- May 01 : Loyalty Day
- " 02 : Baby Day
- " 03 : World Press Freedom Day
- " 04 : Star Wars Day
- " 05 : Oyster Day
- " 06 : No Diet Day
- " 07 : School Nurses Day
- " 08 : Iris Day
- " 09 : Lost Sock Memorial Day
- " 10 : National Train Day
- " 11 : Eat What You Want Day
- " 12 : Fatigue Syndrome Day
- " 13 : Leprechaun Day
- " 14 : National Receptionist Day
- " 15 : National Chocolate Chip Day
- " 16 : National Bike to Work Day
- " 17 : Armed Forces Day
- " 18 : No Dirty Dishes Day
- " 19 : Boy's Club Day
- " 20 : Be a Millionaire Day
- " 21 : National Waiters and Waitresses Day
- " 22 : Buy a Musical Instrument Day
- " 23 : Lucky Penny Day
- " 24 : International Jazz Day
- " 25 : National Missing Children's Day
- " 26 : Sally Ride Day
- " 27 : Sun Screen Day
- " 28 : Amnesty International Day
- " 29 : Learn About Composting Day
- " 30 : Water a Flower Day
- " 31 : Save Your Hearing Day
Friday, May 2, 2014
The Month of May
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Deserving of Thanks
His memory of that fateful day is a constant companion: World War II.........Normandy, France, 1944..........an accidental bazooka explosion.........jagged shrapnel tearing into his stomach, arms and legs........the chilling squeeze of death's cold hand.
Should the events of that day 70 years ago ever become clouded by the passage of time, a glance at his right hand, where his pinky used to be, will provide renewed clarity.
Shortly after surviving a mild heart attack a few months ago, 90-year-old Walter F. Thompson''s memories of that day shone clear as he was en route to Carroll's Jewelers in Doylestown. The Army veteran is a member of the often-called greatest generation that sacrificed so much for so many. But on this day, he was about to do something for himself.
Along with his memories, Thompson toted a damaged high school graduation ring to his jeweler ------ the ring he wore on his right hand when that bazooka shell exploded. His pinky was so severely damaged it had to be surgically removed shortly after he was wounded.
The graduation ring from Northeast High School in Philadelphia was severely damaged too, bent out of shape to such a degree that it couldn't be worn. Still, Thompson tucked it into his uniform pocket, took it back to America, put it away and forgot about it.
The passage of time often draws our gaze over our shoulders, to the days when our lives were new and the future was an open highway. And as Thompson's 90th birthday approached, he began thinking about that ring and how much he wanted to wear it again.
"I didn't want to restore my ring to exactly the way it was, but to change it to reflect my Army service," said Thompson, a resident of Ann's Choice, a continuing care retirement community in Warminster. "I wanted to get it re-stylized with the insignia that officers put on their caps ------- a large eagle clutching arrows. I was only an Army staff sergeant, not an officer, but I didn't think anybody would mind. I was doing it to remember my service and to honor my country."
When Thompson visited the jewelry store and handed the damaged ring to Carroll's owner Joel Robinson, the jeweler immediately knew restoring it to the man's specifications would be challenging.
"The ring was damaged and needed to be reworked," Robinson said. "Plus, he wanted a particular insignia."
Thompson described what he wanted, and Robinson said he'd do his best. But the jeweler soon realized the insignia Thompson chose was too large for the ring's stone.
"I told him that if he couldn't find what I was looking for, he shouldn't worry about it. I told him to just fix the ring. But he said, 'Don't worry. It might take some time, but I'll find the insignia for you.'"
Months passed. Thompson hadn't heard a thing. He gave up on the project.
Two weeks ago, Thompson answered his phone. It was the news he was certain he would never hear: Robinson saying his ring was ready to be picked up. The next day, Thompson excitedly walked into the jewelry store. He approached the counter, where a sales clerk handed him the ring. It was just as he had hoped. The look and fit were perfect as he slid it onto his left ring finger.
