text:
If Coldplay's not touring in 2013, maybe Pitbull will come around.
• I wish the band Coldplay wasn't taking a break from touring in 2013. For months, some friends have been suggesting that we round up the kids and all go to some amazing concert, but I've been hesitant, mostly because I didn't know who I wanted to see. Then I stumbled across an hour-long special on TV the other day that was essentially a highlight reel of Coldplay's 2012 tour. Clips from their concert in Paris were particularly stellar, and it was then that I decided Coldplay was going to be the band we were going to see live, somewhere.
So, of course, I Googled "Coldplay 2013 tour" and learned that the band, after spending much of 2012 on the road, is taking most and maybe all of 2013 off, so lead singer Chris Martin and his actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow can concentrate on moving full-time to Los Angeles from New York.
That's the reason that I and those close to me won't see an epic live show in 2013? So Chris and Gwinny and their children named after various types of fruit can settle into their new L.A. home?
I guess I'll have to see how Pitbull's tour schedule looks. Will "Mr. Worldwide" be coming to a venue within 300 miles or so? Lolli!
• I hope over the years my family hasn't offended anyone when we've sent various sympathy cards in the wake of someone's passing. In not a single instance did it ever occur to me to send any money along with the card. I just didn't know that was a common, accepted practice.
But then, when Darlene Charron, my grandmother, died earlier this month, most of the cards my family received in the mail had money in them, from a $5 bill, up to a check for $20. Puzzled, I asked my wife what the deal was with the money, when a $10 bill fell to the kitchen floor as I opened the first card. It was then she informed me that sending money with a sympathy card is definitely not an act of kindness considered out of the ordinary.
I still thought it was weird, and wondered what we're supposed to do with the money. That's when my brilliant wife came up with the plan to buy a memorial brick in Darlene's name to be placed in the commemorative wall on the Campus Mall at the University of Minnesota, Crookston, where Darlene worked for 21 years.
• I wish I wasn't so adept at assembling such a balanced fantasy football roster. I'm not winning my fourth league title this year, nor am I even winning my division, and I blame my team's shortcomings entirely on the fact that my roster is simply too strong. For most of the season, my roster was home to the top two tight ends in the NFL, a top-five wide receiver, a top 10 wide receiver coming off an injury, and three running backs who were each the unquestioned starter on their teams and, therefore, received the vast majority of the carries. So how does one decide whom to start each week and whom to sit? Well, that's the classic dilemma, and for too many weeks I left tons of valuable points on my bench in the form of players who often outperformed the players I'd chosen to start. How valuable were those points? Our league website has a chart with categories labled "Could Have Won" and "Could Have Lost." For my team, it lists seven separate weeks that I "Could Have Won" had I chosen to start a single player that I instead kept on my bench. Considering my overall record at this point is 7-9, that conceivably means I could be 14-2 instead. So what does it all mean? Well, it all means that I rule.
• I hope the "module" that I have been told is faulty in the heating element underneath the driver's side leather seat in our Chevy Avalanche isn't too much of a major fix, i.e. I hope it doesn't cost a fortune. The passenger's seat heater works fine alone, but as soon as the driver's side one is turned on, both shut off almost immediately. If the driver's side one is turned on by itself, it, too, shuts off within 10 seconds.
Hey, I get it. I need a little perspective here. The world is full of war. People are cold. They're starving. And not just in some Third World country, but right here in Crookston, too. People are sick. They're dying from illness. People are depressed. People can't pay their bills.
But this is northern Minnesota. If you're going to have a vehicle with leather seats and you're not a button-push away from making them nice and toasty…it makes for one hard-as-granite seat and one really cold butt.
Here's wishing all of you a warm butt in 2013, and beyond, if need be.


text:
pooflady wrote:O Brother, Where Art Thou
ROGETRAY wrote:Prometheus
Quigley Down Under
pooflady wrote:Quigley Down Under
dougall wrote:Rollerball
AZGman wrote:Spaceballs
dougall wrote:Trainspotting
Under Siege
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Vanishing Point
dougall wrote:Vanishing Point
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
stacipurv wrote:Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
dougall wrote:Xanadu
Young Frankenstein
olcubmaster wrote:Young Frankenstein
Zorro: The Gay Blade
stacipurv wrote:Zorro: The Gay Blade
A.I. Artifical Intellegence
Oh sure - now I gotta go find a copy to watch. I wonder if it's as funny now as it was then.
olcubmaster wrote:A.I. Artifical Intellegence
Bonnie and Clyde
pooflady wrote:Bonnie and Clyde
Count of Monte Cristo
ROGETRAY wrote:Count of Monte Cristo
dougall wrote:Deliverance
Every Which Way But Loose
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For a Few Dollars More
dougall wrote:For a Few Dollars More
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
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Heartbreak Ridge
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Jack the Giant Slayer
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Kangaroo Jack
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Lost in Translation
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Mutiny on the Bounty
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New Jack City
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Ocean's Eleven
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Paradise Lost
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Quo Vadis
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Raising Arizona ( )
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Sleeping Beauty
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Time Bandits
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Valley of the Dolls
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Wall Street
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AZGman wrote:X-Men
Yes Man
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Zero Dark Thirty
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American Graffiti
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Bad Taste
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Latest update : 2012-07-31
Brussels' new headache: does EU equal democracy? (part 2)
A second attempt to oust the president of Romania in less than five years has sparked fears about the rule of law in the eastern bloc. Laura Baines and her panel discuss whether the EU is facing a challenge to democracy in its eastern wing, whether false hope was placed in Romanian democracy, and how the EU should react.
- George-Frederick JEWSBURY, Historian & Associate Researcher at CERCEC (Research Center for Russia, Center Europe and Caucas);
- Iulia BADEA-GUÉRITÉ, Romanian Editor at presseurop.eu;
- Sorin IONITA, Political analyst , Expert Forum;
- Corina STRATULAT, Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre think tank.
Programme prepared and produced by Wassim Nasr, Sara Bertilsson and Mary Colombel


text:
Distribution to coincide with food pantry assistance
In its second year, a community coat drive is helping hundreds of people keep warm and protected from the cold this winter free of charge.
Drive organizer Vicki Kennedy said she received about 350 coats since the drive began early last month, and with the help of Clothing Care Company. of Ionia, the coats are clean and are in the process of being distributed.
"We've been able to get several people in coats," said Kennedy. "I'm thrilled, because we're able to service the people who want them and the people who don't need the coats they have."
Kennedy has a rack set up in her business, Promo Print & Stitches 2, where people can come in and take a coat they would like. She has plenty, ranging in all sizes and colors for men, women and children alike. In addition, she said she will once again be distributing the rest of the coats during the next Zion Community Food Pantry distribution time at the Ionia Free Fair grounds.
She said it makes her happy to host the drive and to know she is helping local people who are in need of a gently used, warm coat. She added she is pleased to be working with Clothing Care Company. and also to involve Wash King of Ionia, who wanted to be a part of the event as well.
"I get great community support," Kennedy added. "People are moved to participate in something."
She said she is planning on continuing the service as long as possible.
Follow Karin Armbruster on Twitter @ISSKarin


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In an announcement scheduled for later Wednesday, the service is expected to say the Saturday mail cutback would begin in August.
The move accentuates one of the agency's strong points—package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010, officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has declined with the increasing use of email and other Internet use.
Under the new plan, mail would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open on Saturdays.
Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages—and it repeatedly but unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to approve the move. Though an independent agency, the service gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.
It was not immediately clear how the service could eliminate Saturday mail without congressional approval.
But the agency clearly thinks it has a majority of the American public on its side regarding the change.
Material prepared for the Wednesday press conference by Patrick R.


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The University of Central Oklahoma Wellness Center will host the Sexual Attitude Reassessment seminar for educators, counselors, higher education professionals, clinicians, and healthcare providers at 5 p.m., April 5 and 8 a.m., April 6 in the Center for Transformative Learning on Central's campus.
The Sexual Attitude Reassessment seminar is an intensive workshop that gives professionals the opportunity to explore their own attitudes, values and beliefs about sexual behavior. Participants in the seminar will learn how to communicate more effectively about sexuality issues and will ultimately learn how to view sexuality more objectively.
"Those who participate will come away from this seminar feeling more comfortable, confident and competent when interacting with students, patients or clients on the various aspects of sexuality," said Brittney Criswell, Central's health promotion coordinator.
The seminar will feature Kathleen Baldwin, a nationally known sexuality education consultant and trainer, as the primary presenter. Baldwin has a master's degree in social work from Indiana University and is a certified sexuality educator with the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists. She served as the education and training vice president for Planned Parenthood of Indiana for 28 years and currently runs her own coaching practice designed to support individuals and couples in achieving enhanced sexual well-being.
Registration for the workshop costs $100, which includes materials and meals during seminars. Participants must register by 5 p.m., March 27 at www.ucohealthpromotion.com.
To ask questions, contact Criswell at 405-974-2320 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Posted on October 19, 2012
Yes, it's true. Guilty as charged. I dunnit. But I'd like to point out a few extenuating circumstances before you throw the book at me. Or even the banana box.
