tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23190170249726296152024-02-07T17:39:57.098-08:00The Editor's DeskNancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-87498696429299581902013-11-21T06:26:00.000-08:002013-11-21T06:26:10.804-08:005 words that changed us: 'The president has been shot.'<i>“This murder in broad daylight ... Everything changed,” says Oliver Stone, the Hill School graduate/boomer director who served in Vietnam and made a movie about it before turning his distinctively critical lens on the Kennedy assassination.<br />
Because he knows what becomes clearer with each passing year: For better and for worse, it was the event that defined the generation that has defined the way we look at the world today.</i><br />
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That excerpt is from an essay by Associated Press national writer Ted Anthony that will be the centerpiece of a memoriam edition being planned for Friday, Nov. 22 editions of The Mercury.<br />
Like so many others, I recall this defining moment from a school classroom. I was in fourth grade at Pine Forge Elementary School, I believe my teacher was Mrs. Levengood.<br />
It was recess, and I was in the classroom alone with the teacher because I was recovering from an illness and on doctor's orders not to be outdoors.<br />
Someone knocked on the door carrying a note. I remember that the note was not folded and I saw the message: "The president has been shot."<br />
Another knock and another message a few minutes later: "President Kennedy is dead."<br />
I felt, as a 9-year-old would, important and puzzled. This message seemed so large, so shattering that it seemed out of place, written in pencil on a small piece of paper.<br />
The bearer hadn't even given it the dignity of folding to maintain secrecy.<br />
After that, I vaguely recall Mrs. Levengood breaking the news to the class and bringing a television into the classroom so we could watch events in Dallas and Washington.<br />
I remember days later being in front of the TV in the corner of our living room at home watching Lee Harvey Oswald being led by police officers down a hall, and the startling shot by Jack Ruby that killed him. I remember our shock as a family witnessing a man shot in real time on TV, just as the newscast announcers expressed their own incredulity.<br />
The assassination first of the president and then of his accused killer was all we talked about for days. This was the biggest thing to happen in our lives up till then.<br />
The Life magazine with the Zapruder photos was preserved in a crawl space of my parents' home, found decades later in 2005 when we were cleaning out the house for sale.<br />
But nothing is as clear in my memory as the sight of those few words pencilled on paper held by another student in the doorway of my fourth grade class.<br />
"The president has been shot." Five words that changed our history.<br />
Fifty years later, my generation recalls that moment, wondering how our lives in this nation might have been different if John Kennedy lived.<br />
Where were you when you learned the president had been shot? If you are part of the generation defined by that moment, you remember. <br />
The questions of conspiracy also still linger. Will we ever know what really happened 50 years ago in Dallas? And, will we ever really know how those events changed us?<br />
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-42864944144447959312013-11-15T09:34:00.000-08:002013-11-15T09:40:10.426-08:00Joining forces for a louder voice <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury</a>, like most community newspapers its size, has not traditionally had an editorial board of writers who determine and produce Opinion pieces for the paper and its related digital sites.<br />
When people have called requesting an interview with "the editorial board," I tell them they're already talking to it. <br />
Part of my job as editor is being a one-person editorial board. I write "Our View," sometimes after discussing it with a reporter or other editor. Mostly, I write Opinion pieces that I believe reflect the tone and stance of our paper and that celebrate or ask for correction of a community issue.<br />
We're not alone in this challenge. The Mercury is part of a larger network of media sites known as <a href="http://www.digitalfirstmedia.com/">Digital First Media</a>. That network includes papers as different from us as <span id="goog_305939109"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">The Denver Post <span id="goog_305939110"></span></a>and as similar as <a href="http://www.timesherald.com/">The Times Herald</a> in Norristown and <a href="http://www.dailylocal.com/">Daily Local News</a> in West Chester.<br />
It allows us to share resources, including editorials which we have often published with a tag line showing authorship.<br />
You may have noticed in recent weeks that those tag lines no longer appear.<br />
That's because The Mercury is now part of a Digital First Media Pennsylvania Editorial Board. The editorial board contributions reflect a collective opinion of the nine newspapers that make up the board.<br />
The newspapers are The Mercury, Times Herald, Daily Local News, <a href="http://www.delcotimes.com/">Delaware County Daily Times</a>, <a href="http://www.thereporteronline.com/">The (Lansdale) Reporter,</a> <a href="http://www.ydr.com/">York Daily Record</a>, <a href="http://www.publicopiniononline.com/">Chambersburg Public Opinion</a>, <a href="http://www.ldnews.com/">Lebanon Daily News </a>and <a href="http://www.eveningsun.com/">Hanover Evening Sun.</a><br />
The group "meets" by phone once a week to discuss common issues to Pennsylvania and the region. They decide on topics for editorials and on who will write them. Each contributor makes the editorial available to the group via email, but there is no obligation for an individual site to publish what's provided. We still write our own local views and can reject a regional edit if we don't agree with its stance.<br />
The board hopes to become a regional and state voice in government and on issues of common importance like nuclear power plants and the environment. The board last week interviewed Barry Schoch, who heads PennDOT, about the <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/20131110/pa-transportation-funding-comes-down-to-wire-yet-again">need for legislation to fix Pennsylvania's roads and bridges</a>.<br />
We have in the past interviewed Gov. Tom Corbett and Sen. Pat Toomey, and we hope to do more of that in the future.<br />
Working as a group gives us a louder voice on issues in state and county government.<br />
By sharing, we can bring our best and brightest to the forefront in writing Opinion pieces. We are also utilizing the talents of cartoonist Alan MacBain to accompany many of our editorials.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04eUdi492w8NlnCR2-AS2kJFjzQTInfNbHM_6NNkLSLk1dz1mXrmB9xK35bMWMDminoZEHPTFGGp-_mTrZeaFFn5DWeADRkVdi70AmIx0-Pfgf9DAImUouPrZiwEd4RmZqw-fhELeVeiD/s1600/cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04eUdi492w8NlnCR2-AS2kJFjzQTInfNbHM_6NNkLSLk1dz1mXrmB9xK35bMWMDminoZEHPTFGGp-_mTrZeaFFn5DWeADRkVdi70AmIx0-Pfgf9DAImUouPrZiwEd4RmZqw-fhELeVeiD/s320/cartoon.jpg" width="320" /></a>This is an exciting step forward for The Mercury, amplifying our voice on statewide issues that affect our local communities. Not every "Our View" will be on a regional or statewide issue; we will continue to write Opinion pieces on issues of purely local interest. And, Friday's "Roses and Thorns" continues as our local means of giving cheers and boos. <br />
We're excited about this change and hope that you, our readers, are, too. We want our opinions to inspire action that benefits you. <br />
Be assured: Property tax reform is at the top of our list. <br />
<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-82427084029902651532013-08-27T08:06:00.000-07:002013-08-27T08:06:49.032-07:00Summer of learning <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Catherine "Cat" Coyle recently completed a summer internship in our newsroom. A Boyertown grad from Gilbertsville, Cat is now a sophomore at Saint
Joseph’s University in Philadelphia studying English and international
relations. She hopes to continue studying journalism and enter the field as a
reporter specializing in foreign affairs or environmental science. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCtpS9cVEwYCbxeQWRt_UK143MhXZQeMObTZqfE442mctEqDgQA4veWz3473_1qQGJQm-hWMCENEz4hgMhfac97R2UNp2sKi1ve5a0WZk7ovWgz5Cn4s3uP8tvaWK7bEc5-ejf9ozbiKVp/s1600/cat078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCtpS9cVEwYCbxeQWRt_UK143MhXZQeMObTZqfE442mctEqDgQA4veWz3473_1qQGJQm-hWMCENEz4hgMhfac97R2UNp2sKi1ve5a0WZk7ovWgz5Cn4s3uP8tvaWK7bEc5-ejf9ozbiKVp/s200/cat078.jpg" width="143" /></a> Cat brought to our newsroom enthusiasm, talent, and a willingness to tackle any aspect of our multi-tasking jobs that we threw at her. She learned by assisting us with page production, story assignments, social media updates and even transcribing Sound-Off. </div>
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When we asked her what she learned and what she loved here, she replied, "Everything!" Indeed, the feeling was mutual. </div>
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Our thanks to Cat for sharing your love of journalism with us. We know you have a great future ahead of you. </div>
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I asked Cat to write her perspective on the summer as a guest blog item. Here it is: </div>
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By Cat Coyle</div>
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Many people ask me why I would want to enter the field of
journalism at a time like this. The business is going through changes like it
has never seen before. The only way for a publication to survive and prosper
today is to constantly adapt, and change is not easy. </div>
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But I know just how passionate and driven many journalists
are to find a way to make it work. The world needs journalists, and I want to
be one.</div>
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I had no idea what to expect as I walked up the street on my
first day as <a href="http://pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury’s</a> summer news intern. I never thought that in my three
months here, I’d meet an Olympian, or fall into a creek while covering a
summer camp event. I expected some of the skills and tools that I would learn
to use, but not the great teachers that I would encounter in the
newsroom. I also certainly never thought that I would be as sad to go as
I am. </div>
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However, I am excited to carry with me the many skills
learned and friendships formed in the newsroom on the second floor of the North
Hanover Street building that I was so nervous walking into on that first day. </div>
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On my first day, <a href="https://twitter.com/@carolinsweeney4">Mercury reporter Caroline Sweeney</a> took me
to the police station just down the road and introduced me to the chief. I
watched with awe at her ease and humor as she chatted with everyone at the station.
The number one lesson I learned from Caroline is to always be nice. If you are
polite and courteous with people, they will want to talk to you, not avoid you.
Having people avoid you is a classic journalist problem.</div>
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One big part of my job this summer was to assist with the
Mercury’s social media presence. Online editor Eileen Faust good-naturedly
taught me the tools of the trade, making me a (semi)expert of Facebook,
Twitter, Storify, and, of course, photo galleries. It’s harder than it looks. </div>
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These are some of the skills that I can’t wait to bring to
<a href="http://hawkhillnews.com/">The Hawk</a> this semester. To keep us competitive with other college newspapers,
we must establish a stronger social media presence. A newspaper’s job is to
keep a dialogue moving within their community. I think that the Mercury does an
excellent job at interacting with their readers and keeping the conversation
going. </div>
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As the community engagement editor, <a href="https://twitter.com/diane5hoffman">Diane Hoffman</a> also makes
this happen. Diane encouraged me to put together a big project that would
interact with the community. For the month of July, I visited multiple summer
camps, taking video and interviewing campers and counselors. </div>
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My project turned into a <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130728/NEWS01/130729445/camp-kids-and-summer-go-together">“day in the life of a camp counselor”</a> article by the suggestion of Evan Brandt. Diane helped me realize
how important it is to dedicate time to a project and be passionate about a
subject - the story will always turn out the best that way. We also had lots of
fun acting like children at summer camp. Well, that was mostly me. </div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/PottstownNews">Evan</a> also helped me to cover my first municipal meeting. Afterward, he patiently sat down with me and helped me edit my story
to make sure the important facts were always clear, but that the story stayed
dynamic rather than static. He taught me that the “conflict is the story,”
something that I have thought about every time I have sat down to write a story
since. His insight and writing tips will definitely not be forgotten,
along with his sass and hilarious office readings of “The Onion”. </div>
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Another thing I am proud to take with me after this summer
is the wider array of skills I have learned. In addition to writing feature,
business, and police news stories, of which I had little to no previous
experience, I learned to tackle layout.</div>
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Dubbed the “duchess of death,” by <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyPhyrillas">city editor Tony Phyrillas</a>
after successfully finishing the obituary page after multiple tries, I learned
to really enjoy putting a page together and finding what art makes the most
sense where. (Even if <a href="https://twitter.com/MercBiz">Donna Rovins</a> had to help me sixteen times every day.)