And then Thompson hanbded the saleswoman his charge card.
"She handed it back to me and said, 'Sir, your bill has been taken care of,'" said Thompson, who celebrates his 90th birthday today. "Then she told me she'd like to read me a note."
The note was from a gentleman who was in the store when Thompson brought the ring in. The man, a regular customer of Carroll's, had overheard Thompson talking about how the ring was damaged during the war. After he left the jeweler, the man went home and thought about doing something nice for Thompson. He phoned the jewelry store and said he wanted to pay for the ring's repair, and asked the clerk to make sure to thank Thompson for his service to our country.
Thompson asked the clerk for the man's phone number because he wanted to call and thank him for his unexpected generosity. The clerk informed Thompson the man wants to remain anonymous.
"That was sure nice of him, but I don't think I did anything special," Thompson said, his voice cracking with emotion over the generosity of a man he doesn't know. "People are always saying thank you for your service. That's nice, but I tell everybody, that back then, we were all eager to serve. We did it for our country. We don't need to be thanked."
There are those of us, anonymous and otherwise, who couldn't disagree more.
Should the events of that day 70 years ago ever become clouded by the passage of time, a glance at his right hand, where his pinky used to be, will provide renewed clarity.
Shortly after surviving a mild heart attack a few months ago, 90-year-old Walter F. Thompson''s memories of that day shone clear as he was en route to Carroll's Jewelers in Doylestown. The Army veteran is a member of the often-called greatest generation that sacrificed so much for so many. But on this day, he was about to do something for himself.
Along with his memories, Thompson toted a damaged high school graduation ring to his jeweler ------ the ring he wore on his right hand when that bazooka shell exploded. His pinky was so severely damaged it had to be surgically removed shortly after he was wounded.
The graduation ring from Northeast High School in Philadelphia was severely damaged too, bent out of shape to such a degree that it couldn't be worn. Still, Thompson tucked it into his uniform pocket, took it back to America, put it away and forgot about it.
The passage of time often draws our gaze over our shoulders, to the days when our lives were new and the future was an open highway. And as Thompson's 90th birthday approached, he began thinking about that ring and how much he wanted to wear it again.
"I didn't want to restore my ring to exactly the way it was, but to change it to reflect my Army service," said Thompson, a resident of Ann's Choice, a continuing care retirement community in Warminster. "I wanted to get it re-stylized with the insignia that officers put on their caps ------- a large eagle clutching arrows. I was only an Army staff sergeant, not an officer, but I didn't think anybody would mind. I was doing it to remember my service and to honor my country."
When Thompson visited the jewelry store and handed the damaged ring to Carroll's owner Joel Robinson, the jeweler immediately knew restoring it to the man's specifications would be challenging.
"The ring was damaged and needed to be reworked," Robinson said. "Plus, he wanted a particular insignia."
Thompson described what he wanted, and Robinson said he'd do his best. But the jeweler soon realized the insignia Thompson chose was too large for the ring's stone.
"I told him that if he couldn't find what I was looking for, he shouldn't worry about it. I told him to just fix the ring. But he said, 'Don't worry. It might take some time, but I'll find the insignia for you.'"
Months passed. Thompson hadn't heard a thing. He gave up on the project.
Two weeks ago, Thompson answered his phone. It was the news he was certain he would never hear: Robinson saying his ring was ready to be picked up. The next day, Thompson excitedly walked into the jewelry store. He approached the counter, where a sales clerk handed him the ring. It was just as he had hoped. The look and fit were perfect as he slid it onto his left ring finger.
And then Thompson hanbded the saleswoman his charge card.
"She handed it back to me and said, 'Sir, your bill has been taken care of,'" said Thompson, who celebrates his 90th birthday today. "Then she told me she'd like to read me a note."
