Sparkle comes through again!

You thought I was kidding about those last 23 hours, didn't you?


Give-A-Christmas fund surpasses goal thanks to $23,665 more in donations

Updated 12/23/2008 01:15:16 AM EST

Herald-Standard readers contributed $23,665 to the 2008 Give-A-Christmas campaign in the most recent donations, pushing the total to $46,743 - well beyond the $40,000 goal.

Most of the new donations came from the students, teachers and parents of the Albert Gallatin School District, who raised $19,000 this year through the efforts of Albert Gallatin Education Association.

"That is so fantastic!" said Sparkle. "The generosity of Herald-Standard readers is amazing. Thank you for all your gifts. We appreciate them all. But don't forget that we still have a few hours left in the campaign. The deadline is noon today so if you want to make a donation, bring it to the Herald-Standard office on East Church Street now."

Ah, the magic of Christmas!

Photographs and Memories

Well, I reckon this is my last post before Christmas and probably until sometime next week. We're spending Christmas with our granddaughter Ashton and her parents Missy and Matt (aka the M&Ms). It's been awhile since we spent Christmas with a 2-year old so it should be quite a time. Ashton told her Nana that Santa Claus is bringing her toys for Christmas and when asked what kind of toys, she replied confidently, "big toys." Norman Vincent Peale would be proud. Our son Chris will be there too so we'll all be together for Christmas.

When we were kids, my sister and I actually had two Christmases because Santa - what a great guy! - brought presents to our house a couple of days early so that he could get to my grandparents' house with even more presents before we got there for Christmas. This fond recollection suggests that I was a quantity kind of kid whereas Ashton seems more interested in volume.

Of course, it's easy to pooh-pooh quantity now after the birthday she had in October:

As for that being together stuff, I guess I just took it for granted back then because the usual suspects were always there. Now, so many years later, I wish that I had paid more attention to the "who" rather than only the "what." Such as they are, the memories are a little soft focus and also, despite it being such a colorful season, mainly in black and white. A lot of them are found a dozen at a time in little 3 1/2 inch square photo books called "FOTO-MEMORIES PRINTS" or "GENUINE SUPER PAK SNAPS." They look a lot like this:

That's my sister Sherri and me (on the left, smart guys). I'm 7 years old (maybe 8) and cute as ever, huh? Oh to be able to look at the back of it and see something printed like, "December 24, 1956, 07:54:22 PM" or something rather than having to guess at even the year! And yet, blurry or not, black-and-white or brilliant color, annotated or blank, whatever or whichever the pictures are, they are better than not having any at all. Usually when something is said to be better than nothing, it is said disparagingly but not in this case. "Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance - each beautiful, unique and too soon gone." Photographs and memories...

Over the holidays, pay attention. Take some pictures. Smile.

Merry Christmas!

PS - Sparkle is sweating it out over in Uniontown. As of this morning, only $23,077 raised but, on the bright side, they still have another 23 hours or so to raise the other $16,923.

Just when you think that your wheels is all greased...

My hometown is bankrupt.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported recently that Uniontown, PA declared bankruptcy back in January and former mailman and new mayor Ed Fike didn't know about it until he took office. "I was overwhelmed," Fike said. "I was never in this building before I was elected. When you drive by City Hall or the courthouse it gives you a good feeling of ... security. You know that our wheels is all greased and they're all running right and little did I know that this was kind of the biggest farce that there ever was. The city was bankrupt."

Uniontown is the county seat of Fayette county out in southwest Pennsylvania. It has a population of about 12,000 people who have a median household income of just over $22,000 (median income for the state of Pennsylvania is $48,000). The last time anyone looked at the unemployment rate, it was approaching 13% and this was before the current turmoil.

Uniontown also has one daily paper, the Herald-Standard. There used to be two daily papers, the Morning Herald and the Evening Standard but long ago they realized that the city couldn't support two papers. How they came up with the new name remains a mystery.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because every year, starting at Thanksgiving, the Herald-Standard supports the local Salvation Army by sponsoring a "Give-A-Christmas" fundraising campaign. For the past few years, the goal has always been the same: $40,000. Their official mascot is Sparkle, the Christmas Star, who appears daily on Page One to provide an update and encourage contributions. That's her (at least I think she's a "her") at the top of this post. As of this morning, they had raised $16,742.90 and Sparkle waxed exuberant:

“Wow! That’s fantastic,’’ said Sparkle, the official mascot for the campaign. "We're so thrilled to see everyone pitching in to help the Salvation Army. Remember, the money is given to Salvation Army service units in the Herald-Standard readership area. Your donation goes to the service unit that provides for your neighborhood. No money is shared. You are helping your neighbors
when you give.’’