</div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/MercArtsCheryl">Cheryl Thornburg</a>, features editor, assigned me engaging
feature stories that have helped me learn that I like writing stories about
people and their experiences. Before The Mercury, I stuck with ‘hard’
news stories. I am so glad to have been given the chance to realize how great
it is to tell someone else’s story. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From learning the joys of running the “Sound Off” column
from Sue Klaus to mercilessly teasing Caroline about her birthplace with Evan
and <a href="http://twitter.com/fottojourno">Frank Otto</a>, the Mercury has taught me how important it is to fill the
workplace with laughs. Every time Bill Coldren walks in the door and updates
every one of the latest drama, no one can help but smile. I have always loved
the energy of the newsroom of my university’s publication- I was relived and
excited to find the same in a professional newsroom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lastly, I’d like to thank Editor Nancy March for the
opportunity she gave me by letting me intern with The Mercury this summer. I
was only just finishing my freshman year when I approached The Mercury, and I
am incredibly lucky to have been given the chance to work here. Nancy
encouraged me to work to my fullest potential and made sure that I experienced
all aspects of the newsroom and life as a reporter. She is the kind of manager
you want to work for and impress. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not everyone wants to go into this field right now, but my
experiences at The Mercury have only confirmed my belief that the world is
always going to need people who are trying to find the truth, and I want to be
one of them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://twitter.com/catotato">Follow Cat on Twitter @catotato. </a> </div>
Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-2875474872129179672013-07-18T08:32:00.000-07:002013-07-18T08:32:24.068-07:00Jobs that are no more <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPjM8I5DWTerLM-CQFgtTKC7VZ9K2J3dRrTooOsRu0qYXvsW8YzRKCK6-MR-I3k4lmJ_fHwMNIYh9yBsmfFLC3Aix3z5ArM46ctuOo7Qw-ZchcPUjJLPOR44C4g7-iGlevD_fKVpmcItpY/s1600/Caroline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPjM8I5DWTerLM-CQFgtTKC7VZ9K2J3dRrTooOsRu0qYXvsW8YzRKCK6-MR-I3k4lmJ_fHwMNIYh9yBsmfFLC3Aix3z5ArM46ctuOo7Qw-ZchcPUjJLPOR44C4g7-iGlevD_fKVpmcItpY/s200/Caroline.jpg" width="200" /></a>When Mercury staff writer Caroline Sweeney started work on the series, <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130718/FINANCE01/130719361/summer-jobs-mercury-reporter-tries-for-a-different-scoop-at-ice-cream-parlor">"Jobs I never had,"</a> tackling summer jobs she had never tried, we started talking in the newsroom about the summer jobs that no longer exist.<br />
As it turns out, none of the summer jobs I worked are an option these days. <br />
Back in the '70s, the region's factories provided the most lucrative employment. I worked for a time at the former Kooly Kupps plant outside Boyertown as a Styrofoam cup inspector. The job involved white cups going by on a conveyor belt with a light shining from below. If the light was visible through a spot in the cup, we discarded that cup.<br />
By the end of a shift, we were covered in white Styrofoam and surrounded by damaged cups.<br />
My second factory job was at the former Gudebrod plant, the one on Old Reading Pike near Flagg's. I worked third shift on a thread spooling machine, paid by the number of spools produced in a shift.<br />
The musty building was hot, even from11 p.m. to 7 a.m., and I walked non-stop from one end of the spooling machine to the other packing spools of various colored threads as they came off the machine. <br />
Neither of those jobs, nor those buildings exist. Thread isn't spooled and Kooly Kupps aren't manufactured around here anymore.<br />
But my best summer job that no longer exists was selling Wonder Ware, the cookware designed to make great cooks out of unsuspecting young people as they graduated from high school or college.<br />
"We're visiting ALL the girls ..." was the first line of our sales pitch. In other words, if you didn't have an eager college student pitching pots and pans in your living room, well, you just weren't part of the crowd.<br />
I worked for American Future Systems, lugging pans in a faded blue suitcase in and out of houses in the Pottstown area. We prospected sales leads through high school yearbooks and then worked referrals from one girl to the next.<br />
The competition was tough: If another company's salesperson got to a school population first, I had no chance. I made a few sales in Pottstown and Owen J. Roberts, but I hit roadblocks with households already visited. Then I started in Phoenixville, where I quickly learned I was the first salesperson in town.<br />
For July and the first half of August, I schlepped up and down the North Side, the East End and what is now the business district, <a href="http://www.tout.com/m/3sjtil">giving my pitch and selling pans</a>.<br />
I learned how to cold-call, how to talk my way inside the door of a house, how to overcome objections and how to close a sale.<br />
I
delicately stood on pans to prove their durability and aptly explained
the heat conduction advantages of three-layered copper, stainless steel
construction.<br />I navigated the slumps and peaks salespeople come to know, and I kept going through nights when the car overheated and days when I would rather have gone to the beach than pound the pavement.<br />
As it turns out, I'm pretty good at sales. I made more than $3,000 in six weeks, a small fortune in 1975 dollars; won a sales-incentive bonus of a weeklong trip to Bermuda, and even got a plaque as the fourth salesperson in the company.<br />
I was the top sales rep in the Philadelphia region. <br />
That's a job that is no more. No one is selling teens $330 sets of cookware for their future. <br />
Caroline's "jobs she never had" won't include Kooly Kupp inspector, third-shift spooler or cookware sales. That's a shame. There were lessons in those three endeavors that have served me well. <br />
<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-4465367569475232662013-07-03T10:30:00.000-07:002013-07-03T10:30:03.004-07:00Don Seeley remembered: Our eulogy <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Eulogy offered at funeral for former Mercury sports editor Don Seeley, July 1, 2013: </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I would like to thank Don’s family for inviting us
at The Mercury to have a voice here. We know the difficulties of being the wife
and children of a newspaperman. We’re honored you asked us to share in this
tribute to his life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Several years ago, I had the privilege of sharing a
podium with Don at the <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20070604/NEWS01/306049999/relay-for-life-nets-825-000-over-weekend">2007 Pottstown Relay for Life</a>. We were the speakers for
the luminaria ceremony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relay was giving
an award to The Mercury that year for our<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don was supposed to say
a few words introducing me, and I was supposed to say a few words in
acceptance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But when Don started to speak, he went vintage<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don Seeley. He<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>made an amazing speech about the newsroom’s
support during his battle with cancer, and he ended with the stadium crowd
hushed and me in tears. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I tried to collect myself, I said to him, “You
are certainly a tough act to follow.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s how I feel today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Don were
speaking here, he’d have this crowd in the palm of his hand. He’d make you
laugh. He’d make you cry. He’d inspire you and have you believe that you can
beat cancer, that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>student-athletes are our
future salvation and that sports is a game of dreams and miracles.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As great a speaker as he was, Don was an even<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>better writer. He covered sports with an
obsession for stats and accuracy, an eye for personality and an intuitive
ability to discover the inspiration inside the story. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In a Mercury story about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don's passing last week, Gary DeRenzo said, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>“Don always found the silver lining and
celebrated it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His longtime friend Mickey McDaniel said, “The guy had
an impact I don’t think he ever really knew or understood.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don was always a little incredulous at the reaction
to his stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He fussed and fretted a lot when he was writing a
story about someone. He took this craft so seriously, and he worried about
failing the young athletes he wrote about. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few years ago, when Pottsgrove football standout
Terrell Chestnut was being recruited by Division I schools, Don interviewed him
for <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20110110/NEWS01/301109931/terrell-chestnut-s-biggest-victory-was-turning-his-life-around">a feature about the hardships Chestnut overcame</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said it was such a great story he was
afraid he wouldn’t do it justice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He was the same way last December when Pottstown
native <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130106/NEWS01/130109742/navy-seal-commander-job-price-remembered-as-pottstown-hero">Navy Seals Commander Job Price died</a>. Don worried he wouldn’t adequately
convey the character and courage of Price’s life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130317/SPORTS01/130319442/seeley-on-sports-countless-memories-and-thank-yous-upon-stepping-down-as-editor">his retirement column</a> a few months ago, he was
worried he would forget to mention someone. Well, I edited that column and
there were so many names in it, I don’t think he forgot anybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don was also, as you all know, quite the comedian.
He would hold court in the newsroom, at social gatherings at Brookside
Restaurant or the Elks, on the golf course or the sidelines of a game – telling
stories, some of them appropriate and some of them not. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When he went missing sometimes at work, we would
find him downstairs entertaining the first floor, or outside in the alley, Wawa
coffee cup in one hand and a cigarette in the other, everyone around him
laughing at something outrageous he had said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In closing, I have just one anecdote I would like to
share. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don stopped in the newsroom a few weeks ago for a
visit, and he noticed our summer intern sitting at his desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can imagine the Papa Bear routine that
followed:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Young lady – do you know
where you’re sitting?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He then introduced himself, asked her where she went
to school and if she was majoring in journalism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I expected to then hear from across the room a
diatribe about long hours, low pay, things not being what they used to be and
the erosion of print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead, this is what I heard:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Great career choice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"I just retired after 37 years
in this business and I loved every day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I
wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Journalism is great work, and it’s been good to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good luck to you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He had that backward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not that journalism was good to Don
Seeley;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don Seeley was good to
journalism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When Don retired, we said the newsroom would never
be the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a feeling that after
today, heaven will never be the same either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don was truly one of a kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And we were truly blessed that he was one of
us. </span></div>
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Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-636400614536328922013-06-27T05:21:00.001-07:002013-06-27T05:21:10.999-07:00Damaged newsroom We have a saying here at The Mercury, or at least among those of us who've been around a few decades. "There's something in the walls ..."<br />
We use it to describe our penchant for odd news, our conglomeration of interesting personalities, and even our two Pulitzers.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BIDsoJlWT9o49Etap3lx0spRQaIvE6AYs3h7y3CqbYKXGt78bI-YbrTuFTNhZyMWjWTPWo0AzcoktxC0lzfb2UulLXIkzyBIp-0fFMecYtMyN68Tw0_CfbJT1uhi1CeLJOb2l0l9Dplp/s320/Seeley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BIDsoJlWT9o49Etap3lx0spRQaIvE6AYs3h7y3CqbYKXGt78bI-YbrTuFTNhZyMWjWTPWo0AzcoktxC0lzfb2UulLXIkzyBIp-0fFMecYtMyN68Tw0_CfbJT1uhi1CeLJOb2l0l9Dplp/s320/Seeley.jpg" height="200" width="165" /></a>For a newspaper this ordinary in a town this small to behave in the extraordinary ways we do sometimes ... well, it must be something in the walls.<br />
On Wednesday morning about 11 a.m., that special something took a direct hit.<br />
Our beloved recently retired sports editor <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130627/NEWS01/130629410/local-sports-icon-don-seeley-dies-at-62">Don Seeley died</a> after being stricken while playing golf.<br />
Seeley, who was 62, retired in March after 32 years covering sports at The Mercury, the past 14 years as sports editor. He continued to write for us as a free-lancer covering girls softball this spring and on Tuesday night, covering alongside current sports editor Austin Hertzog the first <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130626/SPORTS01/130629490/boys-lacrosse-senior-bowl-another-big-moment-in-growth-of-pac-10-lacrosse">PAC-10 Boys Lacrosse Senior Bowl game.</a><br />