The note was from a gentleman who was in the store when Thompson brought the ring in. The man, a regular customer of Carroll's, had overheard Thompson talking about how the ring was damaged during the war. After he left the jeweler, the man went home and thought about doing something nice for Thompson. He phoned the jewelry store and said he wanted to pay for the ring's repair, and asked the clerk to make sure to thank Thompson for his service to our country.
Thompson asked the clerk for the man's phone number because he wanted to call and thank him for his unexpected generosity. The clerk informed Thompson the man wants to remain anonymous.
"That was sure nice of him, but I don't think I did anything special," Thompson said, his voice cracking with emotion over the generosity of a man he doesn't know. "People are always saying thank you for your service. That's nice, but I tell everybody, that back then, we were all eager to serve. We did it for our country. We don't need to be thanked."
There are those of us, anonymous and otherwise, who couldn't disagree more.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Stormy tale of two baseball greats
Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella occupy the pantheon of baseball players who became folk heroes. Their relationship, though, has received little attention, even from writers who knew them best, such as Roger Kahn, author of The Boys of Summer, the definitive book on the late 1940s and 1950s Dodgers. That's because much of the Robinson-Campanella story doesn't show the two Hall of Famers at their best.
William Kashatus, author of the superb September Swoon: Richie Allen, the '64 Phillies and Racial Integration, has taken on a tricky subject and handled it well. He's right to say the book "offers an important corrective to what has become a sanitized retelling of their relationship and its impact on baseball's integration process."
"To be sure," he writes in his introduction, "Robinson and Campanella possessed different personalities that often clashed during their years with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Where Robinson was overly aggressive and intense, Campanella was more passive and easygoing. Jackie's race consciousness and relentless drive were admired by teammates and eventually opponents, but these qualities certainly did not endear him to the white baseball establishment. Conversely, Campy's indefatigable enthusiasm and boyish charm made him one of the game's most popular players."
Campanella grew to be jealous of Robinson's status as the man who broke baseball's color barrier. (Campanella entered the big leagues in 1948, a year after Robinson.) Robinson, in turn, resented Campanella's popularity.
Their backgrounds were a study in contrast. Robinson was born in 1919 and raised in poverty by his mother, a domestic, in Pasadena, Calif. He went on to graduate from UCLA.
Campanella, born in Germantown in 1921 to a Sicilian father and African American mother, grew up in working-class Nicetown. He left high school at age 16 to pursue baseball in the Negro Leagues.
Both were lucky enough to be called up by the Brooklyn Dodgers, whose general manager, Branch Rickey, was determined to integrate baseball. Brooklyn offered just about the best conditions available for black players in the big leagues. As one Brooklynite put it, "The great thing about being a kid in Brooklyn during the 1930s was that it didn't matter what your ethnic background was........... Everybody was the same. Nobody had anything."
Together, Robinson and Campanella led the Dodgers to six pennants from 1947 through 1956, though their styles were markedly different. When a young black pitcher, Don Newcombe, joined the team, Robinson bullied him, "challenging the young pitcher's character in order to motivate him on the mound." Campanella's approach, as Kashatus writes, was the opposite: "Cool and easy, Campy soothed Newk every time and emotionally stroked his confidence, like a balm on a wound."
Campanella's leadership of the Dodgers and his even-tempered personality "endeared him to the white baseball establishment. But those same qualities irked Robinson." But both men, it should be noted, along with other black players in the Brooklyn club, went out of their way to support an 18-year-old pitching phenom named Sandy Koufax, who was bombarded around the league with anti-Semitic taunts.
What could have been a sad story ended on a positive note. In 1964, Robinson, long retired, went to visit his old teammate, who had been in a wheelchair since a 1958 automobile accident while driving back home from his Harlem liquor store. Robinson presented Campanella with an autographed copy of his recently published memoir.