If you have not visited the A.C. (Admirable Collection) McClurg Bookstore in the lobby of the Newberry, you may not be aware that there are two small carts just outside with Book Fair selections on them. Yes, because some people ask, yes, they are for sale. They are not part of the 125 exhibit, proud as the place may be of the Book Fair. Things that might have immediate appeal to passersthrough (you wouldn't just pass BY) or nice, shiny books that are too hard to sort wind up here with entirely reasonable prices on them.
And I have to confess that I have, indeed, started putting out the Christmas books,
I've heard all the arguments. Christmas lasts too long. We celebrate by buying and selling things, and that's just wrong. We concentrate on the tawdry and shiny instead of concentrating on the values of the season.
And I have played my own part in putting around some of the responses. That business of Christmas being overly commercial is just a ploy someone thought up to make money. And those of us who like tawdry and shiny deserve a holiday as much as anybody else.
But this business of putting the books on the carts has nothing to do with that. I am, in fact, HELPING you look into your heart and prepare that warm family Christmas that haunts your inner child.
If you are planning to decorate the house with lovely Christmas atmosphere, you'll need to buy those how-to books NOW. You know very well you've misplaced the glitter and the styrofoam snowballs since last year, and you are completely out of tracing paper to duplicate those patterns for the doorknob snowmen. You need to buy the patterns and read the list of bits and pieces you require, so you aren't one of the crowd trying to buy red flannel and cotton to make those sock Santas on December 24. And if you're looking at some of those vintage retro craft books, vintage retro being a new phrase meaning "obsolete", you'll need to start hunting a source for pipe cleaners and matchboxes.
Buy the Christmas carol books now so you can brush up on the tune and the lyrics. That way when you're caroling for the sick, your High C won't leave them feeling sicker. (Hey, Santa! Notice I didn't make the joke about C-sick?) Buy your Dickens and your Clement C. Moore now, so you can remember what order the reindeer and the ghosts come in.
And cookbooks! Better buy them now, oatmeal puff. A Christmas Recipe which does not contain two ingredients you've never heard of and one piece of kitchen equipment you don't own is not true to our heritage. If you buy the cookbook now, you can start stocking up on the cardamom and allspice or, better, start to sound out these recipes on their intended audience. Better to get an idea now than to collect the ingredients, go through the baking, and only then learn that your nearest and dearest are left cold by Eggplant Snickerdoodles.
All it takes is a little planning, as I always mutter to myself in Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve. If with our little carts we can make your days more merry and bright, we will have not put them there in vain. (As long as you pay for the books and don't just copy out the recipes. There's something in that commercialism, too.)


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Ronan Collins Thursday 11 April 2013
Listeners' choices, old favourites, plus the best of the new as well as many musical surprises
For a break from all that news and information throughout the day, check out Ronan Collins on RTÉ Radio 1 at midday where you'll find a feast of music and laughs. A feel-good show to help you through your day.
It's the show that has it all - Listeners Choices, Old Favourites, plus the best of the new as well as many musical surprises.
With a cheeky grin, Ronan enjoys the challenge of filling the afternoon with a show which is a contrast to the news and features programmes across the rest of the schedule on RTÉ Radio 1. His easygoing personality is a welcome interlude from the world around us.
Presenter: Ronan Collins


text:
Balloon Animals and Face Painting
Ron Jon Gift Cards
Ron Jon Rubber Wristbands
Mauli Ola Autograph Signing
Ron Jon Free Pizza
Natural Life Crafternoon
Lindsay Phillips
August 04, 2013
Time: 12:00 PM - 02:00 PMLocation: FLFree balloon animals and face painting for kids from 12pm to 2pm at the Cocoa Beach store.
August 05, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM - 04:00 PMLocation: FL4 $50 Ron Jon gift cards will be randomly given out between 10am and 4pm.
August 06, 2013
All Day EventLocation: FLFree Ron Jon rubber wristbands at the Cocoa Beach store while supplies last.
August 07, 2013
Time: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PMLocation: FLThe Mauli Ola team will be at the Cocoa Beach store to sign autographs.
August 08, 2013
Time: 01:00 PM - 02:00 PMLocation: FLEnjoy a free slice of pizza at Ron Jon Cocoa Beach - while supplies last.
August 09, 2013
Time: 12:00 PM - 04:00 PMLocation: FLCome make a free Natural Life wild flower crown at the craft station - while supplies last.
Time: 01:00 PM - 03:00 PMLocation: FLBuy one pair of Lindsay Phillips sandals and a strap/snap, get another strap/snap free.


text:
Printable View
full auto and a wheelbarrow
I want a gun like this - made by the Mythbusters...
I remember watching this.
I also like this one.
We have officially crossed the 100-case mark.
...which also means I have received all of the orders I was expecting. So, I'm going to close this out at midnight(central) tonight.
yay, large round even numbers!!!!
Ok so it has been a few months since I have registered. Unfortunately I wasnt able to get in on the big AO paint order so I need to go ahead and order my paint from the registration web sight. At this point is there anything I should keep in mind when doing so ?
Also just to clarify I paid the $14.95 for Air fills, is this only going to cover one tank all day or any of the 3 tanks I am bringing ?
That $14.95 covers your air for all of your tanks for the weekend. They changed the air fill fee to per person instead of per tank this year because so many people have been bringing multiple markers that require different tanks.
I've gotten a couple of PMs regarding people who cannot make it and need to sell their paint to other members. For this, I will just need the original buyer to send me a PM with the information on who gets how many of their cases. I will then PM the new buyer(s) to get their contact information.
I need another case if anyone is selling
I plan on getting 3 cases of Marbs and have registered already. Not sure how to go about buying paint at this point so if anyone needs to unload theirs hit me up.
PM'd you Flatliner.
Got it...FYI I am going to take his 2 cases of Marbs and a case of Evil.
And, I'm out of paint. :D
I'm glad the AO Army will still be putting it to good use though! Thanks to Menace and Flatliner for taking those cases off my hands. Botts, I'll get you a PM with the transfer info pretty soon, and will have Ochsy confirm as well.
Good deal!
I was thinking the one additional case should be pretty good, and am glad to hear another fellow AOer was able to help.
Only regret is that you won't be there for the fun as well. :(
Hey, guys. I just wanted to let you all know I have seen the PMs, but have not gotten to read through them, yet. I will get to all of them on Sunday. Mance_AO, Justus, Flatliner333, we're good. I'll just need to get some contact info from you guys. I'll send each of you a PM on Sunday to confirm everything. I do have another PM about someone trying to unload some paint. If you are trying to get rid of paint, get in touch with someone who is looking for paint. There are plenty. Once you have it sorted out, PM me with the details. I unfortunately do not have time to find homes for paint right now. I will gladly update my paperwork with who should get what, though.
tl;dr; - I'll answer PMs on Sunday.
Very good, sir!
Awesome, thanks man!
still need 2 cases


text:
Metalsmith Marilyn Bailey's fine jewelry has won international design competitions and been featured in one-woman shows in Boston and New York. Now the Hendersonville, N.C., artist's work is being celebrated close to home.
Metalsmith Marilyn Bailey's fine jewelry has won international design competitions and been featured in one-woman shows in Boston and New York. Now the Hendersonville, N.C., artist's work is being celebrated close to home.
Bailey is the featured artist for the 2013 Arida Arts Symposium at Blue Ridge Community College, which takes place on Friday.
Bailey's artwork, found under her professional title of M.E. Bailey in fine arts galleries across the United States, is inspired primarily by forms and lines found in nature.
"From the time I could walk," she says, "my mother made such fun of hiking through the Michigan woods with my sisters and me, collecting berries, twigs, feathers — oh, just anything that caught our fancy. For me, it was nature's curves and textures that drew me first. Their elegant simplicity resonated deep within my body."
In 2004, her "hollowform bracelet" won in the silver category of the Saul Bell Design Competition, reflecting the elegant curves and textures she describes. The next year, a necklace won first place in the beads category. Bailey accounts the success of her jewelry to its "clean lines and light weight," inspired by the world around her and created through metalsmithing, which is at the heart of her work.
After completing her B.A. at North Michigan University, Bailey went on to study metalsmithing at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., where she studied under professor Richard Thomas, whose art and letters are included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
At Cranbrook, Bailey experimented with different materials and techniques for repeatedly hammering and shaping metal, primarily gold and silver. She was particularly drawn to holloware, defined as a container or receptacle such as a bowl or a pitcher. She will feature one of these pieces, a reliquary or receptacle intended to hold a holy relic, at the symposium, along with other pivotal pieces, creating a retrospective of her career.
Although jewelry makes up a large part of Bailey's work, she continues to see herself as a metalsmith above all.
"I use techniques from metalsmithing to create jewelry," she says. "All my work is hammered from flat sheets of gold or silver."
She often uses a technique known as anticlastic raising, which she will demonstrate during the master class at the symposium.
A recent example of holloware art, a bowl adorned by metalsmithed petal pieces, has inspired a larger sculpture, a boat shape design — at once a return to her earlier work and a new venture. At the symposium exhibit, participants can view the holloware bowl, adorned with a piece of glass by Chaffe McIlhenney, celebrated artist at the 2008 Arida Arts Symposium.
Demonstrating her work and instructing others is not a new experience for Bailey. For the past 10 years, Bailey has been part of the staff at Camp Greystone for Girls in Tuxedo, where she is an instructor of metalsmithing and jewelry design. She enjoys working with high-schoolers, watching them grow through the art and craft of metal work. Recently, she discovered that two former campers have gone on to study metalsmithing in college, inspired by the work they did under her tutelage.