It was the last event Seeley would cover. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxBugXmALvqhhBkOPG_70JsyBea0e0GJiWYS7HWI5V8s6uUU6KCWGXKz_z059O_LlpxMLszjIC9ntH9q4GUmlYpF-5ivq94ioCJiZ6MGytqTG5Q6evp-xALSawSdSx2BtHWAQkYSGCOtxo/s768/seeley1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxBugXmALvqhhBkOPG_70JsyBea0e0GJiWYS7HWI5V8s6uUU6KCWGXKz_z059O_LlpxMLszjIC9ntH9q4GUmlYpF-5ivq94ioCJiZ6MGytqTG5Q6evp-xALSawSdSx2BtHWAQkYSGCOtxo/s768/seeley1.jpg" height="200" width="180" /></a></div>
An avid golfer, Seeley was at a regular Wednesday morning game with friends when he became ill around 10:30 a.m. He died a short time later at Grand View Hospital.<br />
At about the same time, the newsroom was being stricken as well.<br />
Editors here describe that about 11 a.m. they heard a "popping" noise and sizzling coming from inside the walls. A burning smell came next, and the desktop computers went blank -- on the side of the room and just behind the desk which Seeley occupied for years and which remains vacant.<br />
I was out of town when these two incidents coincided, and upon returning here Wednesday night to edit and supervise the putting together of stories and photos paying tribute to my dear friend, I saw the wall ripped open just behind his former desk, the wiring inside exposed and damaged.<br />
<a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-quieter-newsroom-without-don-seeley.html">When Seeley retired</a>, I was glad his words would remain with our readers, as he was continuing to write for us. I was glad, too, that he still had plenty of reasons to pester me about one thing or another. My sadness at the loss of both is profound. <br />
I am not usually looking for hidden meanings when odd things happen, but today's message was pretty clear.<br />
Something inside the walls of this newsroom was damaged today. We lost one of our own, one of our best. <br />
RIP Don Seeley <br />
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-64759767101171562072013-06-20T10:59:00.002-07:002013-06-20T10:59:39.215-07:00Ready to Rumble <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMD8AcUOIejRTL-uMns8fyJtbeJ_SmS43SCrKqkN1Pv9ibzQpvBElzWoikioGkamtt0VqV2yiqoykdHYh9Kxty_ubHVITR-vE0axhBJ0TdQ2GHYpuJnP6JdsewOf9ldZpOOf-Apv37KED/s1600/rumble2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMD8AcUOIejRTL-uMns8fyJtbeJ_SmS43SCrKqkN1Pv9ibzQpvBElzWoikioGkamtt0VqV2yiqoykdHYh9Kxty_ubHVITR-vE0axhBJ0TdQ2GHYpuJnP6JdsewOf9ldZpOOf-Apv37KED/s200/rumble2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxoTTfl9HUH-6t4ojTfWbqQ6I9kNi-1j_RsJC6XQz4NTWzdmWI20YJ4vB2G8v5q9CQ2Ovlhf0rc-VpanfOrsuNyK7ox6UhpkIptue40OBB7x4xJ68qzXl23LyYr2QP6jeAIw5JcBWbKWz/s1600/treanor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxoTTfl9HUH-6t4ojTfWbqQ6I9kNi-1j_RsJC6XQz4NTWzdmWI20YJ4vB2G8v5q9CQ2Ovlhf0rc-VpanfOrsuNyK7ox6UhpkIptue40OBB7x4xJ68qzXl23LyYr2QP6jeAIw5JcBWbKWz/s200/treanor.jpg" width="121" /></a>If there was ever a time to come out and support <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130620/NEWS01/130629948/what-s-happening-at-pottstown-rumble-schedule-of-events-">the Pottstown Rumble</a>, this is it. <br />The Rumble is an annual grass tournament in Pottstown started more than 20 years ago by a group of volleyball enthusiasts. <br />The group, led by by Ken Kaas, worked tirelessly to grow the tournament, starting with some nets in Memorial Park to become the largest grass tournament on the East Coast.<br />Kaas and his cadre of volunteers got business sponsors to make the pot of prize money attractive to some of the best volleyball players in the country, some from other countries as well. <br /><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEv-52EigelYIM2UKg2Eu5jTSi5_gSgcJyrciQ5HczsWxfpPNpOTnk7rNfadgXNUNH7yzQsYeeiyaHnSAwmZa37XIAx0bJZtYqNxLpRta21yRfLlbew9nH_jUDGV1gj9-9CTZ0eIiYbszE/s1600/rumble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEv-52EigelYIM2UKg2Eu5jTSi5_gSgcJyrciQ5HczsWxfpPNpOTnk7rNfadgXNUNH7yzQsYeeiyaHnSAwmZa37XIAx0bJZtYqNxLpRta21yRfLlbew9nH_jUDGV1gj9-9CTZ0eIiYbszE/s200/rumble.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
The women’s and men’s doubles teams compete to a crowd of their supporters; they patronize local businesses, stay in local hotels and campgrounds, and put on an event that’s entertaining both for the competition and the atmosphere. <br />Kaas takes pride in the fact that the tournament takes care of itself -- volunteers cleaning up after the June weekend competition each year so that no trash is left behind. In addition, the Rumble regularly donates to the Pottstown Fourth of July celebration and other events, giving back to its host community.<br />But for all that energy to bring a good thing to Pottstown, <a href="http://pottstownrumble.com/info.php">the Rumble</a> has historically not generated a lot of local excitement. It’s one of those well-kept secrets in Pottstown that happens every year, and people outside the immediate area don’t even know about it. <br />This year, the Rumble hits the big time with a visit from <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130619/NEWS01/130619167/exclusive-interview-misty-may-treanor-excited-for-pottstown-rumble">Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor</a>. <br />May-Treanor is coming to Pottstown as a stop on her Dream in Gold tour sponsored by Spalding. The visit will include a clinic for youth volleyball players Thursday at Memorial Park and a meet-and-greet Friday at Smith Family Plaza downtown. A planned exhibition match has been cancelled because of injury. <br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif3WsCzq7UroDLCOIIQECtZXa-IaZgywJlb-FTARdMbXjxSaQPw_4cB4sXCveW3OLY3K3TBNE2o8lEfiJyRDvKZGdtTb9J6Qe4EdoMwEvjGvY3zY4B-nntQ4mczUb7IEMpMEa58ZeY2DKN/s1600/treanor2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif3WsCzq7UroDLCOIIQECtZXa-IaZgywJlb-FTARdMbXjxSaQPw_4cB4sXCveW3OLY3K3TBNE2o8lEfiJyRDvKZGdtTb9J6Qe4EdoMwEvjGvY3zY4B-nntQ4mczUb7IEMpMEa58ZeY2DKN/s200/treanor2.jpg" width="137" /></a></div>
The volleyball star power exhibited by May-Treanor proves that the Rumble is on the radar for volleyball enthusiasts around the nation. <br />Her visit is expanding the Rumble from two days to four days, Thursday through Sunday, June 20-23.<br />Memorial Park will be abuzz with volleyball action throughout the weekend, and vendors will offer food in the park for those enjoying the action. <a href="http://www.slyfoxbeer.com/index.php/front/about">Pottstown-brewed Sly Fox beer</a> will be on tap in the beer tent. <br />The event showcases Memorial Park and makes Pottstown a destination. With May-Treanor coming to town, the Rumble becomes even better this year.<br />If you have never been to the Rumble, this is the year. <br />Support this event that has for 22 years supported Pottstown. <br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-28375537129169679072013-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:002013-06-17T13:25:12.311-07:00Fire in the Black Forest About a year ago, I wrote a column recounting <a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2012/06/tale-of-two-forest-fires.html">a conversation with my brother</a> Jim Egolf about evacuations in case of forest fire. We compared notes about <a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2012/04/forest-fire-evacuation-day-after.html">my experiences being evacuated</a> during the <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130407/NEWS01/130409417/french-creek-state-park-forest-fire-was-longest-fire-fight-in-pa-history">French Creek forest fire</a> two months earlier and his concerns watching the Waldo Canyon wildfires raging across town from his home in Colorado Springs.<br />
"It's not this fire we're worried about," he said at the time. "It's fear of where the next one breaks out."<br />
Colorado was like a tinderbox because of extreme drought conditions, he said. One spark could set off fire that would consume the side of the city where he resides.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbbYURGV3cPkDHmzmvE2bsS6Dc5575h3sbXTzE-5lEbQi5kdzlpK_B44zYhL5dNJYR8LIo-RzB1kndCTjNc_i8nRAwGtaHj_rz3eBJ2Lh8Fk4EmobN5y4FWKoqkHrOpFmzHyFxjEMI7BQ/s1600/fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Tragically, that prescient observation is <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/wildfires/ci_23472680/black-forest-fire-home-colorado-springs">what happened</a> last Tuesday afternoon.<br />
A fire of unknown origin started in the Black Forest on the north side of Colorado Springs, spreading quickly to destroy <span id="redesign_default">14,198 acres, 485 homes</span> and claim two lives.<br />
My brother and sister-in-law JoAnne lost their home and all their belongings.<br />
They evacuated their home on Swan Road near Black Forest Road at 5:03 p.m. Mountain Time on Tuesday, the order coming as an emergency, not an alert. The fire was spreading so quickly that there was not enough time to utilize the reverse-911 call system in place to alert residents.<br />
Instead, they were ordered to leave immediately as sheriff's officials went through the neighborhood, flames already visible moving quickly through the forest to the south of them.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wkt0Im6kepzFIc4UfyjEn5QP-ZoCdVslcsxQowlE1YpIM6FduwIFUIU5_1cpkz0KsuqIoP3Xt9hzpxUh1lNlhxXM7SocQct3J9XzJmz2oQvWIFKDIgc2Iebj_QWkwOwzvPWKqcwP4JL4/s1600/Swan+Road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wkt0Im6kepzFIc4UfyjEn5QP-ZoCdVslcsxQowlE1YpIM6FduwIFUIU5_1cpkz0KsuqIoP3Xt9hzpxUh1lNlhxXM7SocQct3J9XzJmz2oQvWIFKDIgc2Iebj_QWkwOwzvPWKqcwP4JL4/s320/Swan+Road.jpg" width="320" /></a>Jim and JoAnne got out safely, took Cap the dog to a friend's, and went to a hotel, joined for meals by their son who was visiting from California and their daughter's family, who live in Aurora.<br />
And they waited, like more than a thousand others evacuated, for word. <br />
Meanwhile, photos and videos of the spreading fire showed a mind-numbing path of destruction -- homes lit with flames, timber crackling like a bonfire, the broad expanse of Colorado's sky filled with black smoke.<br />
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At 5 p.m. MT Wednesday the El Paso Sheriff's office activated a website with <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/coloradowildfires2013/ci_23444633/black-forest-fire-homes-burned-damaged-and-unaffected">a list of properties</a> assessed as "total loss," "partial damage" and "appears unaffected."<br />
Colleagues at <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/">The Denver Post</a> city desk sent me the link by email soon after it went live. Jim and JoAnne's address on Swan Road was in the "appears unaffected" column.<br />
Relief! I called him, interrupting a pizza dinner with his kids and three grandchildren. Emotions were running high.<br />
But as the hours continued, he was worried. Jim and his son Jeff were spending time on the computer scanning <a href="http://photos.denverpost.com/2013/06/12/photos-aerial-photos-of-the-black-forest-fire/">the aerial photos</a> posted online. They zoomed in on the location of what they believed was their home. They saw brick walls and piles of ash and rubble. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh0xfLTnU8Hvaw7nXRooiN7KY6efTvX7iafvpB0N25V5rr3uhQHq4vvNP8nW1MyaRn-ZwspOFfN1ELPgHMgGDP1oJBBolNrmh4s_QCHqGvcXTIaIermqM5dcrYY1krC-EMkuaYC0HjkzpX/s1600/evacuees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh0xfLTnU8Hvaw7nXRooiN7KY6efTvX7iafvpB0N25V5rr3uhQHq4vvNP8nW1MyaRn-ZwspOFfN1ELPgHMgGDP1oJBBolNrmh4s_QCHqGvcXTIaIermqM5dcrYY1krC-EMkuaYC0HjkzpX/s320/evacuees.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The picture conflicted with the data on the sheriff's department list, but that was not unusual, according to <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_23457041/black-forest-fire-homes-initially-reported-safe-later?IADID=Search-www.denverpost.com-www.denverpost.com">news reports</a>. Much of the burned area was like a war zone, impossible to identify exact addresses of properties. As crews were able to clarify, homes originally listed untouched were being reclassified as destroyed.<br />
I called Jim Friday night to talk about this discrepancy and found him at a practice for a softball team he coaches. A respected catcher back in the day for Boyertown Legion, Ursinus College, and the Gabelsville Owls, he decided after retiring from careers in the Air Force and at Lockheed-Martin to coach a Special Olympics team.<br />
He had no time to talk when I called, no time to dwell on his misfortune because he was handing out team shirts for the season to his team of special needs kids. The question "why do bad things happen to good people?" came to mind.<br />
Later that night, Jim emailed to say he was pretty certain the photos were accurate, despite the list.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3di50agAaHIi4vUTbsHVXn3qwWp-1Q4e-KAxWn76ZMhs09D0tWDFRz_2IraBz-vxRdcY6fGOzT7tpd2aw9gzaLBYlC-BAwEMsGKhvRedv6_q5gCGOeNBXZSvSS-f-tUVAyujdhFJmH49F/s1600/swan+road+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3di50agAaHIi4vUTbsHVXn3qwWp-1Q4e-KAxWn76ZMhs09D0tWDFRz_2IraBz-vxRdcY6fGOzT7tpd2aw9gzaLBYlC-BAwEMsGKhvRedv6_q5gCGOeNBXZSvSS-f-tUVAyujdhFJmH49F/s320/swan+road+2.jpg" width="320" /></a>"It looks like after 42 years JoAnne and I are starting out with nothing again. But we have family, friends, faith and hope. The material things are not that important," he wrote.<br />
Early Saturday morning, I saw the list had changed overnight. His address went from green to red, as did the properties throughout his neighborhood.<br />
When I talked to Jim that morning, he told me a humorous story about my Dad's tractor that he had hauled by trailer to Colorado from Pennsylvania some years ago. He said his son mentioned they could have tried driving it out of there to save and what a peculiar sight that would have been. <br />
He said they were preparing to start a search for long-term rental housing and would be waiting some days before they could get back in to the Black Forest area to see if anything could be salvaged.<br />
They're not alone. They're one of some 480 families dealing with loss in this fire, now the worst wildfire in Colorado history.<br />
My brother makes a point of ending calls and emails on a positive note, despite everything. So I'll follow his example in this column:<br />
This story about loss is also about strength and character. This is about faith and hope and courage, qualities my brother and sister-in-law have in abundance.<br />
This is a story about people who coach a team of challenged children while waiting for news that they've lost everything. <br />
Keep a good thought for them and all Colorado's fire victims as those qualities are tested in the weeks and months ahead while they work, putting their lives back together. <br />
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-14696351144521709492013-06-03T08:37:00.000-07:002013-06-03T08:41:01.991-07:00An apologyWe are human; we make mistakes.<br />
In the news business, those mistakes when printed are in front of the public's eye. They can embarrass, enrage or inflame a part of our community, which is never our intention.<br />