Campanella, Kashatus writes, "greeted Robinson warmly, and they conducted a two-hour discussion on race relations in America.......it became clear to Jackie that the two men now shared the same philosophy, namely that there was no place for segregation, black separatism, or violence in the Civil Rights movement."
Kashatus tells their story with an appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses. Jackie & Campy is no hagiography: "When we idolize them we fail to acknowledge the meaning of their contributions as well as their sacrifices. Neither man would want that."
William Kashatus, author of the superb September Swoon: Richie Allen, the '64 Phillies and Racial Integration, has taken on a tricky subject and handled it well. He's right to say the book "offers an important corrective to what has become a sanitized retelling of their relationship and its impact on baseball's integration process."
"To be sure," he writes in his introduction, "Robinson and Campanella possessed different personalities that often clashed during their years with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Where Robinson was overly aggressive and intense, Campanella was more passive and easygoing. Jackie's race consciousness and relentless drive were admired by teammates and eventually opponents, but these qualities certainly did not endear him to the white baseball establishment. Conversely, Campy's indefatigable enthusiasm and boyish charm made him one of the game's most popular players."
Campanella grew to be jealous of Robinson's status as the man who broke baseball's color barrier. (Campanella entered the big leagues in 1948, a year after Robinson.) Robinson, in turn, resented Campanella's popularity.
Their backgrounds were a study in contrast. Robinson was born in 1919 and raised in poverty by his mother, a domestic, in Pasadena, Calif. He went on to graduate from UCLA.
Campanella, born in Germantown in 1921 to a Sicilian father and African American mother, grew up in working-class Nicetown. He left high school at age 16 to pursue baseball in the Negro Leagues.
Both were lucky enough to be called up by the Brooklyn Dodgers, whose general manager, Branch Rickey, was determined to integrate baseball. Brooklyn offered just about the best conditions available for black players in the big leagues. As one Brooklynite put it, "The great thing about being a kid in Brooklyn during the 1930s was that it didn't matter what your ethnic background was........... Everybody was the same. Nobody had anything."
Together, Robinson and Campanella led the Dodgers to six pennants from 1947 through 1956, though their styles were markedly different. When a young black pitcher, Don Newcombe, joined the team, Robinson bullied him, "challenging the young pitcher's character in order to motivate him on the mound." Campanella's approach, as Kashatus writes, was the opposite: "Cool and easy, Campy soothed Newk every time and emotionally stroked his confidence, like a balm on a wound."
Campanella's leadership of the Dodgers and his even-tempered personality "endeared him to the white baseball establishment. But those same qualities irked Robinson." But both men, it should be noted, along with other black players in the Brooklyn club, went out of their way to support an 18-year-old pitching phenom named Sandy Koufax, who was bombarded around the league with anti-Semitic taunts.
What could have been a sad story ended on a positive note. In 1964, Robinson, long retired, went to visit his old teammate, who had been in a wheelchair since a 1958 automobile accident while driving back home from his Harlem liquor store. Robinson presented Campanella with an autographed copy of his recently published memoir.
Campanella, Kashatus writes, "greeted Robinson warmly, and they conducted a two-hour discussion on race relations in America.......it became clear to Jackie that the two men now shared the same philosophy, namely that there was no place for segregation, black separatism, or violence in the Civil Rights movement."
Kashatus tells their story with an appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses. Jackie & Campy is no hagiography: "When we idolize them we fail to acknowledge the meaning of their contributions as well as their sacrifices. Neither man would want that."
Kennections
All five correct answers have something in common.
Can you figure out what it is?
1. What national emblem of Canada is also an official animal of the state of Oregon?
2. In 1936, John McCain was born in the Canal Zone, a U.S. territory that today belongs to what country?
3. What type of horse race for three-year-olds is named for an event held annually at Epsom Downs in Surrey, England since 1780?
4. What was the name of Wilmer Valderrama's exchange student character on That '70s Show?
5. What do the British call the part of a car that Americans call the "hood"?
Bonus : What's the "Kennection" between all five answers?
