"Since the pandemic started, I've wanted to stay connected with our community. Through the form of a weekly blog, I share my insights and reflections on various topics."
On January 3rd, astronaut Walt Cunningham died, and I’ll admit that I didn’t know anything about him. I suspect that most people know of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they were the first people to walk on the moon in 1969. I certainly remember Armstrong’s famous line of taking “one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.”
I imagine that everyone starts January thinking about goals that they want to accomplish in the new year and goals that were not fully accomplished in the prior year. We are inundated with messages about how to plan for better lives and techniques to help us accomplish those goals.
I thought it would be appropriate to end the year with a story from the Metropolitan Diary in the Sunday NYT. A woman has two tickets to see the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall when the person who was supposed to join her cancels suddenly.
There is a lot of discussion these days about price inflation, but a friend sent me an article from the Economist which noted another type of inflation – job title inflation. Receptionists become Directors of First Impressions and undertakers become Directors of Last Impressions.
I thought I was ahead of the curve by writing this week’s edition earlier than usual. Well, that adage about the best laid plans holds true once again. I was cooking dinner and watching the PBS NewsHour on Wednesday evening. December 14th marked the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting in which 20 students and six educators were killed.
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot is likely not a name with which you are familiar. I know I wasn’t before I heard her story. She tells the story of when she was a law student. She didn’t have any money. None for gas and none for food. She was desperate and found herself at the local Salvation Army in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.