We're embarrassed and often pretty angry with ourselves, too, when a careless error gets into print.<br />
As editor, I am the first and last stop on the complaint chain regarding errors. The two-part question I get most often is: "What's wrong with you people? Did you ever hear of proofreaders?"<br />
The answer to that is a) we're human, and b) proofreading as a single job title went out with hot type, which was a change in our industry 40-some years ago. We do "proof" our pages, but the editors who do that are juggling other work at the same time, and they may not catch every mistake on a page.<br />
That is not a good excuse, but it's reality. Editors proofing pages are as human as the people who misspelled a word in the first place.<br />
After a glaring error, readers often demand "a retraction." A retraction, or taking back a mistake, is impossible in print. More than anyone, we at <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury</a> wish we could take back mistakes as if they never happened. But print is unforgiving.<br />
Then, there are the "mistakes" people complain about which are not our errors. It is not a mistake that we printed a shoplifting arrest or a DUI charge, even if it is embarrassing and may cause personal repercussions. I tell those callers that we print the police reports provided as public information, and if the disposition of the case proves the person innocent, we'll report that as well.<br />
We also are sometimes accused for including too much detail in a story, or for using bad taste in story, headline or photo judgment. These are not as clear cut as spelling errors or public information.<br />
The guidance on judgment is whether it is defensible. If there is a reason, such as consistent treatment of information, the public right to know or a higher level of importance to presenting information for which we may be criticized, publish. If there is no good reason for something questionable, don't publish.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCRQw0eIrZE7owziE2Aq_qVAcBuSe4IZScLe81_rh-2oCgrsZOSf-s87vJ5QFWDXfobD14pjxEgEIevHA7HL02A1cWfbP18XIOxKEpb3Mt7ypnqzd7pTi1o95_L4TSoSUaxGoS41lFd2m/s1600/Oliver+Stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCRQw0eIrZE7owziE2Aq_qVAcBuSe4IZScLe81_rh-2oCgrsZOSf-s87vJ5QFWDXfobD14pjxEgEIevHA7HL02A1cWfbP18XIOxKEpb3Mt7ypnqzd7pTi1o95_L4TSoSUaxGoS41lFd2m/s320/Oliver+Stone.jpg" width="320" /></a>Recently, The Mercury published a headline on the front page that violated all the above criteria. The headline was a play on words on <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130526/NEWS01/130529408/oliver-stone-a-hill-alum-tells-graduating-seniors-to-go-out-into-the-world-with-wit-and-grit">Hill School commencement speaker Oliver Stone</a> that in its writing was thought to be clever. In its reading, it trivialized the accomplishments of the Hill class.<br />
The day the headline appeared, I wrote an apology on behalf of The Mercury to Hill School headmaster Zachary Lehman. In part, it read:<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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"The headline in question was not representative of The Mercury's standards of journalism or view of The Hill School. We value your institution’s role in our community as a
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Everyone involved, including me and the writer of this headline, sincerely regrets the publication of what was an ill-conceived attempt to be clever. We apologize to the entire Hill community, past and present, for its publication. </div>
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Retractions aren't possible. We have to settle for lessons learned. </div>
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-20774398764502537162013-05-28T09:39:00.003-07:002013-05-28T09:39:36.142-07:00The balancing act <i>This was written as a guest post for <a href="https://twitter.com/stevebuttry">Steve Buttry</a> and also appears <a href="http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/advice-for-editors-from-nancy-march-the-balancing-act/#more-11600">here</a>:</i><br />
<br />
I have a saying honed during 37 years in the news business: "Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow."<br />
That may sound like encouragement to procrastinate or an excuse for laziness, but it's not. Put it in context of our work: We build a product from start to finish in a day's time -- every day -- and with so much emphasis on what we have daily, we have to also know what we can set aside until tomorrow.<br />
Consider the emails, the requests, the columns to write, stories to edit, projects to manage ... it doesn't end, diminish or slow down. So my thinking is that if something's not needed today, leave it for tomorrow.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4kCSQc23KNv5YmvVulU5aczHPCC80wSMFhaVsRx-FK09Tjejmy2kNMBGWfLSvOQkj_Rf_8NSMrrN696xuLmP_Gh-g0ahL04-njkyqMh7ZqcdVSt7qw-4JBPzEbnWz2qwPDoSqLAGNF6q/s1600/overload.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4kCSQc23KNv5YmvVulU5aczHPCC80wSMFhaVsRx-FK09Tjejmy2kNMBGWfLSvOQkj_Rf_8NSMrrN696xuLmP_Gh-g0ahL04-njkyqMh7ZqcdVSt7qw-4JBPzEbnWz2qwPDoSqLAGNF6q/s320/overload.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
This blog in its early days was called The Daily Overload because I was writing about the digital transformation in the news business and the daunting number of tasks involved.<br />
I changed the name at some point because I didn't want to dwell on the overload; that in itself makes me tired. <br />
Today's news comes at us at such a rapid pace that no matter how fast we run we can't get ahead of it. The risk is that we become like hamsters on a wheel.<br />
In that environment, we need to give ourselves a break now and then and strive for balance. Being good editors -- smart editors -- comes from enjoying other endeavors in life, too. <br />
The ability to put work aside is a chore in itself requiring discipline and a daily commitment to find balance.<br />
<br />
A few thoughts on how to do that: <br />
<ul>
<li>Pay yourself first. This is a truism of financial management that can be adopted to time management as well. Do something for yourself first thing in the day before you start working. Once you get into the newsroom, the beast takes over. For years, I went for a 3- to 5-mile run in my neighborhood after getting the kids off to school and before I came into the office. These days, I <a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2011/08/hot-weather-challenge-of-biking-to-work.html">bike to work</a>. On days I don't ride, I do yoga at home. I pay myself first with an exercise investment before I feed the hungry news beast. The day starts better. </li>
<li>Use deadlines to your advantage. This advice from my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/bannereditor">Michelle Karas, editor of The Bennington Banner</a>: Join a fitness class or a book group that meets a specific time. If you commit to being in class at 7, you have a deadline to leave work at 6:45. Gets better results than vowing to "go to the gym after work."</li>
<li>Keep everything in its place. When at home, put the laptop away and spend time with the people in your life, a good book, a movie, or cooking dinner -- something to be enjoyed. Show with your actions that life outside the newsroom matters. When in the newsroom, don't let demands from your personal life consume your time. Instead of promoting balance, the interruptions can add to the overload.</li>
<li>Make time for joy. "Joy" may be listening to music. Or brewing a batch of beer. Or a walk in the woods. Whatever it is, make it a point every day, or as near to that as possible. Find the balance between the awesome responsibility of being an editor and the lighter side of life.</li>
<li>When the adrenaline hits, run with it. On days when a big news story happens, the above words of wisdom go out the window. As editors, our job remains the director of the band when it comes to delivering news to our communities. Those days, everything else takes a backseat. Just run with it. Get back to balance the next day. </li>
</ul>
Balance isn't putting in the background the important work of being editors. It is, however, remembering that without health and emotional well-being, mental and physical energy suffers.<br />
Achieving balance helps us become better, more productive editors. Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-30666821279597053272013-04-22T11:41:00.001-07:002013-04-22T11:41:59.756-07:00News doesn't sleepA little after midnight Friday morning, slot desk editor <a href="https://twitter.com/jimwrob64">Jim Wright</a> was making a final check of Associated Press headlines to update <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury’s website</a> when he saw a brief story that a police officer at MIT near Boston had been shot. He posted the story to our website, too late to make the print editions. <br />About the same time, <a href="https://twitter.com/fottojourno/">reporter Frank Otto</a> was getting home to West Chester after working late covering the evening’s <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130421/NEWS01/130419091/phoenixville-teachers-out-in-force-as-reductions-loom">Phoenixville Area School Board meeting</a> and stopping at the McDonald’s drive-through to pick up dinner. As he ate, he scanned Twitter on his phone, noticing some posts about a police shooting and some grenades or bombs being part of a shootout. <br />In Conshohocken, <a href="https://twitter.com/Smoore1117/">assistant sports editor Steve Moore</a> was off for the night and had returned home after going to a Phillies game with his wife and young son. A Boston University alum, Moore was checking for news on TV out of his <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130417/SPORTS06/130419314/moore-marathon-monday-will-never-be-the-same">adopted home city</a> around midnight when he saw some footage from Watertown, Mass. <br />And then headlines started to roll. <br />“I saw on Twitter something about two people were armed with grenades, so I searched and started listening to the Boston police scanner,” recalled Otto. “There was a lot of talk about gunfire. About then, I started fully listening.<br />“A friend from Wisconsin going in to law enforcement was listening too, and we were talking back and forth. It was like listening to a baseball game.<br />“At one point, they talked about the ‘suspect on the ground,’ and an officer said, ‘This may be a stupid question, but do you think we should turn off our phones?’”<br />Moore’s focus was on the people of Watertown more than the police. “I have friends who live in Watertown and a friend who works at MIT. My first reaction was to check on Facebook and Twitter and make sure they were OK,” he said. <br />About that time, Otto and Moore noticed each other’s tweets and starting “talking” through direct messages and email. “Steve helped me out because I couldn’t remember The Mercury’s Twitter password,” recalled Otto. “I figured I might as well start posting some stuff to the website, too,” said Moore. <br />“Frank and I decided on what to tweet and retweet,” said Moore. “<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/">The Boston Globe </a>and <a href="http://www.ap.org/">The Associated Press</a> are trusted sources; anything else, use caution. We’re not trying to break anything,” Moore said. “We just thought, ‘Hey maybe if somebody wakes up and has no idea what happened, at least they will know what’s going on.” <br />From 1:30 to 4:30 a.m., Moore updated the top story on The Mercury website six or seven times. The final version at 4:38 a.m. reported that one of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings was dead after a police shootout and the second was on the run, a massive manhunt under way. <br />During the same time frame and continuing until about 7:30 a.m., Otto posted <a href="https://twitter.com/MercuryX">@MercuryX</a>, unfolding the story for our readers from news accounts, the police scanner, and other reporting sources. <br />“It kinda rolls out like a mosaic — you have to sort through it all, and you need context,” Otto said. <br />Responsibility and accuracy are critical.<br />“I stayed away from specific addresses or anything that might hurt what was going on,” Otto said. <br />Both Otto and Moore were careful to avoid rumor and unattributed information. “We’re all about confirming,” Otto said. He sought out known reliable sources, including a reporter on the scene for <a href="http://www.digitalfirstmedia.com/">Digital First Media</a>, The Mercury’s parent company. <br />The tweets provided both witness and reporting information: <br />“Just had presser w/Col Alben of MSP — confirmed one suspect one loose — another briefing in an hour.” <br />“State Police to Greater Boston — basically stay home today. Especially you, Watertown, where no traffic can go in/out.”<br /> “Police, still searching, to each other: ‘Make sure we’re identifying each other and avoiding crossfire situations.’”<br />The story went on for about 60 tweets, some with photos, and a half-dozen stories, gathered and published in the middle of the night by two Mercury staffers while most of the region’s readers slept. <br />It was breaking news in every sense, delivered from the streets where it was unfolding in Watertown, Mass., to the phone by your bedside or the laptop on your desk. <br />Otto said sometime early Friday morning he noticed one guy on Twitter posted a proclamation, “Traditional media is dead.” <br />The same person spent the night following and retweeting reporters. These two Mercury reporters proved we’re not dead. <br />We’re not even sleeping. <br /><br /><br /><br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-14874126269224469742013-03-14T05:15:00.001-07:002013-03-14T05:15:25.133-07:00A quieter newsroom without Don Seeley The Mercury newsroom is noticeably quieter these days. First, there was the departure of our <a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-really-cool-idea-or-two.html">effervescent reporter Brandie Kessler</a>, who took a job as a general assignment and special projects reporter at the <a href="http://ww.ydr.com/">York Daily Record</a>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMEAbMZnRctrA-tRe3XPafMiGcptSxS5Cp7xr9u9gOsks2Kd4qfEUnr2Spl_nZnq74F6bQhpPByEQgM4sxYhRQSCksz67PDrBmCIqkBoW3RmpQuIh5ZATcSAbUeeplzxjX2jZ421tZzhP/s1600/brandie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMEAbMZnRctrA-tRe3XPafMiGcptSxS5Cp7xr9u9gOsks2Kd4qfEUnr2Spl_nZnq74F6bQhpPByEQgM4sxYhRQSCksz67PDrBmCIqkBoW3RmpQuIh5ZATcSAbUeeplzxjX2jZ421tZzhP/s200/brandie.jpg" width="200" /></a>Then, business editor Michelle Karas left us, taking her witty intellect and friendly demeanor with her on a move to Vermont to become editor of <span id="goog_1527346129"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">The Bennington Banner<span id="goog_1527346130"></span></a>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Uij9uZgeMz88YsriMuxcfC8UBMMuauZctUjydlmfdyTutbpckynrBQMTH7z9FgCWedndTWpb3gib32VYa6S6U7uGQuQMQZDEPTVXZKHQhmf_wMbJeR5Z2a0A-zM5Pgd4KdnQOcJK3ev3/s1600/michelle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Uij9uZgeMz88YsriMuxcfC8UBMMuauZctUjydlmfdyTutbpckynrBQMTH7z9FgCWedndTWpb3gib32VYa6S6U7uGQuQMQZDEPTVXZKHQhmf_wMbJeR5Z2a0A-zM5Pgd4KdnQOcJK3ev3/s1600/michelle.jpg" /></a>But the departure that has most noticeably widened a chasm of quiet in the newsroom is that of Don Seeley, who has left the full-time position of sports editor while continuing as a columnist and sports writer for <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury</a>.<br />