“But please hurry,’’ said Sparkle. “We only have a few days left and we want to
raise $40,000 for the Salvation Army. They do a fantastic job of helping people.’’

Contributions are accepted until noon on the 23rd and the announcement of how much was raised comes in the Christmas Eve edition (www.heraldstandard.com). Quickly doing the math, you realize that they have raised less than $17,000 in 3 weeks and therefore have to raise another $23,257.10 in the next 5 1/2 days.

It's this way every year, a real nail biter. By about December 21st, they're in the mid to high $20Ks and you think, "No way... " but by Christmas Eve they have raised a little more than $40,000. Will they pull this one out of the hat as well? I'm betting yes, despite bankruptcy. Last minute corporate contributions? Sure. But those are good people out in Uniontown, most of whom won't be enjoying a lavish Christmas themselves. They are who Barack Obama said cling to their guns and religion in tough times. Perhaps, but they also cling to one another.

Maybe their wheels isn't, er, aren't greased as much this year and security is in shorter supply. But when they write to Sparkle and enclose a check for five or ten dollars, when little kids leave a dollar in the Christmas Castle at the Uniontown Mall and get to write their name on a paper star to hang in the Sparkle Sky, when anyone helps the other by giving what they can, they prove the proverbial true meaning of Christmas. Each one is like the Christmas candle that "... is a lovely thing. It makes no noise at all, but softly gives itself away."

Bush feted in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi television reporter hurled two shoes at President Bush, one after another, as he held a news conference Sunday with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraqi officials said the journalist is a member of a heretofore little known splinter group of insurgents from both the Shiites and Sunnis who call themselves the Shoenies.

President Bush was apparently the sole target of the attack.

The shoes were immediately wrestled to the ground by alert Secret Service agents and whisked off to a Famous Footwear outlet in downtown Baghdad. Both US and Iraqi officials denied reports that illegal methods of torture such as shoe stretchers, metal cleats and tying laces too tightly were being used to loosen their tongues.

Also slightly injured in the incident was White House spokesperson Dana Perino who was hit in the eye by a microphone during the fracas. An unnamed NBC reporter quipped that it wasn't the first time that Perino had been hurt by being too close to a microphone.

On the heels of Iraq visit, Bush left immediately for Afghanistan. Agents assigned to protect the president are breathing a sigh of relief since shoes are not as common in that country.

Better than vise grips?

A necktie is always a nice gift and, apparently, in this long lost, fondly remembered, never to be seen again man's world you also got breakfast in bed! I assume she's his wife, huh?

Quite a price war though. The Van Heusen man-talking, power-packed pattern ties go for 2 bucks (!). The vise grips run anywhere between $1.85 and $2.60 but, remember, rather than power they pack man magic! What's a gal to do?

Friday musings...

Random thoughts in no particular order...

Christmas must be coming. How else to explain commercials that, like candy canes and Wawa egg nog, are only seen at this time of year? Friends, I'm talking about The Clapper and Chia Pets. Does anybody give (or, worse yet, receive) these for Christmas? Sometimes, their TV commercials run back to back, leaving you gasping for air.

Of course, dubious gifts are nothing new and I came across this old ad to prove that gift giving desperation knows no generation.



WOW! Thanks honey! Hey - move your nose a little closer to me so that I can try out some man magic on it right now!

I don't look forward to Fridays the way I did when I went to work every day; in fact, I actually get more excited about Mondays. It was not always so. When I was a kid, Sunday nights meant two things: [1] the end of the weekend and, worse, [2] going back to school. For a long time afterward, this dread would sometimes recur, substituting "work" for "school" even though, more often than not, things turned out OK. Friday meant [1] the end of the work week and, better, [2] starting the weekend. Lately, Friday closes out another week of little accomplishment while Monday teases the possibility of something good happening. Wasn't it Scarlet O'Hara who so sagely observed that, "Tomorrow is another day" (or was it Annie)?

