. A Spooktacular Parade will be held on Friday evening at 7:30pm with costume judging starting at 6pm. Saturday's activities--which includes rides, entertainment and vendors--will happen throughout the day and the annual Zombie Walk will be held at 8:30pm. More details can be found at the <a href="http://www.chamberdata.net/webforms/EvtListing.aspx?dbid2=ohfair&date=20141024&class=E">Chamber's web site</a>.<br />
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<i>Halloween decorations adorn Fairborn's Foy's Variety Store for the Butch Patrick guest appearance on Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>An homage to "Ecto-1", the vehicle used in the 1980s Ghostbusters movies, is parked along Fairborn's Main Street for the Butch Patrick guest appearance on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
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<i>A costumed actor attracts stares from several people waiting to meet Butch Patrick at his Fairborn guest appearance on Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>A poster of the cast of The Munsters television series hangs on a Main Street storefront for Butch Patrick's guest appearance in Fairborn on Friday afternoon. From left to right are Patrick as Eddie, Pat Priest as Marilyn, Fred Gwynne as Herman, Al Lewis as Grandpa, and Yvonne De Carlo as Lily.</i></div>
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<i>Longtime fan Stephen Hansen, right, poses with Butch Patrick during the former child actor's guest appearance in Fairborn on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
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<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001892574915534691.post-65774912822898759172014-10-06T13:04:00.001-04:002014-10-06T13:04:11.752-04:00A/V: Kasich Visits London During "Get Out the Vote" Swing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Ohio governor John Kasich poses for a photograph with supporters at a London, Ohio "Get Out the Vote" appearance Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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Although enjoying significant statewide polling leads over his Democratic opponent, Ohio governor John Kasich visited three locations on Friday afternoon in a whirlwind "Get Out the Vote" offensive for his own as well as other Republican candidates on the ballot in preparation for next month's general election. His first stop was in London, Ohio where he visited the Madison County Republican Party headquarters at around 12:30pm and addressed a friendly crowd of around 80 people. About a third of those in attendance were 4th and 8th grade students from the city's St. Patrick's Elementary School and Kasich spent about 10 of the 15 minutes he reserved for remarks to talk with them directly and provide guidance to help each navigate through their young lives.<br />
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<i>Governor Kasich (foreground) has a quick word with Ohio state representative Bob Hackett (center rear) upon his entry into the Madison County Republican Party headquarters on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
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In his remaining time, the governor segued from the students and encouraged the voting-age attendees to help him continue his administration's improvements with the state's economy and jobs by spreading the word and encouraging their families and friends to vote in the upcoming election. "It feels like we're getting our pride back," Kasich told the crowd, "and there's a little spring in our step again." As for his apparently easy contest against Cuyahoga County executive Ed FitzGerald, he warned that "you got to go at it and go all the way through the tape" in order to win.<br />
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<i>Governor Kasich talks directly to elementary school students at the
"Get Out the Vote" event at the Madison County Republican Party
headquarters on Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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In an almost tongue-in-cheek manner, he asked supporters to put signs in their windows even if it is against community covenants or rules. "Put it up anyway and pay the fine" was the advice Kasich gave as well as urging supporters to affix stickers on the bumpers of their new cars. "Nobody should leave without taking a sign if you want to support us", the governor pleaded before posing for some photographs with the attendees and then making his way to the next "Get Out the Vote" event at Austin's Casual Eatery & Bar in Wilmington. His final stop of the day was a joint appearance with US Senator Rob Portman at the Golden Lamb Restaurant in <a href="http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local/kasich-touts-record-during-lebanon-campaign-stop/nhbpL/">Lebanon</a>.<br />
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<i>Governor Kasich addresses the gathering at the "Get Out the Vote" event at the Madison County Republican Party headquarters on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
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A recently released Quinnipiac University <a href="http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/ohio/release-detail?ReleaseID=2088">poll</a> puts Kasich ahead of his opponent by 22 percent of likely voters, to include 25 percent of Democrats, and that large margin bodes well for other Republicans running for statewide office with him. If he maintains that sizable lead, his name will most likely be floated as a potential Republican presidential candidate for the 2016 election with Ohio also factoring into that process when their national convention is held that year in Cleveland. Voter registration for the November general election ends on October 6th and turnout will play a significant role in those immediate and long term plans.<br />
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<i>The Madison County Republican Party headquarters was decked out for Governor Kasich's "Get Out the Vote" visit on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
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<i>Yard signs decorated the road frontage outside the Madison County Republican Party's High Street headquarters building in preparation for Governor Kasich's "Get Out the Vote" visit on Friday afternoon.</i></div>
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<i>Campaign materials were available to all attendees at the "Get Out the Vote" event at the Madison County Republican Party headquarters on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
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<i>Partisan political bunting on display at the Madison County Republican headquarters during the "Get Out the Vote" event on Friday afternoon. </i></div>
<br />JoBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09243438843035046838noreply@blogger.com0