Don's words haven't left our pages and sites, but his humor is absent from our newsroom.<br />
And for anyone who knows Don, that's a big absence.<br />
I first met Don when he started here 32 years ago. Unlike those who have heard all his stories in the past tense, I was in the newsroom as his exploits and antics were occurring.<br />
News not necessarily fit for print, we heard about the road trips as a baseball writer to <a href="http://www.legion.org/baseball">Boyertown American Legion World Series</a> in far-flung places like Fargo, N.D.; Rapid City, S.D.; and Stevens Point, Wis., and about after-hours exploits and what he had for dinner and how it was affecting him. <br />
His personal habits in the newsroom were a source of constant jokes. One former employee kept a gas mask in his desk drawer and used it whenever Don was sitting near him.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PRJDBv9htYRebNrJvHmaxgri79MmvVLl99HiXa-bvS37_HLbcS0De3mAh4USW5yQYcJY8EdU2_c5vq1FbKWmMbIWhZE2E4rNF_vRy0KxCvHTtJ7vGQasQ2RNMZj6M-CIEEgtek9hVZqF/s1600/seeley2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PRJDBv9htYRebNrJvHmaxgri79MmvVLl99HiXa-bvS37_HLbcS0De3mAh4USW5yQYcJY8EdU2_c5vq1FbKWmMbIWhZE2E4rNF_vRy0KxCvHTtJ7vGQasQ2RNMZj6M-CIEEgtek9hVZqF/s200/seeley2.jpg" width="158" /></a>Although I have certainly endured the moans, groans and expletives about his habits -- I even had to put a warning letter in his file once when a co-worker lodged a formal complaint -- I confess I have never been personally offended by Don in all the years I've known him.<br />
His reputation for sexual innuendo is well documented, but he has never said or done anything to offend me. Ever. And that counts for years before 1998, when shortly after being named editor, I promoted him to sports editor.<br />
Don likes to say I asked him to be sports editor, but he never accepted. My version of that story is that he told me he'd probably get fired if he took the job because he speaks his mind and "corporate" might not always like what he had to say. I told him that honesty would never cost him his job.<br />
He also said he didn't think he would make a good sports editor, using that same line of logic that he wasn't a boss's boss.<br />
I told him he was my choice because I put readers first. Then, and now, no one is more respected and loved among our readers than Don Seeley. His words, both in the stories and columns he writes and when he speaks to groups, touch people's hearts.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GsVV4ALOkXtpNVtUPHPwdrgHtZ41kk8ynPCdS1fObHuC7wtRlRnKr7ruL4taSDQ_UAq4MD70fCtlRIjneSM6K5vxeupFGT7PlFKhYUYCN5qn97F-gHDxnVQq50uItPaz6LTyTQmEsoQB/s1600/seeley1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GsVV4ALOkXtpNVtUPHPwdrgHtZ41kk8ynPCdS1fObHuC7wtRlRnKr7ruL4taSDQ_UAq4MD70fCtlRIjneSM6K5vxeupFGT7PlFKhYUYCN5qn97F-gHDxnVQq50uItPaz6LTyTQmEsoQB/s200/seeley1.jpg" width="175" /></a>He covers sports with an obsession for stats and accuracy, an eye for personality and an intuitive ability to discover the inspiration inside the story. That makes him a reader's choice, and thus, my choice. <br />
The lowest point in our relationship came in 2005 when Don was diagnosed with stage-four neck cancer. The next eight months were emotionally difficult for all who knew him. The aggressive treatments nearly killed him, more than once.<br />
Radiation robbed him of his voice and his ability to swallow. I made an effort to call him every day to let him know the newsroom was in his corner in this fight. Some days he could whisper; some days only murmur acknowledgement that he appreciated the check-in.<br />
He was hospitalized with a feeding tube infection, then back home where he watched the Food Channel incessantly because looking at food was the only way he had to enjoy it. Toward the end of that long summer, his voice was back but he still couldn't eat solid foods.<br />
My husband and I were hosting a picnic at our house around that time for a retiring co-worker. Don was there with his then-girlfriend, now wife, Kathy, and all he could eat was fresh mozzarella and olive oil while the rest of us had filet and potatoes. Nonetheless, he joked, entertained, reminisced, and was the life of the party.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sbkdZ1TkTNFqf_LiYcrOHsLtsookB7AqyyX6whh2oDv98UkPV7wOANrMj8kN0sOoFZQxsMxtmWMLWy9sepHKKFsB0UzXzvRm74LdsuTrcs-T-_aSlTIo75TFv2vWAoTaz1n330syZY3U/s1600/Line+art+Seely+caricature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sbkdZ1TkTNFqf_LiYcrOHsLtsookB7AqyyX6whh2oDv98UkPV7wOANrMj8kN0sOoFZQxsMxtmWMLWy9sepHKKFsB0UzXzvRm74LdsuTrcs-T-_aSlTIo75TFv2vWAoTaz1n330syZY3U/s320/Line+art+Seely+caricature.jpg" width="253" /></a>That night reminded me of how quickly he could make people smile, and of how, even in the worst times for him personally, he was our newsroom narrator and clown.<br />
Don has been cancer-free seven and a half years, and his "retirement" now is not motivated by the recurrence of disease. Rather, it's a chance to do more of what he loves best -- write, play golf, spend time with Kathy, his beloved daughters and grandson and friends.<br />
You, the readers, are lucky. You still have his presence loud and clear in his coverage of high school sports and the stories that only he can find. <br />
But here in the newsroom, it's quieter. We miss him. Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-88436634868168892212013-03-12T11:29:00.001-07:002013-03-12T11:30:17.718-07:00Series offers grim reminder to parents: This could be meIn the years I've been in the news business, I've edited stories about crime and tragedy involving young people, sometimes thinking, "Not my child. This could never be me ..."<br />
One of the hardest parts of editing our series, <a href="http://pottsmercheroinseries.blogspot.com/">"Fatal Addiction,"</a> is the awful truth that this could be me.<br />
Or my child.<br />
Or anyone I know.<br />
***<br />
The path to addiction recounted by the people interviewed in this series often began with painkillers prescribed by a doctor for an injury or anxiety.<br />
What parent of a teenager hasn't made a fair share of doctor or emergency room visits, stopping at a pharmacy on the way home, per the doctor's orders?<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXpMvREmFdrkAwKyk2soDm4k6z8sAXiXIhc6NYNCg1mAsUBlh-49eW6ScQ2DxEfQoalTFfZN34DnGZJ9PLIXt-TPpxtsdB2KXLio9_t4tCuhOVy_BojEUSeZ9BZMgwXM6pBWKRTQQahN2/s1600/moms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXpMvREmFdrkAwKyk2soDm4k6z8sAXiXIhc6NYNCg1mAsUBlh-49eW6ScQ2DxEfQoalTFfZN34DnGZJ9PLIXt-TPpxtsdB2KXLio9_t4tCuhOVy_BojEUSeZ9BZMgwXM6pBWKRTQQahN2/s320/moms.jpg" width="320" /></a>"When our kids are hurt or sick, we tell them to take their medicine," said <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130310/NEWS01/130319995/pottsgrove-grads-best-friends-od-d-seven-months-apart">Coleen Watchorn in the interviews </a>conducted for this series. "We're doing what we think we're supposed to do as parents."<br />
That medicine can become habit-forming, or it can lead to friends or other family using the leftover prescribed pills to experiment. Addiction comes later.<br />
Coleen and her friend <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130310/NEWS01/130319995/pottsgrove-grads-best-friends-od-d-seven-months-apart">Kathy Mackie shared their stories</a> with us as parents who watched their sons fight and lose their battles with addiction.<br />
These mothers spoke to us knowing that some people might judge them poorly. But they were adamant that they wanted to speak out and help others who may be going through a similar experience.<br />
They sought a greater good from their grief -- a mission to discuss heroin publicly, to confront the reality that opioids are a threat to all our children.<br />
Their courage to be candid has been inspiring for all of us involved in this series.<br />
In my case, their stories have touched close to home. <br />
***<br />
My younger son was an active, athletic, risk-taking child from the time he could walk. Through middle school and high school, when sports became his passion, those trips to the doctor and emergency room were frequent.<br />
Doctors prescribed pills for sports anxiety, pills for better concentration, pills for pain, pills for every ailment encountered.<br />
Add the social pressure of peers, and the threat of abuse is obvious.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKs5633xzrZBtgXyHFzFd-Gf7utp518kQykg4Xys8z-Uoyg6DXi7yzuAVSxNf3EfBRpaN-aH_iBf9mV5TCtemCjjld4YxYN6yIszd061sBLiq2sYdnWD6OGOj3duneDU_mKvzKcLm3iKQJ/s1600/drug+court.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKs5633xzrZBtgXyHFzFd-Gf7utp518kQykg4Xys8z-Uoyg6DXi7yzuAVSxNf3EfBRpaN-aH_iBf9mV5TCtemCjjld4YxYN6yIszd061sBLiq2sYdnWD6OGOj3duneDU_mKvzKcLm3iKQJ/s320/drug+court.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Reading these stories, I was frequently struck by a stark reality: "This could have been my child."<br />
*** <br />
Trying to understand how heroin addiction can invade a family and rob a fine young man of his future and parents of their child was the most difficult part of editing this series, particularly because I know one of the families.<br />
I attend church with the Mackies. Kathy and I were confirmed in the same class as teens and served on consistory together as adults. My husband and I chose Bob Mackie
as confirmation mentor for our oldest son.<br />
This series is about people we know who live good lives and who did everything right as parents -- and then suffered a loss no parent should have to bear.<br />
This could be any of us; this could be our children. <br />
Pills and heroin are a real threat in our towns. The goal of this series was to bring that truth into the open and prevent more lives from being lost. <br />
<br />
<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-61941562778297648882013-02-01T07:09:00.000-08:002013-02-01T07:09:17.181-08:00Your newspaper? Now, it's your multi-platform news sourceAs the news business changes and evolves from print to web to mobile publishing, we are changing, too.<br />
One of the changes in recent years has been opening our doors to the public and sharing with readers the insights and analysis of our own work.<br />
That's a two-way street. We also now solicit feedback on issues of interest on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pottstown.mercury">Facebook</a> and in other ways to bring the voices of the audience into our reporting.<br />
We've come a long way from "call 323-3000 with your news tips" to "like us on Facebook."<br />
As we continue on that path, we want to share more of the work that goes on behind the scenes in reporting and editing the stories of your community.<br />
Beginning Monday, we're going to make available our reporters to answer questions about the story behind a photo, or the background of a story or the thinking behind an editorial opinion.<br />
You can ask the<a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130129/OPINION04/130129402/tuesday-s-sound-off"> SoundOff </a>editor why a comment wasn't used or the Opinion page editor how to get a letter printed.<br />
You can ask a reporter how they learned that a car was in the creek or a photographer how he got that amazing sports action photo.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVG-Y5qfV3X2ybrmrzBPipc0yUtVjJTSUyQD2ocstoa94syUdOFbrgx2mBtxMyCBpLb6RfUjTnaRCCDIOypq7nSW09rasDfTQ2esbCKpAQBHDo4-fmk0GT5p0ubPm3dGhfP1vW5G8Tpg_/s1600/Soccer+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVG-Y5qfV3X2ybrmrzBPipc0yUtVjJTSUyQD2ocstoa94syUdOFbrgx2mBtxMyCBpLb6RfUjTnaRCCDIOypq7nSW09rasDfTQ2esbCKpAQBHDo4-fmk0GT5p0ubPm3dGhfP1vW5G8Tpg_/s320/Soccer+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a>Although we accept criticism, we want this to be more than a gripe session. We hope to let you, as our loyal readers, see what goes on behind the scenes in our reporting. We want to turn back the curtain, so to speak, particularly on the evolution in our industry that is pushing us daily toward new frontiers. <br />
We'll take questions via Facebook, <a href="https://twitter.com/MercuryX">Twitter</a>, email, Google+, or <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">our website</a>, and we'll answer via video posted on our website and Facebook.<br />
Our plan is to expand the answer sessions into conversations through Google hangouts or Skype.<br />
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We also are making some changes in our Community Media Lab, which is currently open to the public during certain hours every day.<br />
The Community Media Lab is a resource we make available to the public for small group meetings, free Wifi, use of three computer labs for blogging or research and a newspaper archives to view past issues of The Mercury going back to 1931.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikzQ8T8XeNH-MN9eoLkNTAPUve6Lh655GqdaM23NX9y9iApXqCoz-0li5BuclMEbWseJISqncNPIj30Egwus40ZDrmnvOEc8Iv6IzjfTeLQHEb4eYpQObqfnhuc_5a3oJRhNe041Z8cBwO/s1600/Media+Lab+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikzQ8T8XeNH-MN9eoLkNTAPUve6Lh655GqdaM23NX9y9iApXqCoz-0li5BuclMEbWseJISqncNPIj30Egwus40ZDrmnvOEc8Iv6IzjfTeLQHEb4eYpQObqfnhuc_5a3oJRhNe041Z8cBwO/s320/Media+Lab+banner.jpg" width="320" /></a>Instead of limited hours, we are now making the lab available to the public when you need it. To use our lab for research or for a small group meeting, call and schedule a time, or stop in at our front desk.<br />
In addition, we will be open for anyone to walk in one day a week, every Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Just stop by, and our computers and our resources will be available for your use.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5DjmaQNk769EEnllu9E9uDsxRi4FUvXbNQP_JnMFGDz17O3CaEftZRq-89ly7Tc4u5AxtohlVJW9yVuvkfPOwlf05zfOa6ll8pWTGnjJIRVhYrEzOyf9Bd4KxdXz1H2VDV0MdoLziSad4/s1600/bark+for+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5DjmaQNk769EEnllu9E9uDsxRi4FUvXbNQP_JnMFGDz17O3CaEftZRq-89ly7Tc4u5AxtohlVJW9yVuvkfPOwlf05zfOa6ll8pWTGnjJIRVhYrEzOyf9Bd4KxdXz1H2VDV0MdoLziSad4/s1600/bark+for+life.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="mailto:dhoffman@pottsmerc.com">Diane Hoffman, community engagement editor</a>, will be happy to assist you in using our archives or arranging a time for a meeting. You can also meet with Diane about how to start a blog or what you can do to get news of your group's events published on any of the platforms we offer, including the newspaper.<br />
We have a library of books you can borrow, for free, and coffee for $1.