Arida connection
Having known Dr. Gamil Arida, in whose memory the Arida Arts Symposium was founded, and still maintaining a friendship with his wife, Ann Arida Talley, Bailey has even more reason to look forward to the celebration of her work.
"Gamil was so interested in the arts," she says, recalling how she continues to admire his work displayed at Arida Talley's Flat Rock home.
After the death of her husband in 1992, Ann Arida Talley and her children wanted to continue her husband's enduring passion for the arts through establishing an endowment at Blue Ridge Community College, where Arida taught philosophy and studied art.
"We didn't know what form the endowment should take," Arida Talley said.
Karen Jackson, the director of the BRCC Educational Foundation at the time, formed a committee of faculty and staff to brainstorm ideas for using the funds. Suggestions coming out of the committee included a permanent art exhibit of some kind and various types of scholarships for art students, but it was the idea of the symposium that resonated with the family.
In 1993, the first Arida Arts Symposium was held, celebrating the work of renowned poet and novelist Robert Morgan, author of "Gap Creek," and called by some the "poet laureate of Appalachia." It was a great success.
After this auspicious beginning, Arida Talley and her children agreed that a yearly celebration of area artists at BRCC, where students of the arts as well as community members could benefit from the expertise and inspiration of visiting artists, was the best way to honor her husband.
Publisher George Booth, founder of Cranbook Art Academy, where Bailey received her MFA in metalsmithing, began the college with the belief that the study of the arts is critical to the advancement of human culture. That, too, is the philosophy behind the Arida Arts Symposium at Blue Ridge Community College — one with which Arida, artist, poet, philosopher and patron of the arts, would wholeheartedly agree.
Katie Winkler teaches English composition, British literature and creative writing at Blue Ridge Community College.


text:
How much can you change a school in one academic year? That question threads through the PBS special 180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School. The documentary, which premieres March 25, follows the day-to-day struggles facing the administrators, teachers and students at Washington Metropolitan High School, an alternative school in Washington, D.C.
Also known as D.C. Met, the school serves students who are grappling with an array of challenges — poverty, broken homes, homelessness and decaying communities — many of which do not end when the dismissal bell rings.
While 180 Days focuses on D.C. Met, it illustrates many of the challenges educators encounter in environments of concentrated poverty, often in schools with limited resources. At D.C. Met, some students are homeless, are parents themselves or have parents who abuse drugs. Others, like graduate Raven Quattlebaum, who is featured in the film, may have been involved in gang activity.
"I had to worry about a lot of things in my life other than schoolwork," Quattlebaum, now a college student, tells NPR's Celeste Headlee. "I had to go home and deal with other things."
Metcalfe County High School in rural Edmonton, Ky., operates in a very different environment, geographically. But Principal Kelly Bell says that some of the challenges at her school are similar. Metcalfe County High serves an area with the state's second-highest unemployment rate and many students travel long distances to reach school each day, Bell tells Headlee. In 2010, Metcalfe County High was ranked 211 out of 230 Kentucky high schools.
Both schools have seen success in improving student performance. At D.C. Met, every student in the school's first graduating class received their diplomas in 2012, says former principal Tanishia Williams-Minor. And in Kentucky, after launching a turnaround effort at Metcalfe County High in 2010, Bell says the school now ranks 50th among the state's high schools.
Williams-Minor says part of that success at D.C. Met is a result of teachers who are highly engaged with their students. Educators there work closely with students to understand their individual challenges inside and outside of school, ensure they're coming to school each day and help students one-on-one to prepare to apply to college.
Metcalfe County High has helped boost student performance, in part, by offering a variety of vocational programs. Students can earn several certifications at school, including certified nurse aide, pharmacy tech and others, says Kelly Bell.
180 Days can only scratch the surface of the personal stories students from difficult environments have to tell, says Williams-Minor. And when people "think of the dropout crisis ... we want them to think of students like Raven," she says. "We had 30 seniors [in 2012]. There are 30 different stories that we could have told about students who overcame something."
180 Days: A Year in the Life of an American High School can be seen, starting March 25, on PBS stations around the country.
In a clip from 180 Days aired on Talk of the Nation, D.C. Public Schools Superintendent for Alternative Schools Terry DeCarbo tells the D.C. Met staff that Principal Tanishia Williams-Minor's contract was not renewed. (Williams-Minor now works for the New York City Department of Education.) When Talk of the Nation asked D.C. Public Schools for a statement in response to the film, they shared the following:
180 Days accurately shows what we've long known at DCPS — many of our students face tremendous barriers well before the school day begins. It's why we work to ensure our schools are not only rigorous academics environments, but also supportive to meet our students' social and emotional needs. Schools like Washington Met, while not typical American high schools, were specifically designed to address these challenges. We believe there is a fascinating story to be told about the lives of students at Washington Met but unfortunately, even given unprecedented access, the movie fails to show the real role that the school plays in educating these students. Rather than focus on teaching and learning, the movie spends a significant amount of time on personnel matters on which DCPS does not comment.
This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Celeste Headlee in Washington. Neal Conan is away. Educational reform has been a subject of debate for years, and it's in the headlines since the deep budget cuts of the recession. In fact, President Obama made schools one of the themes of his most recent State of the Union Address.
Today, though, we want to focus on one particular type of school: high schools serving some of the poorest districts in the country. These schools face their own unique set of challenges, many of which do not end when the kids leave the building.
GARY BARNES: I've dealt with kids that when they left school didn't realize or didn't know whether or not they was going to have a place to stay. They might not be living with their parent because we have a lot of kids who leave here every day that might be staying with a different person than what's on their paperwork. We have a lot of kids that might be taking care of theyselves.
HEADLEE: That's Gary Barnes, he's the in-school suspension officer and basketball coach at Washington, D.C.'s Washington Metropolitan High School. People here in the District call it D.C. Met. He made those comments in a new documentary called "180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School." The film airs on PBS stations starting next week. We'll talk to the principal, former principal of D.C. Met in just a few minutes.
But if you attended or worked at a high school like this, tell us the one change you would make. What one change would you make that you think would help? Our number is 800-989-8255. Our email address is email@example.com. And you can join the conversation at our website, also. Just go to npr.org, and click on TALK OF THE NATION.
Later on in the program, sinkholes. You can email us with your questions now about those holes in the earth, again email@example.com. But first, what's it like to teach at a school in a community with concentrated poverty? Joining me now in 3A is Tanishia Williams-Minor, former principal at D.C. Met. She current works at the New York City Department of Education, and she's heavily featured in "180 Days." Tanishia, welcome to the program.
TANISHIA WILLIAMS-MINOR: Thank you so much for having me.
HEADLEE: So first, tell us about the students at D.C. Met.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Sure, well, D.C. Met is in the alternative cluster in DCPS.
HEADLEE: Meaning?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Meaning that we are not a traditional high school. D.C. Met was not part of the traditional schools. Our purpose was to service students who experience some form of disengagement in their education, so be it truancy, be it a parenting teen. We really opened our doors to students who didn't fit the comprehensive high school model.
HEADLEE: But when you're talking about a school like that, a school where I think it's fair to say very high poverty around the kids that you were serving, that brings its own set of challenges, I would think, I would assume, that are separate from most other schools. Is that correct?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: That is absolutely correct. The thing about statistics and the thing about the students who are actually in the building, we deal with and we live those issues and those problems and those obstacles every day. So yes, we should be as equipped as any other school in the nation, but on top of that we have a litany of social-emotional issues that we have to circumvent and combat, and that's just part of the work that we do.
HEADLEE: And we're sitting here talking about schools in the third person, and we have a former student of D.C. Met with us. So I don't - I want to bring you into the conversation just so you won't feel like we're sitting here talking about you. Raven Quattlebaum was part of the very first graduating class of Washington Metropolitan High School. First of all, congratulations.
RAVEN QUATTLEBAUM: Thank you.
HEADLEE: A little late, currently a freshman at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina, majoring in social work.
QUATTLEBAUM: Yes.
HEADLEE: And you are featured in this film.
QUATTLEBAUM: Yes.
HEADLEE: And I want to know what you think. Do you agree with Tanishia that there is a unique set of problems for students who are - come from a background in poverty?
QUATTLEBAUM: Yes, I agree with that.
HEADLEE: What kind of things do you think arise for, say, a kid with that background as opposed to an average, middle-class American kid?
QUATTLEBAUM: Basically the things that arise is, like, social skills. Some people that come from an average high school is not as, I can say, not used to different things and a different environment. So when people come to a school like D.C. Met, which was an alternative school, you have different things that arise.
Sometimes you can have different things that happen inside a school building that would not happen in a regular building.
HEADLEE: Like?
QUATTLEBAUM: Fights. Fights happen - most of the time in D.C. Met we had I could say a couple fights, not too many. But for any other schools, you don't have so many fights that happen or problems that it's in the schools. Some kids come to school with different problems.
HEADLEE: Well, you must be meaning - you're describing them as average, the kids who don't come from concentrated poverty, I guess. You must be now going to classes with them at Bennett College, right?
QUATTLEBAUM: Yes.
HEADLEE: So what do you think of as average?
QUATTLEBAUM: The average...
