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).

Guest Papers: Vacation Edition (Part 1)

 
As you've probably noticed, I haven't posted here in a little while.  Part of the reason is due to the compressed nature of my current college course and another is a lingering bout of bronchitis that I can't seem to shake.  One last cause for this absence has been the preparation for a summer vacation I've been planning since the spring.  My high school class is having a get-together this weekend and I have traveled by car back to Pennsylvania to attend.  It's been many years since I've seen many of these folks and I'm looking forward to meeting them and talking about the 'good old days'.

Guest Paper: Columbus Dispatch

Living in an region within a few hours drive of four (Indianapolis, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati) of the largest 62 cities in the United States, I frequently have the opportunity to sample their journalistic offerings.  As someone who grew up with newsprint-stained hands, I prefer the physical copy to the online versions and currently subscribe to the local Dayton paper and the Sunday edition of the New York Times.  Whenever I visit those other cities, I try to buy a copy of their current edition as a show of solidarity for the traditional newspaper industry.

I made a short trip to Columbus yesterday for family-related business and made sure to keep that streak alive.  To document my support, I will post photos here to keep a running account.

A personal note:  while I understand the financial constraints that papers now face and novel ways they must now employ to attract customers for their advertisers, putting flaps or stickers or anything else on the front page detracts from the aesthetics of the reading process (the 'pre-processed' version is on the left above while the final 'converted' version is on the right).