Category Archives: Personal History
“Homeless American”
On the way home from the airport yesterday I gave some money to a man sitting at an intersection. I don’t usually do that and I’m not sure why I did this time. But I think it was something about the sign he was holding. It read simply: “Homeless American.”
Now, I don’t know if he was homeless (he looked the part) or American, but something about the sign spoke to me. The simplicity? Maybe. For the rest of my trip I thought about the signs used by… beggars? Too Third World. Panhandlers? Let’s go with that.
How important is the sign? Without it, I might have thought he was just looking for a ride, so I think the sign is a must. Usually brown cardboard and almost always lettered with black marker.
But most important of all would seem to be what your sign says. Haven’t seen “will work for food” for a while (Sounds a little too much like a negotiation.) Can’t be too long if you’re working an intersection or even busy pedestrians.
Is there some secret list of Great Signs That Work Every Time? I’m thinking it ain’t on line so they must move it from hand to hand.
Some would insist the guy I saw —and those like him— are lazy and could get a job if they wanted one. I’m not so sure.
Tessie Hubbard is Panty Mython
Tessie Hubbard (aka Panty Mython) has produced more than 80 videos that have been viewed more than 34,000 times by a thousand YouTube subscribers. Along the way she managed to watch some 25,000 videos.
We bumped into each other online and she was kind enough to meet me at the Coffee Zone this morning to talk about her work/play/art. For someone who is so comfortable in front of the camera, she seemed a little shy but that’s common with most of the people I stalk. It is my fondest desire to someday collaborate with her on a project. And for goodness sake, watch some of her videos.
New Jersey Steve Mays
I received a cryptic overnight email that simply asked, "How much for it?" It was signed 'Steve Mays.' At first I thought it was one of the frequent reminders I email myself. But then I noticed the email was different.
Oh. It must be Steve Mays (West), the Seattle attorney who owns the domain SteveMays.com. He's decided to sell the domain? That seemed unlikely, so I pinged back:
"Nope…. Steve Mays from New Jersey. I did a whois on smays.com and found this e-mail address. Let me know of a price that would interest you. I should say now I'm not willing to pay more then 50 bucks for it. I don't think you'll let it go for that much, but let me know."
I hope to learn more about New Jersey Steve Mays. Why, for example, does he (sort of) want to purchase smays.com. Does he blog or have an online business.
If he's poked around here he knows I've been at this address since February, 2002. Why would I move for $50?
I might not hear back from NJSM. I responded –nicely, I hope– that I wouldn't sell smays.com for $100K. Not sure I can explain why. This little blog doesn't make me a dime. And I could pack up and move to www.DigitalLoveMachine.com (which appears to be available) and some of you would find me again. But it wouldn't be the same.
If New Jersey Steve is reading this, I hope he gets back to me because I'd like to learn more about him and his online plans. Maybe an interview?
PS for Steve Mays West: I notice your site appers to be down. Hope all is well.
Inauguration video
Okay, I’m officially converted to iMovie 09. Able to do everything I needed to or wanted to with this little project. And I love the themes. A fun touch. The trick is lots of brief shots.
The photography of Matthew Howard
Matt Howard is a talented photographer in Kennett, MO (my home town). Matt’s day job is personal trainer so I guess he’s technically an amateur but certainly in the best sense of that word. I stumbled onto Matt’s flickr page recently and was immediately taken with his haunting (for me) images of the flat, empty fields I remember growing up. I got him on the phone for a brief (15 min) chat this afternoon during which he explained his passion for photography started with a book rather than a camera.
AUDIO: Interview with Matt Howard 15 min MP3
R.I.P. Whitey
Richard Whitehorn died last week. Following a long slug-fest with cancer. Richard was just a year ahead of me in school and we weren’t close growing up. But I have lots of memories of him.
I don’t know if Richard was a bully or I was just intimidated by him. But he projected a kind of tough guy image. He and his BFF Tommy Crunk were like Butch and Sundance, tooling around town in Whitey’s ’57 Chevy. When the Honda motorcycle craze hit, Crunk and Whitey were among the first to own them. Yes, they were dashing.
One hot summer night during high school, my friends and I pooled our money and gave it to Whitey to buy us the beer we were not quite old enough to purchase ourselves. We also gave him a detailed list of what each of us wanted. He returned with a case of Champagne Velvet. Nasty stuff that was much cheaper. (“You guys had just enough money.”) A really bad guy would have just taken our money. Whitey gave us beer and a little lesson in free enterprise.
As an adult, Richard (I don’t know if anyone still called him Whitey by then) became a crop duster. Hard to imagine a more fitting occupation. Our friend Pam attended Richard’s funeral this past weekend in Kennett.
“It was sad as hell. They had visitation starting at 11:00 and a graveside service at 2:00. The funeral was over, the preacher had just said “amen” and closed the Bible when I heard someone say “here they come” and I wondered, who’s coming? I looked in the direction I heard some noise and here came 3 Pawnee crop dusters in formation, streaming smoke like they were Blue Angels, tree top high right over the funeral tent. Once past the left and right planes peeled off and the middle plane pulled up. I think everyone lost it at that point.”
To which Richard would have growled, “What are you pussies crying about?”
Seven Years Before the Blog
Every year on this date I pause to recall that it was way back in 2002 that I began blogging. Like many others, I was posting little rants on my website before we had the tools and the name, but this is the date I started “writing some stuff down.”
That post was a long quote from Carl Hiaasen’s novel, Basket Case. He described two types of journalists and alluded to the “slow-strangling dailies,” a number of which have finally strangled in the last year or so.
On the 4th anniversary of this blog I met some friends and had four beers. I’m afraid 7 beers would put me out of commission for several days, so we won’t do that.
Another thing I used to do was browse back through the earlier posts but with 4,000+ that is no longer practical. So this post will serve as another scratch on blog wall.
Keith Sampson’s 20th Learfield anniversary
Friend and co-worker Keith Sampson is celebrating (woot! woot!) his 20th year with Learfield so we took him out to lunch today. Keith is a senior producer for our sports division and only the good lord knows how many college broadcasts he’s midwifed.
I met Keith when he was program director at the radio station in Clinton, MO. I was doing affiliate relations for our news network. When they needed someone to ride herd on our growing number of sports broadcasts, I suggested they talk to Keith and he got the job. (For what it’s worth, my record in this regard ain’t that good)
While 20 years is a good run (and Keith isn’t done), we had some veterans at the table. Charlie and I are coming up on 25 years; Roger with 26 or 27; and Clarice has been with our company for 31 years.
It would be nice to think some of the young pups working for us can have that kind of staying power, but it feels a little like a Frank Capra movie, when I see it in print. And all over the country there are folks who, like us, have worked half a lifetime at one company and… poof!… it’s over.
Author’s message: enjoy what you do. Every day if you can.
Texting around the world
Okay, I’m still in the ooh and aah stage with the iPhone. And I’m playing with texting as alternative to email and voice calls. My brother and his family are back home in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, and it turns out we can text back and forth.
Yeah, I know I’ll probably get some huge-ass bill at the end of the month but if this is part of my 200 text messages, it’s pretty cool. A great way to stay closer.