Columns

Photojournalism has always been a powerful way of communicating events around the world as an old adage says, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The power of pictures rests in the natural ability of a single picture to tell a story.

“I know for certain that strangers have helped me when I needed help, and kind words have changed my day from terrible to something better — something more hopeful.”

For those of you who don’t know, my mom was a saint. If you ask anyone who knew Kathryn Shoemaker or had her as a teacher they will say the same. I have never met a person my mother taught that didn’t say she touched them deeply and had a positive effect on their lives. If I’ve been lucky enough to have had that same effect on a student, they can thank my mom. She’s the reason I became a teacher.

This is something that I honestly don’t get. This morning I saw a middle-aged man walking down the street with a set of headphones squarely on his head. Why? With all the wonderful open ear earbuds available today, why would anyone compromise their safety by wearing headphones when they’re out and about?

My wife Mary Jean and I are blessed with eight grandchildren. The youngest is 4 and the oldest is 15. This leads to seven of them playing summer baseball. So, we spend several of our evenings each week with our old people chairs, watching games and eating hot dogs at Shafer Park.

In an opinion column this week in the Wall Street Journal former Harvard law professor and Donald Trump backer Alan Dershowitz said: “Mr. Smith (special counsel in the case) has made a stronger case against Mr. Trump than many observers, including me, expected… The indictment quotes tape-recorded conversations that form the basis for several charges under the Espionage Act. The critical recording is of a conversation between Mr. Trump, a writer, a publisher and two Trump staffers, who were discussing a claim that a senior military official had persuaded Mr. Trump not to order an attack on ‘country A,’ which in context is surely Iran.”

It’s time to be thinking about Father’s Day — even if all we do is think about it.

I’ve had several random encounters and run-ins with rock stars over the years, and most have been documented on this site at one time or another. Just type in “random encounters” in the search box and several blogs will pop up. Mike Love of the Beach Boys got down on one knee and sang to a girl I was with once, and afterwards sent a roadie down to ask if she wanted to meet him after the show. That particular girl laughed it off, but on another occasion it never went down that way. Here’s the story:

“The cat prints and the poetry and the leaf print in the cement will not last 200 million years. But they will last longer than the poet who wrote the words or the cat who left the prints or the tree that dropped the leaf. And I think that is, somehow, wonderful.”

I know. Nobody writes attention-grabbing titles like me. You’re welcome.