Before I go have my same breakfast at my same place and sit in the same booth, I get to watch a little of the Today show and I have come to feel great sympathy for weatherman Al Roker. The weather usually comes in the middle of the proceedings, after the bailout news but somewhere before Obama's latest cabinet appointment. Often, however, it comes right after some terrible story that just sucks the life out of you. They'll come back to Meredith Vieira who will say something like, "Savannah Guthrie reporting on the horrific discovery of heads of decapitated puppies and kittens impaled on the fence of an elementary school in Sticky Syrup, Tennessee. [PAUSE] And now here's Al with a look at the weather!" Al is unfortunately standing outside in front of about a thousand cheering people, one of whom is a woman dressed as an elf, holding up a sign that says, "Santa, I'm always good!" Maybe they should slip in a Clapper commercial before they go to Al; even bad weather would sound good after that.

Have a wonderful weekend all!

If the fates allow

I watched "Meet Me in St. Louis" last week on Turner Classic Movies. It isn't one of my favorite movies but I put up with it just to see Judy Garland sing, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to Margaret O'Brien at the end. It's one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs (and I have a lot of all-time favorite Christmas songs).

Made in 1944, the plot is essentially this: Things are rosy in St. Louis until father announces that his bank is transferring him to New York. Isn't this wonderful? Well, apparently not as far as the rest of the family is concerned. Facing their last Christmas in St. Louis, big sister Judy sings this melancholy song on Christmas Eve to an almost inconsolable 7-year old Margaret.

The song as we all know it today is kind of sad yet hopeful but the original lyrics written for the movie were almost suicidal:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York

No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more

But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

Judy Garland was very upset with these lyrics fearing that audiences would not take kindly to her singing such a dark song to a little girl, and she complained to composer Hugh Martin. Martin reminded her that the girls are supposed to be sad to which Garland responded, "Yes, but not that sad." So back to the drawing board (or, more likely, to the piano) and the result was this:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us once more

Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

But even this isn't the end of the story. In 1957, Frank Sinatra was recording a jolly Christmas album called, uh, "A Jolly Christmas" and asked Hugh Martin if he could change that "muddle through somehow" line because, well, it isn't all that jolly, is it? [In fact, Sinatra had actually recorded the "muddle" version ten years earlier.] Anyway, Martin (who must have been getting tired of people wanting to mess with his song) came back changing, "Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow" to "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough" and this is the lyric that you usually hear today, regardless of who is singing it. One notable exception is James Taylor's version recorded in the fall of 2001, not long after 9/11, which brings back the bittersweet "muddle" line.

AND at the risk of ending on a sad note, we bid a fond farewell to Dennis Yost who died Sunday at age 65. If you don't recognize his name, you probably recognize it as it was usually heard - Dennis Yost & The Classics IV whose 60s hits ihcluded "Stormy," "Spooky," "Traces" and, a little less well-known, "Every Day With You Girl." Bring back that sunny day.

Hello anybody and everybody...

So my friend Fred says, "You should write a blog. You know how to write. You're creative."

Well, we shall see.

Fred might also have added, "You have time on your hands," since, at the moment (and for the past several months), I am looking for a new job. Other terms for this phenomenon are "between jobs," "a victim of the bad economy" and "considering an encore career" but a rose (or thorn) by any other name and all that, know what I mean?

Of course, being at home is not without its little perks. I go to the same place for breakfast every morning and have the same kind of bagel and coffee and, if I time it right, sit in the same booth. [I prefer the middle one on the right as you come in the door but on cold mornings like the ones we've been having lately, I'll settle for the one in the corner because the heater runs under the seat.] Sometimes, my meal is ready before I even get up to the cashier to pay for it. Don't I feel important? Oh my, do I... baby, 'deed I do!

In this inaugural post, I had planned to provide some insight into what readers (yes, both of you) can expect in the future but I realize now that I should have thought the content thing through a little more. I have strong opinions about some things but pride myself on often trying to see all sides of an issue. Unfortunately, I am rarely able to tell where seeing all sides of an issue leaves off and wishy-washiness begins but I do what I can. My political leanings are best described as whatever makes sense at the moment.

While I am a pretty outgoing person, there are a lot of things that I don't talk about willingly so it will be interesting - even for me - to see what comes out here. What I do talk about willingly, ad nauseum, is music so I will probably try to post information about songs and artists after I learn a little more about how to do it, uh, legally. We certainly don't want to step on anyone's copyright toes, do we?

And, of course, you can write to me if you are so inclined. I will be interested in what you have to say although I do not guarantee a response.

So off we go. As a dear old colleague of mine used to say, "Stand by to stand by!"