It's a good space to come in out of the cold. <br />
We want the Community Media Lab to be a resource for Pottstown and the surrounding area to use as a way to interact with us.<br />
Your newspaper is now your website, your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, and your source of breaking news on your phone or tablet.<br />
Times are changing, but what hasn't changed is our commitment to you, our audience.<br />
Keep in touch. <br />
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-86940047603133628192012-12-31T07:30:00.001-08:002012-12-31T07:30:21.355-08:002012 was a year to forget In many ways, 2012 is a year we would like to forget.<br />
It was a year of too much horror and heartache, a year that saw the legends of a generation pass and that left us reeling with questions about random violence rocking our sense of security.<br />
Not since 2001 and the terror of 9/11 have we felt so hopelessly victimized as we did twice in 2012.<br />
The world didn't come to an end on Dec. 21, as the Mayans predicted.<br />
Instead it came to an end a week earlier on Dec. 14 for 26 families who lost their children in the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn.<br />
The massacre was the second mass shooting of horrendous proportion, coming five months after a deranged lone gunman killed 12 people and injured dozens at a Colorado movie premiere.<br />
We saw the venerable educational institution of Penn State University rocked by scandal that began in 2011, resulting in 2012 in the trial of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on charges of sexally abusing and raping young boys.<br />
Again, the horror in headlines. <br />
The scandal included a sad chapter, as legendary Coach Joe Paterno died of cancer early in the year.<br />
JoePa, Whitney Houston, Nora Ephron, Etta James, Dick Clark -- all legends to different groups for different reasons -- all giants in someone's world, now gone.<br />
Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on New York City and the Jersey shore, leaving in its wake death and destruction, forever altering shore towns that for many held their fondest memories of summers gone by.<br />
Part of the sadness of 2012 is that the things destroyed were the very things we held dear in our hearts -- a Jersey shore memory, a first grade class, a night at the movies.<br />
I am a Penn State alum so I add the happiness of Nittany Valley to that list.<br />
In the December buildup to the Mayan calendar tale, there was a lot of talk that it didn't mean the end of the world, it meant a change in the world.<br />
2012 was a year that turned upside-down many things we believed were stable and safe.<br />
In so doing, many of our fears were laid bare.<br />
As we head toward 2013, the hope is that we have a place to start.<br />
Perhaps the awful events of 2012 were a way to turn the directions of violence and hatred in a different direction.<br />
A local leader who I respect said to me recently: "All our agendas have been exposed. Maybe that's the first step to figuring out how to change society and make it truly about goodwill toward others." <br />
That seems at least a way to look at the year past beyond just regret. Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-75008897748226888472012-12-11T10:10:00.000-08:002012-12-11T10:20:52.182-08:00Successful show of support for literacy About one in six adults in the U.S. is not literate, as defined by reading and writing above a fifth grade level.<br />
Low literacy costs the nation more than $200 billion a year in lost productivity.<br />
More than four million Pennsylvania adults lack the basic literacy skills needed for gainful employment.<br />
Those statistics are listed by the Pottstown Adult Literacy Center among "Literary Fast Facts" to highlight the need in Pennsylvania and in the Pottstown tri-county area for support of adult literacy programs.<br />
The center, part of the Pottstown YWCA but located in its own offices in the lower level of 1830 E. High St., offers classes and tutoring for adults and students in reading, writing, citizenship and math.<br />
The center has a small staff, using resources of volunteers and materials bought through grants and limited funding.<br />
Like most service agencies, the center has experienced cuts in funding and grants from county and state government due to budget constraints.<br />
Despite the cuts, the need for training is increasing. The center served more than 400 adults last year and expects to see that number go higher this year. Many are English as Second Language students who need help mastering English to continue education, workforce training, or to get jobs.<br />
Others are students who need extra help to master college courses or pass tests necessary for education or work.<br />
Some in the program are older adults who never learned to read well enough to read to their grandchildren.<br />
Increasing literacy in our local adult population is important to the community and to our nation's economy. It is certainly important to the newspaper industry which depends on people reading.<br />
Those are among the reasons our staff and our TownSquare network of bloggers joined forces with the literacy center to raise money and awareness about the need for adult literacy training. Tuesday marked the wrapup of a monthlong campaign in which an anonymous donor gave $1 for every name of a person who signed on to support literacy programs.<br />
The effort raised more than $900 for the tri-county center.<br />
Literacy support does not stop here. The program needs volunteers and continued sources of funding to buy materials.<br />
For those who read and write every day, it's easy to take literacy for granted.<br />
Such is not the case for everyone.<br />
Helping our community raise the level of literacy is a goal in which we are proud to take part. Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-31416326386260536122012-12-06T10:22:00.000-08:002012-12-06T10:22:15.512-08:00Children's story hour (with cookies!) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByyVkKiOi_45Tbpyo5tpATfX8aUhk2t2XOougj14e5R7V6WXR-kxLeybsvzv8zaEcuo1y2-CmbDZzHLt_yd1_B9rA6VAEVXtLj3b_0hOGQF2U1L5lu4bI97xg1gviQ0C-2m0GerPmMnZE/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByyVkKiOi_45Tbpyo5tpATfX8aUhk2t2XOougj14e5R7V6WXR-kxLeybsvzv8zaEcuo1y2-CmbDZzHLt_yd1_B9rA6VAEVXtLj3b_0hOGQF2U1L5lu4bI97xg1gviQ0C-2m0GerPmMnZE/s320/books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I was just sitting down to write a blog about our story hour at The Mercury <a href="http://whatsgoingonatthemercury.blogspot.com/">Community Media Lab</a> Friday night, but I see Business Editor Michelle Karas at <a href="http://networkedblogs.com/FCSYj">Balancing the Books</a> has beat me to it. <br />
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Below is her blog post; as a note from me, please join us for homemade cookies and story hour with our <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">Mercury</a> and <a href="http://www3.allaroundphilly.com/Mercury/townsquare.html">TownSquare</a> readers. <br />
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<i>The Mercury is hosting a free story time for kids this Friday as part of the holiday events happening throughout the month of December in downtown Pottstown. <br />
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The Mercury's holiday story hour will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Community Media Lab, located adjacent to our main entrance at 24 N. Hanover St. in Pottstown.<br />
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Special guest readers Mercury Editor Nancy March, who writes The Editor's Desk blog; Reporter Evan Brandt, who pens the <a href="http://evan-brandt.blogspot.com/">Digital Notebook</a> blog; TownSquare blogger Mandy March from <a href="http://so-much-to-do.blogspot.com/">So Much To Do, So Little Time</a>; and Community Engagement Editor Diane Hoffman, author of the <a href="http://halfironadventure.blogspot.com/">Lessons in Triathlon</a> blog, will read selected holiday-themed books to children and their families during the hour. <br />
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The book selections include "The Polar Express," by Chris Van Allsburg, which will be read by the beguiling Mandy March. <br />
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Fresh, home-made cookies and hot chocolate will be available for all children in attendance. (I'm hoping there will be some free cookies and hot chocolate for random adult book bloggers who also plan to visit the story hour.) There will also be a holiday coloring activity for children. <br />
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If you can't make it to story hour, be sure to stop back and visit The Mercury's Community Media Lab during its regular hours. The lab is free and open to the public Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is located inside The Mercury at 24 N. Hanover St. With three computers, a microfilm machine in which to look up archives of The Mercury that go back to 1933 and free WIFI for those with their own lab top, the lab is a great place to sit and relax. There's also a free lending library that includes all kinds of books, from "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer to a vast collection of Anita Shreve novels, available for borrowing. Coffee and water are also available for $1. The Media Lab is also available to community groups looking for a free space to use. <br />
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For more information about the holiday story hour or The Mercury's Community Media Lab, call Diane Hoffman at 610-323-3000, ext. 156, or email dhoffman@pottsmerc.com </i>Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-10900452407949721112012-11-30T06:21:00.001-08:002012-11-30T06:21:17.859-08:00Teaching offers lessons in literacy The Reading and Writing for Literacy project we are taking part in at The Mercury and with our <a href="http://www3.allaroundphilly.com/Mercury/townsquare.html">TownSquare</a> network of bloggers has meaning beyond raising funds for the Pottstown Adult Literacy Center.<br />
The project, in which bloggers are writing about what literacy means to them, also raises awareness to the difficulties our newer citizens have in becoming skilled at the quirky language they must master to succeed in schools and in jobs in this country.<br />
The majority of us for whom English is our first language tend to forget that it isn't for everyone. We are in many ways English-language snobs.<br />
Read Sound-Off on a regular basis and sooner or later you'll detect the resentment at having to "press one" for English in a phone menu.<br />
Some believe English should always be the default language, no others allowed, everyone else get in line to learn it.<br />
But we're not that nation anymore. According to Census statistics, 8.3 percent of American households speak a language other than English at home. Many citizens in our region were born in places or in households where English was acquired, not native, as a language.<br />
When we speak of literacy in our town and our nation, we're talking about the ability to read and write in English. That's what's needed in schools and workplaces in the U.S.<br />
Many immigrants or children of immigrants can speak articulately but have not been afforded the learning necessary for mastery of reading and writing in English.<br />
The difficulty, particularly in writing, can plague an adult taking college courses or applying for jobs.<br />
I witness this firsthand, as I teach writing at <a href="http://www.racc.edu/">Reading Area Community College</a> to adult learners who do not test high enough for freshman English. Many of them are ESL students. <br />
Three years ago I started teaching at RACC as an adjunct two nights a week, initially to help pay the bills for my own children in college and to explore teaching as a possible second career if I ever retire from the media business.<br />
My classes are made up of high school dropouts coming back after getting a GED to give college a try, adult learners changing careers, parents who work in service industries or manual labor and want to improve their future job opportunities. Some are recovering addicts or ex-prisoners on parole living in halfway houses.<br />
Ages range from 18 to adults in their 40s; some are parents of infants, and some are grandparents of teenagers.<br />
What they have in common is a desire to improve their ability to read and write so they can succeed in college. I help with the writing part.<br />
Their patterns of errors map the path of difficulty in writing in English. I can follow the trail from pronoun antecedents to singular verbs that end in "s", to family becoming families and child becoming children to see the struggle.<br />
I tell them to read aloud and listen for their mistakes, and they stare back at me. They don't read with the inconsistencies that our language of exceptions provides.<br />
Working with my students is among the most rewarding tasks I accomplish. I tell them there are two things I want them to achieve in my class: the first is to find their voice in writing and express themselves in a way that gives them confidence; the second is to learn the rules and basics of grammar and spelling so they can write effectively.<br />
The second frequently interferes with the first.<br />
My students are an inspiration to me as they work to learn to read and write at a level that allows them to be successful in their lives. Some of them want so badly to master the academics, while roadblocks like unfamiliarity with computers and poor training in the literacy basics get in their way.<br />
They keep trying, and I smile at the unmasked honesty in their journals and their essays.<br />
Without learning, they couldn't read or write their stories. That's why I teach.<br />
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The Mercury and TownSquare Reading and Writing for Literacy project is raising funds for the Pottstown Adult Literacy Center. <br />
We are asking our readers to simply add your name to those who support the Adult Literacy Program. <br />
A donor will give $1 for every signature as submitted on the following form. <br />
The project, which lasts until Dec. 11, has thus far collected 721 signatures which translates to $721 to help fund literacy efforts in Pottstown. <br />
Help us reach $1,000 by signing the form. <br />
These dollars will go a long way to buy materials and help people learning to read. <br />
Sign on to support our program: Pottstown reads. <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="768" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dEJLd0Z4NTBCZm44NWk3V2NjYkpIdHc6MQ" width="760">Loading...</iframe><br />
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Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-7560507901449001132012-11-28T10:32:00.001-08:002012-11-28T10:32:07.328-08:00A really cool idea, or two "Do you know what would be really cool?"<br />
These words from Mercury reporter Brandie Kessler were usually followed by:<br />
"I know you probably don't want to do this, and you can say this is a dumb idea -- you're the boss, you do what you want, but I was just thinking wouldn't it be cool if ..."<br />
A soliloquy along those lines preceded a number of really cool ideas that we have embraced at <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury</a> and turned to successes for this newspaper and the community of the Pottstown area. <br />
We <a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2012/03/winning-pottstown-area-hunger-games.html">collected more than 16,000 food items for area food pantries and nearly 1,000 containers of laundry detergent</a> by joining efforts with <a href="http://www3.allaroundphilly.com/Mercury/townsquare.html">TownSquare bloggers</a> to spread the word about dwindling food supplies last winter.<br />
Cool idea.<br />
We created a <a href="http://pinterest.com/themercury/wanted-by-police/">Pinterest board of Most Wanted</a> criminals in area police departments, getting pictures out to the public on a platform they use. Tips have led to arrests, which make police happy and make us proud. <br />
Cool idea.<br />
We are posting cards with donors' names to <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121128/NEWS01/121129507/operation-holiday-jobless-for-6-years-single-mom-has-to-sacrifice-during-holidays">Operation Holiday</a> on the window of The Mercury Community Media Lab as a colorful display and a thank you to the readers who send us thousands of dollars for our holiday giving program.<br />