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Answers : 1. Beaver
2. Panama
3. Derby
4. Fez
5. Bonnet
Bonus : All are types of Hat
Can you figure out what it is?
1. What national emblem of Canada is also an official animal of the state of Oregon?
2. In 1936, John McCain was born in the Canal Zone, a U.S. territory that today belongs to what country?
3. What type of horse race for three-year-olds is named for an event held annually at Epsom Downs in Surrey, England since 1780?
4. What was the name of Wilmer Valderrama's exchange student character on That '70s Show?
5. What do the British call the part of a car that Americans call the "hood"?
Bonus : What's the "Kennection" between all five answers?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. Beaver
2. Panama
3. Derby
4. Fez
5. Bonnet
Bonus : All are types of Hat
Thanks for a good deed: Just pass it on
Dear Abby : It seems strange to write to you, but I'd like to share this stoy about how small acts of kindness can multiply.
On a dark, miserable afternoon, I was out grocery shopping. The woman in line in front of me had two small children and two full carts of groceries. When all her bags were loaded, she began frantically searching in her purse for her car keys. When she couldn't find them, she realized that, in her haste, she had locked them inside her car. I asked if I could drive her home to get a spare key and she agreed.
I helped her into her house with her bags of groceries, then drove them all back to the store for her car. "How can I ever thank you?" she asked. My reply was, "No thanks are needed; just pass it on."
Two weeks later, I was at a party when a couple walked into the living room and the woman excitedly said, "There she is!" It was the woman from the market. She rushed over and proceeded to tell everyone how we met.
Then she said she'd had her chance to "pass it on." I asked what she told the person who had thanked her, and she said, "I said what you did: 'No thanks are needed ----- pass it on!"
Small kindnesses bring big rewards. If anyone has been the recipient of an act of kindness, remember to pass it on. It's the Golden Rule.
Thanks, Dear Abby ----- you "pass on" kindness with each column you write.
---Living the Golden Rule
Dear Living The Golden Rule : I am a firm believer in passing it on and have long shared that philosophy with friends. However, regardless of how long you preach, the best sermon is a good example.
On a dark, miserable afternoon, I was out grocery shopping. The woman in line in front of me had two small children and two full carts of groceries. When all her bags were loaded, she began frantically searching in her purse for her car keys. When she couldn't find them, she realized that, in her haste, she had locked them inside her car. I asked if I could drive her home to get a spare key and she agreed.
I helped her into her house with her bags of groceries, then drove them all back to the store for her car. "How can I ever thank you?" she asked. My reply was, "No thanks are needed; just pass it on."
Two weeks later, I was at a party when a couple walked into the living room and the woman excitedly said, "There she is!" It was the woman from the market. She rushed over and proceeded to tell everyone how we met.
Then she said she'd had her chance to "pass it on." I asked what she told the person who had thanked her, and she said, "I said what you did: 'No thanks are needed ----- pass it on!"
Small kindnesses bring big rewards. If anyone has been the recipient of an act of kindness, remember to pass it on. It's the Golden Rule.
Thanks, Dear Abby ----- you "pass on" kindness with each column you write.
---Living the Golden Rule
Dear Living The Golden Rule : I am a firm believer in passing it on and have long shared that philosophy with friends. However, regardless of how long you preach, the best sermon is a good example.
Weird News
They won't be able to do the Dew
Orlando, Fla. --------- Students in one Central Florida school this year will try to ace high-stakes standardized tests without their usual shot of Mountain Dew.
The change came after a grandmother called local media to complain about a long-standing pretest energy snack offered to students at Creel Elementary in Melbourne consisting of a sip of soda and some trail mix. Students instead will get water with the trail mix, Brevard County School District spokeswoman Michelle Irwin said.