HEADLEE: Yeah, what's the average high school experience?
QUATTLEBAUM: To me the average high school experience is a child that goes to school that basically don't have problems that they have to deal with at home. I mean, everybody has problems, but some problems that other people deal with, other teens don't deal with. Like at school, I have a lot of people that's in my class that came from good backgrounds, that came from a place that they never had to worry about anything, whereas me, I had to worry about a lot of things in my life other than the schoolwork.
I had to go home and deal with other things, but most people don't deal with the same things that an average person deal with.
HEADLEE: I mean in the film, you actually had your, one of your walls of your room decorated with remembrances of your teenage friends who had been killed. Is that the kind of thing you're talking about?
QUATTLEBAUM: Yes.
HEADLEE: Death of parents, death of friends, danger, physical danger. Did you sometimes feel in your daily life that you were in physical danger?
QUATTLEBAUM: Not really.
HEADLEE: Not really. OK. Let me go back to you, Tanishia Williams-Minor, former principal at D.C. Met. Talk to me a little bit about what she's, Raven is trying to describe here. What are these experiences that set apart these students from what she calls the average high school student?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Right, so I think Raven knows, it's just it's - maybe it's difficult to articulate because she lived it. But for example, the fact that it took you, Raven, 40 minutes to get to school, and you made a choice to come to D.C. Met; the fact that you lived a life that you are not necessarily proud of, and you made the conscious effort to stop gang-banging, to stop fighting, right? That was all you.
The fact that some of - within the first week of school, we had a moment of silence for one of your classmates who was killed in a car accident; the fact that when I asked folks, do you know of anyone in your family or any of your friends who have dropped out, and every single person in the room raised their hand, right? That when she's asking you about those difficulties, that's really what she's speaking to.
And Raven can't articulate those things because Raven lived those things, but sometimes when you're so immersed in it, it's just the norm. So to ask necessarily, you know, what's an average experience? Raven actually didn't have an average experience. She didn't go into a high school that had a library. She didn't go into a high school that was well-equipped.
She went into a high school with caring adults who told her she could be anything that she wanted to be, but she doesn't know any different. Another thing that I actually thought you would jump in and say was prom, right? And at D.C. Met we went back and forth with whether or not we were going to have a prom because, quite frankly, it was a money issue.
But an average high school experience is having a senior prom, having a senior trip, having a senior class sponsor that's there all year...
HEADLEE: Many, many dances over the course of a year, yeah.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Absolutely. So yes, so when we talk about the types of issues that the students have, everything from death of a parent, death of a relative, I don't think that there was any one student in that building who didn't know someone who passed away, right, within the last year.
HEADLEE: Some of them are homeless.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Absolutely we had homeless students. We had parenting teens. We had students who had to deal with parents who abused drugs. So there were a litany of issues to deal with.
HEADLEE: All right, let me take a call here really quickly. We're talking about high schools in high poverty areas. And we want to get your thoughts on one change that would have made a difference if you either attended a school like that or worked at one. And we have a call here from Greensboro, North Carolina, which is where Raven Quattlebaum goes to school now. Richard(ph), thanks so much for joining us. What one change do you think could be made at a school like this?
RICHARD: Well, she asked me, and I had to hesitate, and finally I said, well, administrators. And I think that's one of the problems. They don't talk to teachers who teach the students, they talk to administrators who...
HEADLEE: Are you talking about a principal like Tanishia who I'm speaking with, or are you talking about, like, school board and supervisors?
RICHARD: Well, I don't know Tanishia. I'm talking about - well, in the case - I worked in New Orleans, Richmond, Virginia, now, and Greensboro, also. And most administrators are in the business of defending the school system somewhat. And teachers actually know the kids. Respect is the big thing, I find, respect and friendliness. And there's a difference between administration and teaching, and very often administrators are defending a bureaucratic system.
HEADLEE: OK, that's Richard, calling from Greensboro, North Carolina. I saw you shaking your head over there, Tanishia. I assume he's talking about supervisors.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Right, I think that - and hello, Richard. I think that he's speaking specifically to this bit of a divide that can sometimes exist in a school building. And I taught. I taught for seven years, right? So I absolutely know what he's talking about. Far too often you have a school building where the folks who are on the frontline, the teachers and the social workers, feel a disconnect from the leadership in the building.
And if you were to ask me that question, what is the one thing that we need to make sure we do, my answer would be to put the right people in the right seats. I pride myself absolutely on not being that guy who was the disconnected administrator who pounded out reforms.
Yes, we followed the rules, we did exactly what we were told to do, but we made sure that everyone was invested in a common goal of improvement for the students, and we had those honest conversations. There weren't any teachers with whom I did not speak. There weren't any teachers who did not know that they could come into my office at any point in the day, from 7 o'clock in the morning most times until 9 o'clock at night. We were there all day. And we worked together to, as we liked to call it, move mountains.
HEADLEE: Well, I want to read a couple emails here. This is Nick(ph) in Maryland, who wrote: I think schools where kids face many challenges at home need a person at the school whose job is to connect the kids and their families with supports and services. This is just as, if not more, important than having a police officer onsite. And it sounds, Raven, like that's pports athink schools where i
QUATTLEBAUM: Yes.
HEADLEE: OK, so clearly you think that's important also. Bob(ph) says: Small populations, get rid of the factory high school. And then we got one from Cressy(ph), who says: Change evaluations. Center evaluation around students evaluating themselves and each other, as well as involving the kids' entire community in the evaluation of their learning, from community members, business owners to parents and also school staff. It's the only way to hold teaching responsible for teaching when the teacher is no longer the evaluator.
And you can call us at 800-989-8255. Or our email address is email@example.com. You were raising your hand to say something really quick? We're about to go to a break, but what we're talking about is a specific kind of school. It is a school in a high poverty area. And what specific thing, one thing, choose one change that you would make if you attended one of these or worked at one that you think would make a difference.
Again it's 800-989-8255. Or just email us, it's email@example.com. We'll be back in just a moment. I'm Celeste Headlee. This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
HEADLEE: This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Celeste Headlee. We're talking about the challenges facing schools and students in areas with high rates of poverty. Next week, a new documentary called "180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School" will air on PBS. In one scene in the film, D.C. Public Schools Superintendent for Alternative Schools Terry DeCarbo tells the D.C. Met staff that Principal Minor's contract will not be renewed. And here is the staff's response.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: We want to know, when nobody would give us data in this data-driven district, to find out why this is happening. We don't know what to make of it. They're changing a leader and not telling the masses what will make us better? (Unintelligible).
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Why is there a big mystery? Like why can't we know?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The chancellor makes the decisions.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: When you guys look at data, do you look at the kids that come to us that are homeless, the kids that come to us that parents are strung out on drugs? I mean, do you look at all of the traumas that our kids come in with, our kids whose parents are HIV positive, that are dying, how many of our kids whose parents have died in one school year and that they still are expected to come to school and test and do all these other things? Who judges that? Who determines oh, well, you know what these - that doesn't matter? Because if you don't (unintelligible) these kids will not produce. They will not be productive.
HEADLEE: We reached out to D.C. Public Schools to get their response to the film and the fact that Principal Minor's contract was not renewed. In a statement, D.C. Public Schools wrote: In part, we believe there is a fascinating story to be told about the lives of students at Washington Met, but unfortunately even given unprecedented access, the movie fails to show the real role the school plays in educating these students.
Rather than focusing on teaching and learning, the movie spends a significant amount of time on personnel matters on which DCPS does not comment. You can read that full statement at our website, npr.org. And in the interest of full disclosure, this film received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Diversity and Innovation Fund. NPR is also a recipient of support from that same fund.
Our question for you, if you attended or worked high school like the ones we're talking about, tell us the one change you would make. The number is 800-989-8255. Or email us at email@example.com. And it looks like we have Jack(ph) calling in from Richmond, and Jack, I guess, has a question for Raven. Jack, thanks so much for (unintelligible).
JACK: Well, actually for both guests and particularly the administrator. But I had an experience in high school where I went to a, quote, "average, normal high school," but I lived in a poor neighborhood. I was always contrasting the two. And one thing I noticed was among the poor families, oftentimes, not always but oftentimes, a lack of structure in daily lives where you didn't develop habits like being on time or following through with a task.
And then as a physical therapist working with parents of preschoolers in the home (unintelligible), people have no parenting skills at all. They don't know how to relate to the kid at a level they understand and positively build the kid. And I'm wondering - but mine was a very different neighborhood than yours geographically. Did you have the same experience? And is it hard for your administrator guest to explain to people who haven't had that how hard it is for kids who do not have that background to acquire those skills?
HEADLEE: OK, well, let me have them answer that directly. Thanks for that call. That's Jack. With me is former principal of D.C. Met, Tanishia Williams-Minor, and former D.C. Met student Raven Quattlebaum. Let me take that straight to you because this seems to be a common I don't want to say stereotype but a common picture of these kids.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Yeah, I think the generalization sometimes will get us in trouble, though, when you speak of a lack of parenting skills. In more cases than not, no, we didn't see 100 percent of our parents at parent-teacher night, and we didn't have a PTA that was overrun with overly excited parents.
HEADLEE: Sometimes because parents are working several jobs.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Correct, but the reality of our student population was that we had parents who, too, had issues to deal with. We had parents who had two jobs. We had parents who - you know, during the times when we had conversations with them, they said they would do any and everything that they could, but in some cases they could not.
