My "No Show" November

I hadn't missed an entire month since June 2013 and only done so twice in the 41-month run of this blog

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.

Back in July, I started an 8-part series 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.

A/V: FitzGerald, Neuhardt Host Dayton Town Hall Meeting

Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald talks to attendees at the Dayton town hall event on Thursday evening.

Although running far behind his opponent in the polls and in campaign funds, Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald 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, Sharen Neuhardt, 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 one of eight scheduled earlier this month by the campaign to counter the lack of debates between FitzGerald and his Republican opponent, the incumbent governor John Kasich.

Soap Box: Turn Out the Lights, This Race is Over

An open letter to Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald:

Ed FitzGerald (center) meets with supporters at a Dayton campaign rally this past January.

Dear Mr. FitzGerald Ed,

Let me try to put this as delicately as I can--what in the wide, wide world of sports were you thinking? How could a former FBI agent believe that in the current age of bulk data storage and instantaneous access to public records that those potentially embarrassing issues from your past would not become known? And you thought that this would simply be ignored in a political climate where style—and its associated “political games”—trumps substance? In the hands of a wily opposition research operation, rather innocuous events could be spun so far out of proportion so quickly that even the most firmly established, textbook-perfect political campaigns would be vulnerable to such shenanigans (and as we have seen since you announced your desire to be Ohio's next governor, yours does not fall into that category).