Many Florida schools provide students free snacks or meals on days when the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests are administered. Peppermints, which are believed to help with concentration, are particularly popular at many schools. Creel Elementary School Principal Kathryn Edward did not return a call for comment. For 10 years, she had been giving her students 3 tablespoons of Mountain Dew in a cup and some trail mix.
Bring on the ketchup
Waterville, Maine -------- A tractor-trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of french fries caught fire in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the Maine city of Waterville.
The city's fire chief said overheated brakes were the suspected cause of the late-night blaze in the middle of the busy parking lot. The driver said he pulled over when he smelled smoke from the back of the truck. The Portland Press Herald reported that nobody was injured in the fire.
The driver was on his way from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island to New Jersey to deliver the fries.
Speaking of potatoes........
Providence, R.I. ------------ A man used a potato to pretend he had a gun while trying to rob a Rhode Island business, police said.
WPRI-TV reported that the man entered a convenience store with a potato and shouted : "Give me the money." A police report said the store manager chased him off with a baseball bat. Officers later went to a laundromat, where an employee told them a man fitting the description came in carrying a potato and yelled : "I need the money."
The TV station reported that the employee gave the man a $20 bill from a decoy cash register and he left.
That's just cruel
Cleveland ---------- A woman caught on an Ohio cemetery surveillance video taking a toy duck off the grave of a 14-month-old boy has been charged with petty theft, police said.
Police in Ontario, Ohio, had tried for nearly two years to capture a clear image of someone who was taking mementos from the boy's grave. They finally got that image and posted it to Facebook.
Thousands of comments came in on the video showing a woman leaving the gravesite with a stuffed duck that had been placed there just hours before by the toddler's parents. Some of the posts identified the woman as Frieda Kay Shade, 54, Ontario police Detective Jon Sigler said.
Orlando, Fla. --------- Students in one Central Florida school this year will try to ace high-stakes standardized tests without their usual shot of Mountain Dew.
The change came after a grandmother called local media to complain about a long-standing pretest energy snack offered to students at Creel Elementary in Melbourne consisting of a sip of soda and some trail mix. Students instead will get water with the trail mix, Brevard County School District spokeswoman Michelle Irwin said.
Many Florida schools provide students free snacks or meals on days when the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests are administered. Peppermints, which are believed to help with concentration, are particularly popular at many schools. Creel Elementary School Principal Kathryn Edward did not return a call for comment. For 10 years, she had been giving her students 3 tablespoons of Mountain Dew in a cup and some trail mix.
Bring on the ketchup
Waterville, Maine -------- A tractor-trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of french fries caught fire in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the Maine city of Waterville.
The city's fire chief said overheated brakes were the suspected cause of the late-night blaze in the middle of the busy parking lot. The driver said he pulled over when he smelled smoke from the back of the truck. The Portland Press Herald reported that nobody was injured in the fire.
The driver was on his way from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island to New Jersey to deliver the fries.
Speaking of potatoes........
Providence, R.I. ------------ A man used a potato to pretend he had a gun while trying to rob a Rhode Island business, police said.
WPRI-TV reported that the man entered a convenience store with a potato and shouted : "Give me the money." A police report said the store manager chased him off with a baseball bat. Officers later went to a laundromat, where an employee told them a man fitting the description came in carrying a potato and yelled : "I need the money."
The TV station reported that the employee gave the man a $20 bill from a decoy cash register and he left.
That's just cruel
Cleveland ---------- A woman caught on an Ohio cemetery surveillance video taking a toy duck off the grave of a 14-month-old boy has been charged with petty theft, police said.
Police in Ontario, Ohio, had tried for nearly two years to capture a clear image of someone who was taking mementos from the boy's grave. They finally got that image and posted it to Facebook.
Thousands of comments came in on the video showing a woman leaving the gravesite with a stuffed duck that had been placed there just hours before by the toddler's parents. Some of the posts identified the woman as Frieda Kay Shade, 54, Ontario police Detective Jon Sigler said.
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