So there isn't a complete unwillingness to pay attention to your kid or to pay attention to what's going on at school, but in some instances it is difficult. One of our most devout parents, you know, she tried to come to every single cheerleading game, but in some instances she just had to work.
HEADLEE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: On the flip side, though, there are some parents who are just not invested and not involved.
HEADLEE: I imagine that's true at any school.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: And I'm sure that's true at any school, but it's incumbent upon the folks in the school building to still work through all of those issues and invest ourselves in that student, make sure they fill out their FAFSA, make sure that they're coming to school on time...
HEADLEE: Because that's the federal application for student aid, yeah.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Absolutely.
HEADLEE: Let me bring in Kelly Bell now. Kelly Bell is the principal at Metcalfe County High School in Edmonton, Kentucky. Kelly taught for 23 years and joins us on the phone from her office. Kelly, first of all, welcome.
KELLY BELL: Thank you.
HEADLEE: Tell us a little bit about Metcalfe County and the kids in the school system there.
BELL: Metcalfe County is located in south-central Kentucky. Our high school has 469 students.
HEADLEE: Are they coming - many of them coming from poor areas?
BELL: Yeah, this area is about 34 percent poverty. In 2010, we were second-highest unemployment rate in the state of Kentucky. Right now we're fluctuating between eight and 10 and a half percent unemployment. We've lost a lot of our jobs here in Metcalfe County, and unfortunately we're experiencing negative population growth at the time.
HEADLEE: Meaning that you're losing people. You know, one of the things in the documentary was this issue of truancy and trying to get kids to come to school not just to be counted so you get the funding that you need but to take tests, to be at school and then learn the lessons. Is truancy an issue for your school district, as well?
BELL: Not necessarily. Since, you know, we've been in the turnaround effort now since 2010, and it is something that we address head-on. We take it on an individual student basis because every student is different, so every set of circumstances that promotes their absenteeism is taken into consideration. So I would not say truancy is an issue, but it's always something that we have to stay aware of because one of the first thing that happens to someone who is a potential drop out is someone who is missing a lot of school.
HEADLEE: Yeah.
BELL: So we have to call the home, and we have to find out what's going on and see if we can provide any resources to help that child get back to school.
HEADLEE: All right, let me take - go to another call here. This is Michael in Austin, Texas. Michael called us at 800-989-8255. And our question, Michael, is: What one change could we make to help schools like that we're talking about? What's your thoughts?
MICHAEL: Well, hi, Principal Minor. My name is Michael Brick, I'm a former New York Times reporter. I wrote a book about an effort to turn around a high school here in Austin, Texas, Reagan High. One of the things that seemed to be really important at Reagan in that year I spent there was reaching out to the community, connecting to the history of the school. And I wanted to hear your thoughts on how that's worked at D.C. Met.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Well, you know, I think - and I will respond and also somewhat respond to the DCPS statement. I think that we did a great job at D.C. Met of getting some kids invested in their own success. And I think again the greatest thing that we did was we made sure that we had folks in the building who were committed to working through the challenges, working without resources and working tirelessly to help get Raven into college, right, to help make sure that the majority of our seniors graduated, to help make sure that 100 percent of our seniors were accepted into college.
So when you talk about - I think the DCPS statement said that the film focuses more so on personnel as opposed to academics, first and foremost when you have a student who walks into the building, there are so many social and emotional issues that you have to get through that you can't shove a math book in his or her face, right?
But the truth and the data speaks for itself. We did have gains in the D.C. cast. We had numerous intermittent gains on the six-week tests that we took in DCPS. We decreased truancy. So to talk about teaching and learning, yes, teaching and learning is something that should happen in every school building. I am a staunch proponent of that.
But teaching and learning isn't necessarily 3X=9, X=3, right? Teaching and learning is having a student be able to articulate his or her weaknesses and then get themselves prepared to work through those weaknesses. That's what the business of education is.
So to answer your question, Mr. Brick, you know, it's really all about having honest conversations, looking at the data, having students look at their data, having students take responsibility for their strengths and their weaknesses and then work through those things accordingly.
BELL: Absolutely, and I agree when you said teaching and learning, they are synonymous because the one change you make in a school, especially a high school, as you all well know, is the learning occurs when you have a receptive audience. They always say that the teacher arrives when the learner is ready. It begins and ends with the teacher. And at Metcalfe County, that's what we addressed first and foremost in 2010, in the turnaround effort. We were ranked 211th out of 230 high schools in Kentucky. And now, we are ranked 50th.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Congratulations.
HEADLEE: Yeah, that's amazing.
BELL: Oh, it's because you get those teachers with veracity. You go after the best educators you can get. And mind you, we're in an isolated area. Geographically, we're isolated. We have some students traveling 45 and 50 minutes to school.
HEADLEE: That's how long - I don't want to interrupt you. That's Kelly Bell, who's principal in Edmonton, Kentucky. I want to say goodbye here and thank you to Michael in Austin, Texas. Thanks so much for your call, Michael.
MICHAEL: Sure.
HEADLEE: And we have the former principal of D.C. Met with us, Tanishia Williams-Minor, and then also you just heard Kelly Bell. But we keep talking about students here, and we have a former student, Raven Quattlebaum, who is now attending college in North Carolina. First of all, I wanted to read an email, here. Dave says: If I could change one aspect of the current public school model, I'd give the students a real voice in deciding how the school is run, what they learn and how they'll be evaluated.
What do you think about that, Raven? Do you think students don't have enough of a voice?
QUATTLEBAUM: In some cases, yes. I don't think some people want - I think when people come into the school, they hear the teachers' voice. They don't really go to the students, see what's going on with them. They always like blaming it on the teachers, but it's really, like, the students. You have to dig deep into the students to see what's going on with them to fix some of the issues in the school, because some issues happen because of the students.
HEADLEE: Well, look. You could have been a statistic. You could very easily have become a statistic. I mean, you came from a very tough home life, tough growing up. You were involved in gangs and fighting. What made the difference to you? I mean, how did you now end up graduating and going on to college?
QUATTLEBAUM: I have the caring people in my school, the staff in my school actually caring about me and digging into - and digging in deep into my emotions and digging in deep into what's going on with me, what I was thinking. If I didn't have the kind of people that would help me get the application done, that would help me get the FAFSA done, that gave me the tools that I needed to get to actually get to college, I don't know how I would make it.
HEADLEE: I - we have another email, here. This one is from Steve in Oakland, who says: Schools have become a convenient whipping post, as they struggle to handle children who are products of uneducated or undereducated parents, broken homes, abusive situations, devastated neighborhoods and economic hardships, just to name a few. And then, here's one for you. It doesn't say what the name is, but it says: If I could change one thing, I'd have a principal like that. Leadership or the lack of it makes a huge difference. God bless her.
You can call us with your comments at 800-989-8255. The email address is firstname.lastname@example.com. So let's take one more call, here. This is John in San Antonio, another phone call from Texas. John, we've been asking what one change people would make to a school like this one. What do you think?
JOHN: Incorporate vocational education into the learning process. I did it for 34 years, and I had kids that grew up in some of the poorest districts of San Antonio making more money in the end after completing the education process and working in the field, more money than as I a teacher was making.
HEADLEE: That's John in San Antonio. Thank you so much for your call. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION, from NPR News. So let me bring that to you, Kelly Bell...
BELL: Yes.
HEADLEE: ...in Edmonton, Kentucky. What do you think about that, adding in trade - basically, trade school?
BELL: I'm saying absolutely yes. We have just started with a technology center that we bus our students to. It's 35 minutes bus ride one way in another county, and they've been very receptive. And we've added certifications. They get can get multiple certifications there. That is one of our big focus here. We also offer CNA certifications here in the building.
HEADLEE: CNA is...
BELL: CNA is certified nurse aide. And we offer phlebotomy tech, pharmacy tech. We have Cisco here in the building, because we realize that. And we have teachers who are really multiple - they're certified as a classroom teacher, but they also can offer certifications...
HEADLEE: Well...
BELL: ...and then they can get electrician. I agree with the caller. You can - I mean the sky is the limit anymore for these technological services.
HEADLEE: What do you think, Tanishia?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: I agree. I think the sky is the limit. Unfortunately, in a school such as D.C. Met, we do not have endless access to those resources. So we had to rely on helping students figure out what it is they wanted to do, right, when you don't have a school that has 10 different vocational programs, or even two different vocational programs. You really drill down and help...
HEADLEE: Because of cost.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Because of cost. You really drill down and figure out what it is the student wants to do, and then you try to outsource the best way you can. Right? You never tell a student no, and you never want to tell the student no. But the harsh reality is that every school is not equipped the same, so every school cannot institute a full-on vocational program. So I would say to that, yes, I agree. But much further, I would say the importance is making sure that you build a community and build a culture in your school where the students are put first, and then you research to get what those students need.
HEADLEE: So, you know, it was very enlightening for me to watch this documentary, "180 Days," and it's certainly not my high school experience. I imagine it's not everybody's. What do you hope people take away from watching this?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: So I think when we were first broached with the idea, you know, all of us had our ego, and we were like, oh, no. We don't always speak the Queen's English, and we do not want cameras following us around. This is not the real world. But we actually felt like we had an opportunity to provide an opportunity for folks to see what it looks like day in and day out in a high school, in a high school...