Another cool idea.<br />
Brandie's coolest idea, at least in her mind, was raising money for the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/RFLPottstown">Pottstown Relay for Life</a> by taking donations to pie a Mercury employee in the face at the Bark for Life event. The 2008 collection raised $2,700 and gave Brandie the opportunity to throw a banana cream pie in my face.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99awZybktV46psyXrBolShJA0aviD5_1YrB6sn7KwvCeLcnDlXyFUvWdzWRgvadxahrsqguAIe-t2i8pboe5GTfPokteTKSIMWRT8WkUwMWoUMxzEEkWtbQhlcJk4zhrPeep_GDMhwqc2/s1600/Pie+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99awZybktV46psyXrBolShJA0aviD5_1YrB6sn7KwvCeLcnDlXyFUvWdzWRgvadxahrsqguAIe-t2i8pboe5GTfPokteTKSIMWRT8WkUwMWoUMxzEEkWtbQhlcJk4zhrPeep_GDMhwqc2/s320/Pie+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I have had some cool ideas for Brandie, as well. One of them was sending her on the river with the <a href="http://schuylkillriversojourn.blogspot.com/">Schuylkill River Sojourn last summer to live-blog</a> four days of the river journey, traveling in her kayak, tweeting and taking video along the way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrnH-w-1U7ZJbFg6fm8Gj4DRKw8Dzkm2IZCuv-zWOVtikp-sxFvvWNbWbss00bFWxFPfV7NBSIZ0LJXWWn7YmlIUFepWYTx9urAM5zN0oXkQ2-lPKzC8gRBitpJ6KCRSAO0q1IerXE_EK/s1600/sojourn2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrnH-w-1U7ZJbFg6fm8Gj4DRKw8Dzkm2IZCuv-zWOVtikp-sxFvvWNbWbss00bFWxFPfV7NBSIZ0LJXWWn7YmlIUFepWYTx9urAM5zN0oXkQ2-lPKzC8gRBitpJ6KCRSAO0q1IerXE_EK/s200/sojourn2.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
Dedicated police reporter that she is, she fought me on leaving the office for a week to enjoy the outdoors.<br />
I prevailed, and the blog was a gem.<br />
Another idea I recently had was that she apply for a reporting job at our larger sister paper, t<a href="http://www.yorkblog.com/ydrinsider/">he York Daily Record/Sunday News</a>. I had learned about the job from colleagues at York, and I told her it was an opportunity she should not pass up. At least go for the interview, I insisted.<br />
Again, the retorts that there are too many stories in Pottstown still to write, too much work still to be done.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48_kSKPd0-P2VQ-mvIq-qanfUaVn04WrtdJ3swtmfJs-3FnEZWKSORdOA8c17UswoZJ-TUw6cWXcWZYgr-HfZEdbhSXLzqql6y9LOSBCrYU_r881PmnH0y73aeDU4m5CuE5NefqY-z9Ke/s1600/brandie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48_kSKPd0-P2VQ-mvIq-qanfUaVn04WrtdJ3swtmfJs-3FnEZWKSORdOA8c17UswoZJ-TUw6cWXcWZYgr-HfZEdbhSXLzqql6y9LOSBCrYU_r881PmnH0y73aeDU4m5CuE5NefqY-z9Ke/s320/brandie.jpg" width="320" /></a>But she went, and the rest, as they say, is history. Sunday was <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121125/NEWS01/121129658/0/SEARCH/reporter-prepares-for-change-as-she-says-farewell-to-pottstown">her last official day at The Mercury</a>. She stopped in Monday though and I expect to see her again this week.<br />
Brandie is one of a kind.<br />
Her passion for reporting, her dedication to this craft, her persistence for excellence and her fearsome loyalty to her colleagues and others around her is unmatched.<br />
That's why we already miss her.<br />
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There's a warning here, too, for our friends at YDR: Get ready for cool ideas.<br />
And watch out.<br />
You could end up with banana cream on your face. Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-21334583950318272892012-11-27T09:42:00.000-08:002012-11-27T09:42:48.367-08:00Blessings of near-misses, minor crashes I had a bad start to my day today, as this photo clearly shows.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjidF6kjx8ObZb7AD4x2cvRYgMI8j9Xmuo-xs0ugq4g2i563IIW25zuAo2q_kNBvZiEL-MAWOqF82QnQbgsQI5y4iV5cKzakKLRsEG2UEiaWi6uIR5mqIN9Z4OjBU5v47_qz9OeIw1-Qjdj/s1600/crash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjidF6kjx8ObZb7AD4x2cvRYgMI8j9Xmuo-xs0ugq4g2i563IIW25zuAo2q_kNBvZiEL-MAWOqF82QnQbgsQI5y4iV5cKzakKLRsEG2UEiaWi6uIR5mqIN9Z4OjBU5v47_qz9OeIw1-Qjdj/s1600/crash.jpg" /></a>Untreated roads were covered with an icy mix of rain and snow, and I headed out with an extra measure of care. My mistake, however, was wanting a second cup of morning coffee, taking Old Reading Pike to Dunkin' Donuts instead of staying on the more heavily traveled business Route 422.<br />
Snow was falling pretty steadily; the KYW traffic report was noting minor crashes in those ever-popular northern and western suburbs.<br />
I was coasting along about 30 miles per hour on a straight level stretch of road when the car started skidding -- sideways, then the other way, then sideways again.<br />
The car was on its own, me helpless as I experienced in slow motion my red convertible making its way off the road. <br />
Into a tree.<br />
The front right corner hit the tree before the car slid sideways into a large bush. The air bags didn't go off; I wasn't jolted or hurt in any way.<br />
We are firm believers in our household in the coincidence of threes, and indeed, this was our third car mishap in five days.<br />
The first of those three bears retelling: <br />
Four of the five members of our family were driving home together Thursday evening after a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our son and his girlfriend's apartment in New York.<br />
Our younger son was driving, his twin sister the front passenger, my husband and I in the back seat. <br />
Traffic was light, and we were two-thirds of the way home on I-78 approaching Allentown.<br />
As we passed the Hellertown exit, the unthinkable happened. My son saw it first - a car coming the wrong way up the ramp onto the interstate, crossing lanes, and speeding toward us in the passing lane. <br />
The car was barreling full-on at us, both vehicles going at high speeds in the passing lane. <br />
Scott swerved the car slightly to the right but couldn't get completely out of the way because of cars alongside us.<br />
The approaching car also swerved and went partly onto the grass median, narrowly avoiding the head-on collision that would have killed us all.<br />
We were shaken, to say the least, thankful for the blessings of quick reflexes and angels watching over us. <br />
We later learned the driver was <a href="http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/Man-drives-5-miles-wrong-way-on-I-78-arrested-for-DUI/-/132502/17528452/-/aoqae6z/-/index.html">arrested for DUI after going five miles</a> in the wrong direction on I-78. The news report said nothing of crashes or near-misses, so we can assume he avoided hitting anything.<br />
Those who know me well know incidents with cars are my plague and probably my greatest annoyance.<br />
But today I am thankful for the near-misses and skids that end slowly. They remind me of how close we come to tragedy and how remarkable the forces of fate are in sparing us. <br />
Be careful out there. Always. <br />
<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-11941454320777765972012-11-14T12:50:00.000-08:002012-11-15T10:19:37.799-08:00Learning value of education from those who missed outI was raised with the importance of reading and writing drilled into my life by two people who learned the hard way.<br />
My parents, both born in the middle of large families, had to quit school after the 8th grade. My dad had to work full-time on the family farm; my mom was needed at home to help care for younger siblings and to start earning a wage doing housework for others.<br />
Both families were poor in dollars, rich in lessons that my parents passed on to me and my brothers. <br />
Education was a privilege denied them, and that made its value so much greater. As parents, they never let us forget it.<br />
I've seen the emphasis passed on among my cousins, a message strengthened through my parents' generation by the hardship it took to acquire it. <br />
I didn't realize until much later in my life that my parents were fortunate in what they took from those eight years of schooling, in both cases taught in rural one-room schools of the early 1920s.<br />
My dad had flawless spelling and could write a good letter when he needed to; he was quick and adept at math, and served as president and treasurer of nearly every group he joined, including being an elected school board president and the treasurer of the Boyertown Area School Board during the era of expansion that included building the junior high west center.<br />
He was surrounded by people much more learned than he, and yet he was often at the head of the table in clubs, the church consistory and sports teams.<br />
Although he worked at Doehler-Jarvis as his day job, he ran his own taxidermy business in our basement, having learned the trade through distance learning by mail.<br />
My mom's lack of education showed in her spelling, but it didn't stop her from communicating well. She spelled things phonetically, a trait that brings a smile upon reading her handwritten recipes for "punkin" pie or "dumplins."<br />
She had insights and an understanding of people and situations coupled with a desire to keep learning. When my brothers were in college, she borrowed some of their textbooks as leisure reading. She particularly liked psychology courses.<br />
She emphasized always that we have books in our home and in our lives as children. But even more important to her were "educational" toys, as she called them. Of course I had my share of dolls and my brothers had plenty of sports gear, but she made a point of insisting that blocks, puzzles, word games, and books were more important.<br />
We were raised knowing we would go to college. It was a rule that my mother enforced. Although I didn't know it until my parents were in their twilight years and I was settled into my adult life, my dad had at one time thought a college degree wasn't necessary for me because I would "just get married and have a family."<br />
My mother prevailed with her philosophy: "You can lose the people around you; your job can end. But no one can take away your education."<br />
Her strong stand molded my future.<br />
My parents knew from experience that education does not come easily to everyone.That's what the Pottstown adult literacy program is about. It benefits people whose lives did not start easily, and it has the potential to further those opportunities we know come from education.<br />
Pottstown's literacy effort needs your help.<br />
With just a few minutes of your time, you can sign on to support the Adult Literacy Program. A donor will give $1 for every signature as submitted on the following form. <br />
Those dollars will go a long way to buy materials and help people learning to read. My mother would call this effort "educational;" I call it a second chance.<br />
Sign on to support our program: Pottstown reads. <br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="768" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dEJLd0Z4NTBCZm44NWk3V2NjYkpIdHc6MQ" width="760">Loading...</iframe><br />
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-58382582085416536002012-11-01T12:00:00.001-07:002012-11-01T12:00:52.574-07:00From Agnes to Sandy: How we cover a hurricaneOur staff at a news site in Pottstown where the Philly suburbs complete their turn to rural Pennsylvania rarely covers a hurricane. We have our share of flooding on the Schuylkill River and large creeks -- Perkiomen, Manatawny, French Creek -- and sometimes the effects of hurricanes have been involved.<br />
Last year, <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20110828/TMP08/308289991/waking-up-after-irene-how-it-s-affecting-the-area-%28video-and-twitter-pix%29">Irene caused some evacuations and flooding </a>of the Perkiomen at Collegeville and Graterford. We had some Floyd-aftermath flooding in 1999, and I remember writing headlines about the approach of Gloria some years back.<br />
But for full-fledged hurricane reporting, we have to go back <a href="http://rememberingagnes.blogspot.com/">40 years to Hurricane Agnes</a>.<br />
Until this week and Sandy.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBo4wcZo_ud235aEkcYUQMhwiVAizIKd6ZqYA_yGEB9L0AIdcqjh350-s4NkbMxplKTdncnM-p6mOzbda1q1X78f5QnjTdiYTaH2Wq2xCOZRgYHdLdEDxdaUnX3pmEcsITa0TUVDlGSi0C/s1600/sandypage3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBo4wcZo_ud235aEkcYUQMhwiVAizIKd6ZqYA_yGEB9L0AIdcqjh350-s4NkbMxplKTdncnM-p6mOzbda1q1X78f5QnjTdiYTaH2Wq2xCOZRgYHdLdEDxdaUnX3pmEcsITa0TUVDlGSi0C/s1600/sandypage3.JPG" /></a>Like Agnes in June, 1972, Sandy set her sights on New York and New Jersey, and slammed Pennsylvania in-between with gale-force winds and drenching rain.<br />
The AP reported winds reached 81 miles per hour in Allentown; Hanover, Pa. got 8.15 inches of rain.<br />
Twelve deaths were reported in Pennsylvania, several of them from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.<br />
In our area, <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121030/NEWS01/121039980/berks-man-killed-when-tree-hits-porch">a 62-year-old man was killed</a> when a tree crashed through his porch roof while he was taking the dogs out.<br />
The biggest difference between reporting a hurricane and reporting some after-effects like flooding is the breadth of the storm and the dangers to ourselves.<br />
When I send reporters over to South Pottstown to report on damage to the homes along the Schuylkill River, I tell them to wear boots, protect cameras and stay out of deep water.<br />
But on Monday with Sandy "looming large," the warnings were more stern. We put a plan in place to keep paginators and online producers at home, as long as their power lasted. We bought car chargers for laptops; put fresh batteries in flashlights; kept cell phones fully charged.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rXEtm_vuK5zbWUb5M8HSQ6WR6tO4a0E14kwaa4KeosPWwOg-nqJdZpUkyRChkl7ds6igbUZ5BOrKmtEpDG84oqgJIJ8wy-eEEEj5XRx4Ss0BlFKLmGVQEtzCfWqih_5lNVK0TBZxU_do/s1600/tree+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rXEtm_vuK5zbWUb5M8HSQ6WR6tO4a0E14kwaa4KeosPWwOg-nqJdZpUkyRChkl7ds6igbUZ5BOrKmtEpDG84oqgJIJ8wy-eEEEj5XRx4Ss0BlFKLmGVQEtzCfWqih_5lNVK0TBZxU_do/s320/tree+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a>Reporters and photographers and two editors were in the office, coordinating coverage. We planned a front page by phone, brainstormed headlines like we always do, but in phone and email instead of in person. We kept website, Facebook, Twitter and mobile sites up to date.<br />
By 8 p.m. Monday night, we closed up at the offices and drove home just as the wind speeds were picking up. Two people were on alert to go out overnight if they got word of a water rescue, fire or building collapse. The message was: Don't go out for flooding or wind damage. That can wait until daybreak. Don't risk going out in this wind unless it's a disaster that demands immediate reporting. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Zi1gbSkVCdSjRxCvYZsWyVAz_4UWNdAW7kzkEuA2Cp-A3qc_NhvOGaAzQCeGoxPf43a2_bDXcZ1hgdq_3AAXPvfXkEYTpm362qv0f8n7hKO5AQYgwKwoG2LE5-yhFtNdLgJ6MyH27Sux/s1600/sandypage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Zi1gbSkVCdSjRxCvYZsWyVAz_4UWNdAW7kzkEuA2Cp-A3qc_NhvOGaAzQCeGoxPf43a2_bDXcZ1hgdq_3AAXPvfXkEYTpm362qv0f8n7hKO5AQYgwKwoG2LE5-yhFtNdLgJ6MyH27Sux/s1600/sandypage.JPG" /></a>By Tuesday, many of us had lost power in our homes, but The Mercury did not. Neither did the offices of our sister sites in the Philly cluster, except Montgomery Media and a portion of the Delco Daily Times building.<br />
To be sure, not all systems were working perfectly due to the devastation Sandy caused around us, in New York City and the Jersey shore. But for the most part, we could work.<br />
The greatest damage here were giant trees uprooted, wires down and limbs everywhere. Fortunately, none of our staffers suffered damage to their homes except for some damaged gutters and broken tree limbs. The inconvenience of losing cable or Internet or lights and TV is minor compared to what we witnessed at the beach and in New York City.<br />