HEADLEE: To what end?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: ..that's not typical. To what end...
HEADLEE: To what end? What's the benefit of them seeing that?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: So the point is that I think that when you look at all the movies such as "Waiting for Superman" and "The Lottery," you hear a lot of statistics, and you hear a lot of data, but you don't really get to see what's going on in the student's life, right? So when we speak of personal issues or personnel issues or culture issues, that's really the stuff that exists in a building that leaders and teachers and partners have to sift through in order to get to the teaching and learning in order to make sure that the students are successful.
So we want people to think of the dropout crisis, and we want people to think of students like Raven. We want people to think of students like Rufus. We want people to think of students like Tiara, who are all success stories in their own right. And we had 30 seniors. There are 30 different stories that we could have told about students who overcame something.
HEADLEE: And, first of all, let's just get this clear: How many people graduated out of the first graduating class?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: So we started out with 33 seniors, and 30 of them graduated with us...
HEADLEE: That is amazing.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: ...the first of June, but the remaining three finished in summer school. So essentially...
HEADLEE: One hundred percent.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Essentially, 100 percent of our seniors graduated.
HEADLEE: That's amazing.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: It's the work that we do.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: So, you know, it's really about knowing that it's your charge and investing yourself tirelessly until you get to the end of your goal.
BELL: Absolutely. I was thinking that the stark difference between Washington, D.C., and Edmonton, Kentucky, we're so different geographically, but what it comes down to it, it's all the same, isn't it?
WILLIAMS-MINOR: Yes. Absolutely.
BELL: It's the relationship.
WILLIAMS-MINOR: That's what we're trying to get through.
BELL: Every student has to know they have someone who cares about them in that building every day.
HEADLEE: And that - you just heard the voice of Kelly Bell. She's principal at Metcalf County High School in Edmonton, Kentucky. Thank you so much for joining us. Tanishia Williams-Minor is the former principal at D.C. Met. She currently works for the New York City Department of Education. And superstar, amazing young lady, Raven Quattlebaum was part of D.C. Met's first graduating class, currently a freshman at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. They're both featured in "180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School." It's a two-part PBS documentary airing next week. Thanks to all three of you.
Up next, what's the deal with all the sinkholes? We'll talk to a sinkhole expert ahead of their annual conference. I'm Celeste Headlee, and this is TALK OF THE NATION, from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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....on the East Coast, at 9 PM
Check your local PBS stations for times.
New York area served by Channel 13
The first 12 minutes is on YouTube as a teaser.
It glosses over his childhood and his adult life prior to building his first automobile and, per usual, there is a lot of romanticizing by the talking heads.
I read a review in today's paper. Tish Wells from McClatchy Newspapers states;
"After watching PBS' "American Experience" on Henry Ford you see what he was really about. Control. He Controlled his company, he controlled his workers, and he controlled his "everyman" image as much as he could." She goes on to say "There also was a darker side to the Henry Ford success story. He invaded his workers' privacy and home lives. He had anti-Semitic beliefs. He disparaged his on son, Edsel, to the point that when Edsel was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, he didn't tell his father because knew he wouldn't gain any sympathy."
Though much of this is true I hope that this is not the entire focus of this film. We shall see.
Some of these same things still happen today. You have heard of employers looking into employees' face book accounts to spy on them. I have also worked for bosses who cheat to make themselves look good or take credit for their employees' ideas. Even the politicians are "control" freaks. Many corporations and unions also try to influence their politicians. Even some religious leaders try to be control freaks. It's just human nature.
I have read several books on Henry Ford, so I plan to watch the TV account and compare it to what knowledge I already have.
I just the Henry Ford American Expeirence documentary advertised this morning in the paper.
Its on at 8:00 CST tonight (Tuesday).
As Norman says it will be interesting to see if they portray him as he really was if we can really know or somewhere in between.
Not everything purporting to be history on TV is well researched and well written, even on PBS, but the American Experience programs have always been good on both counts.
PBS channel 9 at 9 O'clock in the Seattle Wa. area
Half of the review in today's paper was very negative and what a tyrant and bad person he was. Typical PBS slant.
Bumping again too.
The reviewers can't be that wrong......he was a tyrant.......poor Edsel.......
Dang it Bob, I thought I was making a big time brand new announcement and while I was typing it Craig gave this thread a bump. Dang it Craig.
Now I refuse to watch it. I wanted to be the guy with the news. Dang it.
LOL.......bump it again in 15 minutes.......
9:00 PM WestCoast Time on Channel 16 on T.WarnerCable.
Take notes fellars !!!! Steve will probably have a Pop Quiz.
35 minutes 'til air time. I hope I can stay awake that long.
8:00 PM Central Time
Excellent, I'm back in my room in Des Moines IA. I hope it's on the hotel channel list.....
I am hearing a lot of pros and cons about this program.
If you want to find out the closest to the truth you'll ever find, read David L. Lewis book " THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF HENRY FORD".
David Lewis is the acclaimed expert on Henry Ford. You will get the truth without all the media hype.
Dan, this is on PBS and so far it seems they're not going to far off the beam. lot's of real good footage. Thanks for the name of the book. Now I've got something else to look forward too. The only problem I've got with this show right how is that I missed the first 25 minutes of it. It was my fault though. I called Andy Loso just as it was coming on and talked to him about rebuilding the rearend on my sedan. I think there's something seriously wrong with me because I enjoy working on the motors and transmissions but have a terrible mental block when it comes to working on the rearends. I take them out and put them back but I don't rebuild them. And I've done them on other vehicles with little or no problem. I just don't like the idea of doing a model t rearend.
Very good so far.
And here comes "Henry's Rules to Live By or Lose Your Job"........
Wow, I thought quite an interesting program. As with many of us, Henry Ford had his qualities, demons, successes and failures. Maybe magnified due to his tremendous success.
Pretty good. Skipped some dark stuff but overall truthful. Only error I caught was the color bit on the T's. "First green only then black".
I noticed that error on colors too, and Doug Brinkley saying young Henry worked on "wrist watches", which men didn't wear until WWI. There was indiscriminate mixing of Model T footage from different eras, but I thought they got the main points of the story right.
About to start here...one of the very rare times I'll watch a network TV show...grin..
Power went off half way through the show but came back right away. I did try to record the show and may have all but 30 seconds of it if it worked on the old VCR.
Good show but when they crushed the T I wanted to stop them!
It looked like to me, that during the story of the Model T era that there was footage of the assembly line showing Model A engines. I caught the wrist watch and the green then black color mistake too. When I said something out loud my wife asked me if I was going to do that through the whole show.
Too tired to watch any more although I did get through most of it I think. Mostly what I expected but I have noticed one thing - virtually all the stock footage of the Model Ts they show, sport a glossy paint finish, contrary to what I have seen posted over and over here on the forum.
Decent for the most part and he was not portrayed nearly as bad as a tyrant as the local liberal rag indicated in their review.
I noticed that the car in the crusher wasn't a T or any Ford for that fact. Yeah I caught the color of T's also. Show late engines w/vaporizer, then quick cut to NH type.
Mostly correct and even the minor mistakes were not the typical gross misinterpretations that I expect to see from the typical history rewrite provided by the average hacks over at A&E or The History Channel.
Rating: B Plus I say.
Very good program I thought even with the color mistake. I caught that also. It made me see Henry Ford in a whole new light and not in a good way. You can't help but feel sorry for Edsel. Never able to please his father and then an early demise. Poor guy.
It looked like the crushed car heading into the melting pot tried one last lurk to get away, my wife saw it too, we got a chuckle out of that. Good show! I will watch it again when it replays. Jim
Having read Alan Dershowitz book on Henry Ford as told by Henry 2,Then seeing this PBS special. I have a new disdain for Henry Ford.
As Edsel aged you could see the stress in his face of a beaten man compounded by cancer.
I'm glad they pointed out the fact that Henry was a S.O.B. to his son
furthermore the one clip with them talking together father and son you saw the contempt for each other.
One has to wonder if Edsel was given true control of the factory where would Ford be today?
Maybe I missed something but I noticed when the nararator was talking about Ford's years in the early to late teen's the film footage was always in the black years. In other words not many photos or film of the brass era.
The theme of the show was on Ford himself so the oversights about the particulars of the Model T's is understood.
The show to me is a good history of the good, bad and ugly of Ford. Especially bringing out the point about Ford trying to make Edsel a carbon copy of himself.
Human nature never changes and Fords private life with his friends and family proves it.
Most all of the innovators who built and made real inpressions in America had a dark side as well as the good.
Think of J. Paul Getty, Howard Hughes and sports figures??! The list goes on.
Showing photos from the wrong year seems to be a problem with most documentaries. The script usually seems to be written by a real historian that knows the stuff. The problem must be in the editing which is usually done by one person working alone. They really need to have a history consultant working with the film editor. I think this one thing that sets producer Ken Burns apart from the others. His films always seem to �flow� without any glaring anachronisms.
I was a bit surprised that several topics were not mentioned even briefly. These include 1) Ford's role in successfully defeating the Selden patent, 2) Ford and his Peace Ship campaign to end the First World War, and 3) Ford's hiring early on of blacks, the handicapped, and people who had served time in prison.
In a 2 hour documentary, one can not get deep into the details, but these 3 items are fairly significant, particularly Ford's victory over the Selden patent.
Admit some significant things were missing. Like WWI. On the other hand they went out of their way concerning the Chicago libel trial and it's result. It's odd how some of these guys go a little nuts with money/power. Hughes was mentioned. You could even include Michael Jackson in this bunch. They push away everyone that even gives half a crap about them and surround themselves with destructive morons. Like the 2 guys mentioned above Ford died alone. Yeah, his wife was there but he'd thrown her a few curve balls over the years. Absolutely every one was gone. Left or pushed out.
The handycap thing was mentioned in a off base sort of way. Something like he found jobs that men with one arm could do etc.
You guys all missed the big picture. One of the main sponsors of this show was the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The whole thing was GM propaganda, meant to tear at the Ford Motor Co. of today.
I'm only half kidding..
The first 15 minutes was really full of errors. The rest of the program was entertaining, if not all factual.
I thought the end was very odd. It made reference to Fordlandia, in S. America, as if it had been mentioned earlier in the program, (did I miss that part?), and was somehow significant.
As others stated, too bad they focused heavily on the embarrassing liable suit loss while saying nothing of the Selden patent victory. You could argue that Selden thing was more FoMoCo history than Henry Ford history, I guess. Overall, well done, with small errors as noted by others, but nothing really new.
Yes, Jerry, near the opening they reported on Henry buying something like 2 million acres to plant rubber trees, and turn the natives into productive workers.
To be fair, the Selden victory was offset by Henry's refusal to pay royalties on other inventions he used.
They also failed to show how the T evolved, ever so slowly, and that parts from the latesT were usable on the earliesT.
I found it interesting as an X Ford assembly plant guy how many of the very early quirks of the company still carried over to modern day.
I can reflect back on issues of how important the security force was to the company and also things about social values of belonging to an faternal organizational helped in securing a job.
I enjoyed the show even though the cars didn't match up. Was glad they included some of Henry II corrections
To add another item to Niel's list; Henry's girl friend and her (and likely Henry's) son. Had DNA testing been available then the Ford family tree may have had an additional branch.
If you missed the documentary on tv, you can watch it online in its entirety:
I saw a few random portions of it. There was a clip where HF and EF were pictured and were talking. I'd never hear a recording of Henry before.
For those wanting to know more about Henry Ford I would recommend "The people's Tycoon" by Steven Watts. It is available in the I-tunes store for the I-pad. Probably can get at Barnes and Noble too.
To add to Gary's comment above, "The secret life of Henry Ford" by his probable son, John C�t� Dahlinger (with help from a ghost writer) is good reading that completes the picture of the elderly Mr Ford. Not at all speculative - in fact quite believable in my humble opinion.
Ol' Henry seems to have had a lot of more time to spend fishing and talking with John in the 30's than with Edsel at the beginning of the century.
You can find it at amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/The-secret-life-Henry-Ford/dp/0672523779/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF 8&qid=1359628813&sr=8-1&keywords=The+secret+life+of+Henry+Ford
It was as if the audio and the visual were two completely separate projects. Whomever did the editing of the imagery apparently knew not one blessed thing about old cars because the short film clips of the Model T model years seemed to have been shuffled into random order like a deck of cards. At the very least, the brass cars should have preceded the steel cars. Even Mr. Ford himself appeared to alternate between being old, young and middle aged, over and over.
On the other hand, the audio component appeared to be reasonably factual, though generously sprinkled with minor inaccuracies�sort of like the occasional klinker you hear when a high school orchestra plays Beethoven's 5th. Had the written script been filtered through practically anybody on this forum, it would have been substantially improved. Had the film clips simply been strung together in chronological order; again, the whole project would have been substantially improved. It would have taken so little extra care to do the thing right.
I'm a little more perturbed by such a C-plus effort as produced by PBS than I would have been by The History Channel, which so dependably regurgitates this same, all too familiar brand of slap-dash documentary. Why? Because public television is funded by we, the people; this being just another example of the casual attitude with which our tax dollars are�and let me use the political expression du jour�"invested." No, it's not Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae�but, still...
Actually we're all just picking at a bag of loose nits. Overall it was quite factual and correct. All the public knows (or cares about) is "they were all black". That legend will never die mostly because it's easier than the truth. The occasional 10 second or less flash of a brass radiator going by is also only noticed by us. Should they have asked an authority? Yeah sure but on the other hand they only upset a hand full of viewers.
There were experts on board. Somehow, they weren't given the opportunity to correct the errors.
Many years ago, before the internet, I was working on a translation project from Dutch to English. It was for a series of greeting cards, and I was translating text from a well-known Dutch nature artist. I remember sketches of six different kinds of bumblebees, with their Latin scientific and Dutch common names. After exhausting local library reference rooms (including the St. Louis Zoo and the Botanical Garden), I took to the telephone. A chain of calls led me to the Federal Bee Research Center in Arizona. After explaining my problem, the fellow there said, "You don't really need a bee person. You need a bumblebee person." He then gave me the name of an amateur in North Carolina who was probably the foremost bumblebee expert in the U.S. In every phone call, I said, "There is someone in the United States who will complain that the translation is incorrect if it appears on a greeting card. I want to talk to that person now." If I could do all that for (at the time) ten cents a word for the translation, then surely PBS could do the same thing with Model Ts.
(Upshot: when a plant or animal doesn't occur in an area where a language is spoken, there is frequently no common name in that language that is the equivalent of the scientific name. That was the case with one of my bumblebees. It just doesn't exist in any English-speaking country, so there is no word for it. The expert agreed with me that it would be acceptable to translated the Dutch common name literally into English, which is what I did.)
There were not many brass cars shown. And also only a few of the "Improved" Model T's Also some of the cars depicted were not Fords. The one they shoved into the furnace was not a Ford. The fenders looked like it might have been a Dodge.
I have read several books on Ford or the Ford Motor Company, and they all had emphasis on different things.
I think this presentation was as factual as you can get. Nobody knows what was in the minds of the persons being depicted. We now know that stomach cancer and ulcers is caused by a bacteria, but in those days, it was thought to have been brought on by worry and pressures of life. It was unfortunate that Edsel suffered so much, but he could have done, as many other sons have done, pursue his own career. Edsel was trying very hard to help his dad, and I know from personal experience, that is sometimes hard to do. Even though we are sons and we also have sons, each one of us is an individual. Henry didn't do what his parents expected of him either. They wanted him to be a farmer, but he had other interests. Edsel did try to follow in his father's footsteps, but was unable to do so.
Anyway, it was a good presentation, and there were many good pictures of Model T's


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Senior from Newalla to present art show.
Rachel Lynch, an Oklahoma Baptist University senior from Newalla, said nothing speaks to her quite like retro-style art. Lynch will debut her senior art show Friday, April 5, from 7-9 p.m. when examples of 1950s-era art and various other pieces of her original work can be viewed in an exhibit in the OBU Art Building on campus.
The art show opening will include a reception, and the public is invited to attend the free exhibit. Lynch's show, titled "Illustrated," also will be on display for the week following the opening.
The display, which features sculpture, paintings, digital illustrations, stained glass and more, will draw heavily from Lynch's love of illustrations and her fondness of retro-style art. Lynch said she was influenced by cartoons such as "The Iron Giant," as well as illustrations and posters from the mid-20th century.
"I love drawing illustrations, and I am currently working on a children's e-book with a professor," said Lynch.
Following graduation, Lynch hopes to someday become a full-time designer or illustrator for television and entertainment. She said she also would enjoy working for a magazine or video game company, with a particular interest in designing for independent video game developers.
However, Lynch has a particular goal in mind: "One day I'd like to create and publish my own graphic novel," she said, referring to a type of book made up of comics content. "It would be my ultimate accomplishment."
Lynch said she has trouble identifying a single source of inspiration for her art, but she credits all the artists in the OBU Art Department with leaving a mark on her life. In a world filled with artists and media, Lynch said she seeks to create art with a distinction which sets her apart from others.
"Going to OBU helped me to figure myself out and to develop a style unique to me," she said. "It's hard, but I try to be creative and invent fresh new ideas."


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Senator Dole keynote at WWII celebration
"Not everyone who served wore a uniform--teachers, nurses, others had to do their job so we could do ours," Dole said.
He also recognized several veterans in the audience whose stories he'd read during his plane trip to Grinnell.
Professor Emeritus of History George Drake '56 has compiled oral histories of several Poweshiek County veterans.
"The stories tell about the sacrifices men in this city made," Dole said. "So many Americans made sacrifices," he said, and with emotion related, "On D-Day, 10,000 never drew another breath ... never had a chance to go to college ... to be fathers .... There is no way to repay them."
At several times throughout his hour-long talk, Dole also referred to his best-selling book, One Soldier's Story.
"The book isn't about me, it's really about us," Dole said. "Not only what you go through on the battlefield, but what happens to you later, who takes care of you when you return."
Dole is part of a commission working to improve veterans' benefits.
"They called us the greatest generation, but the greatest generation are those protecting us now," Dole said, referring to servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. "They are taking the risks now."
In addition to his serious "Veteran's Perspective on World War II," Dole also engaged the audience with light-hearted stories of his time in Washington as senator from Kansas and later as the 1996 Republican presidential candidate.