Ironically, Sandy stormed our way the year of the 40th anniversary of Agnes and<a href="http://rememberingagnes.blogspot.com/2012/06/40-years-ago-hurricane-agnes-flooding.html"> a recap of that coverage.</a> There was no comparison to the devastation caused by Agnes, but the approach was the same.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zN7bTZejY2PBXi1-eLH8W8sRy3sCcqI2AZbyJhY3YRLQYUvhDbNOHx6vGkDsFZ_37Lw2jlT3SRj5pWIWPtE3WPSrHaMkftyZuREywn10jZ2i1Dv0IFZPE8rLoMej__fnW5KUGI3u0HVq/s1600/sandypage2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zN7bTZejY2PBXi1-eLH8W8sRy3sCcqI2AZbyJhY3YRLQYUvhDbNOHx6vGkDsFZ_37Lw2jlT3SRj5pWIWPtE3WPSrHaMkftyZuREywn10jZ2i1Dv0IFZPE8rLoMej__fnW5KUGI3u0HVq/s1600/sandypage2.JPG" /></a>When we pulled out the old Agnes papers for research last summer, we noticed there were no bylines in those editions, just a box that said everyone on staff contributed to everything they produced.<br />
That's how The Mercury covered a hurricane 40 years ago.<br />
With a bit of sarcasm and some silliness, our staffers like to say "there's no I in team." (I won't repeat the second half of their slogan about three "u"s.) <br />
That's how we covered Sandy, and why it was different than a normal storm. <br />
The bylines don't matter in a hurricane; the team effort does. <br />
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Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-40124027679671609022012-10-05T12:27:00.000-07:002012-10-05T12:27:00.128-07:00Join us for literacy project Our <a href="http://whatsgoingonatthemercury.blogspot.com/">Community Media Lab</a> went to the dogs last week.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqrrjYyRxk27dVLqLy1rNEQ-4ft96jT2gP9WHwRaeWoYlfSfI4f0sIzF5C2uqD5gE5iLqNd6U6awyyY4FLtO4PU1VeIIOPQNUzmsiYsUfYCx9ecW6lApZdIF5DNP5ET81fTk8tomroqgD/s1600/bark+for+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqrrjYyRxk27dVLqLy1rNEQ-4ft96jT2gP9WHwRaeWoYlfSfI4f0sIzF5C2uqD5gE5iLqNd6U6awyyY4FLtO4PU1VeIIOPQNUzmsiYsUfYCx9ecW6lApZdIF5DNP5ET81fTk8tomroqgD/s1600/bark+for+life.jpg" /></a>The Pottstown <a href="http://barkf.blogspot.com/">Bark for Life</a> planning committee became the first community group to take us up on the offer to use our space in <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">The Mercury</a> for a meeting. The meeting involved about 20 people, but the talk was all about the dogs -- and the plans for next spring's Bark for Life event that raises money for the American Cancer Society <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120602/NEWS01/120609877/hundreds-join-pottstown-relay-for-life-to-fight-cancer">Relay for Life</a>.<br />
The group took advantage of our central location in town, our welcoming space, and free Wi-Fi for an organized committee meeting.<br />
Their meeting was the first example of uses we hope to see in our newly created space at 24 N. Hanover St. in Pottstown.<br />
Other news from our lab is that we're changing our hours to promote after-school use by students as a quiet study spot. Currently, the lab has been attracting area residents who use the computers to look for jobs or learn about blogging from <a href="http://halfironadventure.blogspot.com/">community engagement editor Diane Hoffman</a>.<br />
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A recent field trip visit from Pottstown High School students reminded us that the mid-day hours are not as practical now that school has started. The local students told us our room looks like a good study spot if open after school.<br />
As a result, we'll be changing in the next two weeks to open the room from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays and keep our mid-day hours on Mondays and Tuesdays.<br />
There's more ...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh83OcLZ_mWfvUfWb29mz0GxTh8ovF5iElV7ij4no9sPmiXtD93YOH2sPa1lTC7iN2lY5oh6-ocQj1YEeYee7NGjmgT01q3SIxhxoa9-mJHsl6tFr9KNTff0YtXWJSqCHGsF_aNR9J3XVpG/s1600/medialab.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh83OcLZ_mWfvUfWb29mz0GxTh8ovF5iElV7ij4no9sPmiXtD93YOH2sPa1lTC7iN2lY5oh6-ocQj1YEeYee7NGjmgT01q3SIxhxoa9-mJHsl6tFr9KNTff0YtXWJSqCHGsF_aNR9J3XVpG/s1600/medialab.JPG" /></a></div>
This Tuesday, Oct. 9, The Mercury is hosting a Community Media Lab meeting for our <a href="http://www3.allaroundphilly.com/Mercury/townsquare.html">Town Square bloggers </a>and anyone else who wants to come out and learn about blogging, the media or just view our exhibit of Mercury news photos.<br />
The goal of the meeting is to embark on a literacy project.<br />
What form will that project take?<br />
Well, that's up to you and those attending the meeting.<br />
Our goal is to help people embrace reading and help those struggling with illiteracy learn how to read.<br />
We might sponsor tutoring sessions in our lab, or conduct a book drive for children's books, or build a lending shelf of books for adult new readers.<br />
We've invited the literacy volunteers from the <a href="http://www.ywcatricountyarea.org/adult-literacy.html">Pottstown YWCA Adult Literacy Center</a> as guests Tuesday night and are hoping to brainstorm ideas and come up with a project and plan to get Pottstown reading.<br />
Promoting literacy promotes education, helps people find jobs, helps employers fulfill workforce needs, and thus, combats homelessness, poverty and hunger.<br />
Promoting literacy helps people and helps our towns.<br />
Come out Tuesday night to visit our Community Media Lab, learn what our community engagement outreach is all about, learn about blogging and join the conversation to build literacy.<br />
We're meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Media Lab entrance of The Mercury on Hanover Street. See you there. Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-25691215154329903662012-09-21T07:38:00.000-07:002012-09-21T07:38:21.125-07:00Sound-Off sandwich? Tell us what you think!Fridays are special days at <a href="http://www.site.grumpyssandwiches.com/">Grumpy's Hand-Carved Sandwiches</a>. <br />
And, today is<a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/"> The Mercury's</a> turn at inspiring their special, a <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120921/OPINION04/120929996/friday-s-sound-off">Sound-Off </a>wrap with an invitation to say what you think, just like our callers to Sound-Off.<br />
We in the newsroom are regulars at Grumpy's, 137 High St., in downtown Pottstown.<br />
We like the good coffee within walking distance of our office. We like the fresh baked goods from <a href="http://companycakesinc.com/">Company Cakes</a>. We like Gene and Sheila Dugan, the owners.<br />
We love the homemade salads, soups and sandwiches. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcm3b0dUAuSbNjcqZcgsliHyDqjYFaI9-uQyrPTAOaLGLmi1U_Eh4N4GwENujdwUEqsiRiXzL6ugQ0GLkLVdqrufDS32n0GcpH7K_NRGMY6ssd_CT8NP8S8xaQiuEfv10p5-1qHoJbdlCa/s1600/soundoffwrap2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcm3b0dUAuSbNjcqZcgsliHyDqjYFaI9-uQyrPTAOaLGLmi1U_Eh4N4GwENujdwUEqsiRiXzL6ugQ0GLkLVdqrufDS32n0GcpH7K_NRGMY6ssd_CT8NP8S8xaQiuEfv10p5-1qHoJbdlCa/s200/soundoffwrap2.JPG" width="200" /></a>Gene will customize sandwiches or salads to suit our tastes and our commitments to healthy, vegetarian or pure chocolate-loving lifestyles.<br />
Sheila, as <a href="http://downtownpottstown.org/">Proudly Pottstown</a> and the Main Street manager, partners with our <a href="http://merceditorsdesk.blogspot.com/2012/07/hands-across-hanover-street.html">Community Media Lab</a> on downtown initiatives. We fit a bit of community engagement business talk in with our orders. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDrZXqyUDxX2Kyf9PKKJEXJfhN2MgcuBbapz-YwEhRKwR8QfZrzqpZoVFZONNBhleW5ZT7KQ-c6t0qt6Khggs6z_YzpNRwsaFCUhclR6P6lAgJAFC-cfrpplLUvo5Agr5p76f_Tn18Gmp/s1600/soundoffwrap1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDrZXqyUDxX2Kyf9PKKJEXJfhN2MgcuBbapz-YwEhRKwR8QfZrzqpZoVFZONNBhleW5ZT7KQ-c6t0qt6Khggs6z_YzpNRwsaFCUhclR6P6lAgJAFC-cfrpplLUvo5Agr5p76f_Tn18Gmp/s200/soundoffwrap1.JPG" width="200" /></a>Every Friday, Gene likes to create a sandwich that reflects a downtown business. This week is our chance.<br />
The Sound-Off wrap, Gene says, has a Greek influence because of The Mercury "messenger-god" symbolism.<br />
The wrap includes roasted chicken slices, roasted peppers, spinach, feta, olive oil and black olives.<br />
My Sound-Off comment: DELICIOUS!<br />
Stop in and try one. Right now while the Friday specials last, open until 6 p.m. <br />
We hope to be featured again soon.<br />
Maybe a panini 'Stop the Press' sandwich? <br />
Shop local. Eat at Grumpy's. <br />
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Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2319017024972629615.post-62700567753108049632012-09-05T11:19:00.001-07:002012-09-05T11:19:26.318-07:00For better or worse, July 4th celebration defines Pottstown I wrote <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120902/OPINION01/120909957/ju-y-4th-celebration-in-serious-jeopardy-">this editorial</a> about the Pottstown Fourth of July Homecoming celebration over the weekend but there was not enough space on the Opinion page for all I want to say about the event being in jeopardy because of lack of funds. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhO6Y2YmIsxptQzSzPaibVroQz22739WYCi-qFXQ8iBwa4fb2LKjiI1Ro8bf83H_j3tkHOqarrN7Z8-YDJOAqo4oS_maYoUOpfb1kdEdSBowrx2CfdMapO8ijS2JfrXIMItqcZZWB2gMz/s1600/9-2-12_EDITOON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhO6Y2YmIsxptQzSzPaibVroQz22739WYCi-qFXQ8iBwa4fb2LKjiI1Ro8bf83H_j3tkHOqarrN7Z8-YDJOAqo4oS_maYoUOpfb1kdEdSBowrx2CfdMapO8ijS2JfrXIMItqcZZWB2gMz/s200/9-2-12_EDITOON.jpg" width="200" /></a>It's one of those things that I think defines Pottstown, both in its successes and shortcomings, and also one of those things that runs parallel to the path of <a href="http://www.pottsmerc.com/">this newspaper</a> where I started working before there was a Homecoming celebration here.<br />
Pottstown's Fourth of July celebration was started by my first boss, <a href="http://www.tnonline.com/2012/sep/01/bumper-stickers">Bob Urban</a>. <br />
Bob and his family lived in town, and he was the kind of editor everybody in the neighborhood knew and liked. He helped his son deliver papers in the morning; he ghost-wrote an outdoors column under the pen name Rod N. Reel, and he led a newsroom that understood "hyperlocal" long before websites were vying for share of audience. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCDl8kHtHerSQFTbSa6kxtYz90DztuwBnonxnP7GMFU9KO4X0RLJ2byyMNeXxoG9FGGmIRToBs3xUW6PlckqU4GXf_WH1KJ7bXhx_U9BUMKV5fQUopXy3RCT80Ow1tFaEtB2HcYmon-5Pz/s1600/4thparade04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCDl8kHtHerSQFTbSa6kxtYz90DztuwBnonxnP7GMFU9KO4X0RLJ2byyMNeXxoG9FGGmIRToBs3xUW6PlckqU4GXf_WH1KJ7bXhx_U9BUMKV5fQUopXy3RCT80Ow1tFaEtB2HcYmon-5Pz/s200/4thparade04.jpg" width="200" /></a>Bob started the Fourth of July celebration along with Gary Babin, who was head of the <a href="http://www.pottstown.org/departments-parks.htm">Pottstown Parks and Recreation Department</a> at the time, because there was a gas crisis and they thought there should be something for local residents to enjoy on a holiday weekend without driving to the Poconos or the Jersey shore.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEeah22joSPByB-weArb9EXcIU3qOxiJJnpREdqKxFuIbu0Uz9LH63j5XjosKuMMfmQhkOpG5K00jMPYnZyuK9yXjUSYNYJQMdj-rddVg2ZzEoA8wsM4jfkSp6_1MPeZZJeWZYVP7TB1pm/s1600/nancy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEeah22joSPByB-weArb9EXcIU3qOxiJJnpREdqKxFuIbu0Uz9LH63j5XjosKuMMfmQhkOpG5K00jMPYnZyuK9yXjUSYNYJQMdj-rddVg2ZzEoA8wsM4jfkSp6_1MPeZZJeWZYVP7TB1pm/s200/nancy1.jpg" width="200" /></a>I was a reporter in 1978 when Bob came up with this brainstorm, and we had little choice but to rally round. We were assigned to write countless stories about the plans and typed in names and dollar amounts for the daily "honor roll" of contributors and the penny-a-vote queens contest. <br />
I can remember Bob's enthusiasm at the fundraising success and reporters' sighs at the number of names we had to type as contributors sent in their checks. As I recall, the donations came into The Mercury to be counted, tabulated and deposited by employees here. We still do that with Operation Holiday, and the time of those tasks on top of regular work is no small feat in a news operation. <br />
Bob's idea took off, and 34 years later, continues, albeit without the initial pouring in of funds or the townwide enthusiasm throughout the planning process. <br />
In recent years, donations have dwindled to the point of endangering the celebration's future, and some on the planning committee have blamed The Mercury.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrZ1w23ldq3N_Yi8RMC7m-txrkC5SJI2XB8DGDKgMkSPr93T-oAFLNsGw95D7kICKF0r9LyfXchGatpLDhbCl078O5RYR9Ab_4wI6HR9xiscfcy6g6UVl5-lgKkWXI6aFkTxTesOSqCx-/s1600/editoon+sketches+for+9-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD77-Dd58-gXvorp4svHSiFYU-5kpMxGQCnE8Csc-qwXC9ExkvEWwu2woEku07WL7UbtgfGxL3vaHERu8aEFL80-dl0IxIwpaUAANcp0LadNUia1QmiSRE59a7ZZlZOXo_pmtm70mfWZJK/s1600/fireworks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD77-Dd58-gXvorp4svHSiFYU-5kpMxGQCnE8Csc-qwXC9ExkvEWwu2woEku07WL7UbtgfGxL3vaHERu8aEFL80-dl0IxIwpaUAANcp0LadNUia1QmiSRE59a7ZZlZOXo_pmtm70mfWZJK/s200/fireworks.jpg" width="150" /></a>"It would be a shame that the organization which started the Fourth celebration in Pottstown will also be the one that ends it ..." is one of the comments we've heard repeated.<br />
Those criticisms are fair in that we don't have the resources we had in 1978 to plan and execute a major fundraising campaign. <br />
They are unfair in assuming that's why the balance sheet is turning red. <br />
Even in the beginning, although begun by our leadership, the Fourth of July Homecoming committee was set up with people from all walks of life in town. We had just one seat at the table. <br />
The stories we wrote reflected the energy and enthusiasm that was involved in planning a parade, a hot-air balloon launch, two to three days of activities at the park, a 10K race, food, Little League all-star games, music, rides and competitions.<br />
In recent years, we have been criticized for not writing enough about the July 4th fundraising. But the stories are the same -- a plea that the committee needs money or the Fourth of July will end.<br />
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The 34 years since this newspaper was involved in starting the Fourth have coincided with 34 years of change in this industry, too. We can't afford to lament the loss of print readership and advertising; we have needed to forge ahead with a digital-first philosophy and change our ways to include social media, mobile apps, text messaging and blogs. <br />
We try to extend the lessons of change to the community. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBAfb8kiObDrZ-MyiVZZEFdtAFW0t_azwd0aYtteRlrRhg5TrEKzPOtK4GohQNUMUMmFlZZylDWM4NV47R793yzlLBxxX2r1VGheIftBZGj66fs3iz6r1LsFWe0ynDMH6_GoaTPYX03QTi/s1600/134732+4thceleptn6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBAfb8kiObDrZ-MyiVZZEFdtAFW0t_azwd0aYtteRlrRhg5TrEKzPOtK4GohQNUMUMmFlZZylDWM4NV47R793yzlLBxxX2r1VGheIftBZGj66fs3iz6r1LsFWe0ynDMH6_GoaTPYX03QTi/s200/134732+4thceleptn6.JPG" width="134" /></a>For several years, we hosted a <a href="http://pottstown4th.wordpress.com/">Fourth of July committee blog</a> which we helped set up with former committee member Chris Stafy. The blog is no longer updated but continues to attract traffic through Google searches. <br />
Other bloggers -- <a href="http://sanatogapost.com/">the Sanatoga Post</a> and <a href="http://positivelyptown.com/">Positively Pottstown</a> -- have supported the Fourth. Even some downtown business owners this year conducted their own fundraisers to help out. <br />
We don't want to see the local Fourth of July celebration in Pottstown end. It represents Pottstown's ability to come together as a community. Most of all, the events are just plain fun for families and friends to enjoy while celebrating the nation's birthday. <br />
I have no magic bullet for the committee, just a lesson from the past. <br />
As a newspaperman, Bob Urban knew the story had to be a good one to get attention. He led the effort to give us young reporters something to write about. <br />
Now we're looking for news to tweet and post on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pottstown.mercury">Facebook</a> and link to the web -- and still to write about. <br />
The revival of a dying celebration in Pottstown by embracing new ideas? Now, that would be a headline we would love to share. <br />
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<br />Nancy Marchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16275447127639904121noreply@blogger.com0