"I left politics--wasn't voluntarily, come to think of it. I thought the Senate would close down for at least a day or two. But they didn't. They were doing the same thing--not much--as they were doing when I was there," Dole joked.
He gave high praise to his fellow senator, George McGovern, with whom he shared the World Food Prize this year for their work on world hunger. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who was also in the Herrick Chapel audience, received Dole's praise as "the hardest working guy in Congress. You are getting your money's worth," he said, referring to Grassley's work on behalf of Iowans.
Originally published as an online web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Winter 2008.


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Style # 209658
With crossover detail at V-neckline and soft breathable lightweight stretch fabric, this bebe top is sure to land you an effortlessly-sexy look. Try it with a pleated skirt and a pair of metallic heels.
- 92% nylon, 8% spandex
- Center back to hem: 21" (53 cm)
- Machine wash
- Made in USA
- Imported
- Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S
Rated 5 out of 5�by 2 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5�by SimpleBeauty Cute This is a cute top. It's made from the bodycon material but the firm kind so it holds you in a bit. I got the M/L (32D) and it fits just right. The X in the front adds a little twist to it, cute. March 4, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5�by gg1820 casual and cute This top is really flattering. It's perfect if you want casual top that has a twist. The cross front is a really cute touch! February 4, 2013
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Here's a new take on bring your daughter to work: Johnny Depp will star alongside 15-year-old daughter Lily-Rose Depp in the upcoming comic book film "Yoga Hosers," according to Hollywood Reporter.
It's the first lead role for Depp's oldest child.
Kevin Smith ("Clerks," "Chasing Amy") will direct the film, which reportedly also will star Smith's 15-year-old daughter, Harley Quinn Smith.
The two teens had cameos as convenience store clerks in Smith's "Tusk," which comes out next month. Their "Yoga" characters are spinoffs from that "Tusk" storyline.
Ann Tatko-Peterson provides celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Follow her at twitter.com/atatkopeterson.


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Dixon woman honored for relentless volunteer work
Connie Herndon's heart broke as she took her first steps into the filth-stricken Dixon home of 75-year-old veteran Edward Donahue. She could see the elderly man was entirely alone and lost, trapped in a collapsing home with no running water, electricity, plumbing, or phone. His only family and caregiver was gone, leaving him nearly blind, almost deaf, physically disabled, and in a home overtaken by dozens of dogs and decades of trash.
As volunteers for the Pulaski County Humane Society, Connie and her husband, 1st Sgt. Phil Herndon, were called to the home that January day for the sole purpose of taking some of the dogs off the property and into better care.
But Connie quickly realized that this man needed assistance beyond animal care. He was nearly immobile, barely able to move using a walker, unable to drive, and imprisoned in a home that reeked of urine, feces, and the thick smell of a wood-burning stove used as the only source of heat for the home, with no place to go.
"The man had just lost his wife of 44 years, I couldn't just leave him alone," Connie said.
And day after day, Connie strapped on a safety mask and headed down the street to bring Donahue food and help clean the house up.
Meeting Don
Connie, her husband, and several other Humane Society volunteers, spent weeks clearing the home out to improve Donahue's living conditions. The crew quickly managed to accumulate 2.4 tons of trash from the home.
"That was really only a fraction of what was there," Connie said.
Connie found herself spending up to 80 hours a week with Donahue, and got to know a lot about him.
She learned that he served in the U.S. Army for 12 years, during both the Korean and Vietnam wars, and that he likes to be called Don.
Connie learned how the house got to be in such ruined conditions. His wife, Marion, who had made her living off of buying and reselling items from garage sells, and accumulated years of unsold items. Donahue had trouble finding work after injuring his hip years ago, and the couple struggled financially for years.
Marion was also an animal lover and had a hard time turning a dog away. The Donahue's property was located near a spot where many animals were left abandoned. And even when the Donahues could hardly afford to feed themselves, they would take in dogs and feed them first.
"I found receipts where they would pay around $200 a month in dog food alone," Connie said. "It just goes to show what a good caring person she was."
Community Care
Connie spent weeks inside Donahue's home, clearing out and scrubbing down the kitchen and living room, making sure that if all other options failed, he would a place with livable conditions.
Because the conditions were so unsanitary, Connie got sick in the weeks she spent cleaning the house.
"I started getting sinus infections when I started going over there, even when I wore a mask," she said. "I had to go on antibiotics twice."
She had hoped that Social Services would soon takeover and remove him from the home, but because Donahue was mentally stable, the organization couldn't relocate him.
So she took it on herself to call on friends and other Humane Society volunteers to help Donahue. And also helped him get his papers straight so he can receive Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.
Several members of the community donated household items and commodities for him, including a bed.
"There was nowhere for him to go. Things like going through the VA nursing home takes a lot of time," Connie said.
"So Jim and Mindy Warren offered for him to live in their garage apartment while he figures things out."
Connie also said they have a friend willing to purchase his property, which will help him pay his mortgage.
Hometown Hero
Pulaski County Humane Society President Kim Fuhr witnessed firsthand how Connie took charge and gave hope to a man who most people would consider to be hopeless.
"She put herself in a situation where most people wouldn't touch," Fuhr said. "People would pop in and out, but no one really stayed and helped like she did. She really took charge of the situation and made sure his needs were met.
Fuhr nominated Connie for KOLR 10's "HomeTown Hero" award for her not only her day-to-day dedication to the Humane Society as a foster care provider and board member, but specifically for her relentless commitment to Mr. Donahue.
"I also felt that the hometown heroes nomination was fitting for her because Mr. Donahue was practically Connie's neighbor and she didn't even know he was living there. It goes to show you don't know the people right in your community who are in need," Fuhr said.
Connie will be recognized this week on the program, but wanted to ensure that this endeavor took a whole team effort.
"I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who were willing to help out," Connie said. "Everyone did a little bit of something to help this man."
A hopeful ending
Connie said that Donahue is now under the guardianship of the public administrator, and she sees him a couple times a week. He now has glasses, a hearing aid, and they are in the process of getting him VA benefits.
"He's really doing a lot better now. He's much happier and breathing much better," she said.
Donahue is now living in his apartment at the Warren's home, with the two dogs he kept, named Max and Foxy.
Connie's Hometown Hero story will be featured on KOLR 10 at 6 p.m. tonight.


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Who would want to be governor anyway?
Even from a distance at last week's Coast Guard Academy graduation, I thought I could see Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wince when Vice President Joe Biden called him Gov. O'Malley.
At least it made me feel a little sorry for Gov. Malloy, who can never seem to catch a break.
Earlier this month, Malloy's weekend trip to Washington for the White House Correspondent's Dinner blew up in his face when news seeped out that People magazine paid for him to go.
I didn't particularly care one way or the other about Malloy accepting the free trip, since the magazine doesn't do any official business with Connecticut. It's not like the cozy relationship the governor's energy commissioner and his wife, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, have developed with the state's principal utility.
You have to wonder, though, why People would even bother to fly in a junior level political celebrity.
After all, even the vice president can't remember the name of the governor of Connecticut, a governor in the same party.
Anyway, the whole thing ended up costing Malloy $1,234, to reimburse the magazine to shut everyone up. The trip, which I suspect the governor first thought of as a legitimate perk, wound up being a costly personal junket.
It makes me wonder again why anyone would want to be governor.
These days, especially, being governor of Connecticut seems like a thankless task, as the state seems to have slipped to the bottom of almost every ranking, from citizen indebtedness to taxpayer tax burden.
Some of the blame does certainly belong at the doorstep of the incumbent. But Malloy did also inherit a long history of mismanagement and indebtedness that didn't happen over just a few terms.
No wonder everyone wants to be a U.S. senator from Connecticut, just another in the pack in Washington, instead of governor, the figurehead whom everyone can blame for all the state's troubles.
The senators wing around the world on all kinds of junkets and ride that little senators-only underground tram to the Capitol. Gov. Malloy can't even let People pick up a weekend tab.
I can almost guarantee you that Linda McMahon, who spent nearly $100 million to try to become a Connecticut senator, wouldn't spend a dime to be governor.
A lot of the other senator wannabes, like former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons of Stonington, show no inclination to be governor. I have heard Simmons say he thinks of himself as more of a legislator than an executive.
Of course, there are some current Republican legislators in Hartford expressing an interest in running. Maybe they figure, at least for the first term, they can successfully lay blame on the Democrats who have run things for so long.
Then there's Tom Foley, the wealthy Greenwich businessman who seems very keen on being governor, already well along on run number two.
You would think someone like Foley, who has already made a fortune in private business, would think of better ways to enjoy his days than strong-arming Connecticut's unions.
But maybe there are some things that money can't buy, like having a State Police trooper behind the wheel of your black sedan.
I suspect Foley is not in it to have People pick up his tab for a celebrity spin through Washington.
I believe Malloy has high principles and has aimed for excellence in executing the offices of governor.
But it's true he hasn't been able to catch a break.
He might have pulled a rabbit out of his budget hat if the economy had turned around faster. But instead he let the unions straightjacket him with a deal that won't let him use the obvious solution to the state's budget woes: layoffs.
It's hard to imagine what miracle will now come along to allow the governor a second term.
And then it won't be long before people start remembering that lame duck governor, whatever his name was ... O'Malley?
This is the opinion of David Collins.
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