The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand? ~ Captian Jack Sparrow We all know them… those folks for whom every perceived problem is a catastrophe, an apocalypse, the end of the world as we know it. Sometimes we are them.[Read More…]
Tag: Editor’s Column
EDITOR’S COLUMN: Nostalgia
Most people are prisoners, thinking only about the future or living in the past. They are not in the present, and the present is where everything begins. ~ CARLOS SANTANA Nostalgia is defined as “a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable[Read More…]
History may not repeat itself. But it rhymes.
Attributed to Mark Twain Friends dropped off a 1971 edition of LIFE magazine last week. Perusing its pages has been alternately comforting and distressing. Most of the headlines and articles could have been reprinted today: “The Four-Day Work Week” and “Our Public Lands Up for Grabs,” for example. And then[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN: VOTE!
We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate. ~UNKNOWN Registered voters should have their mail-in primary ballots in hand now, or be ready to go vote in person on or before Tuesday, June 28. For the last few years (or decades) voting[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Sunshine for all
It might seem like the Sunshine Laws — Colorado’s Open Records and Open Meetings Laws — are only of importance to journalists covering the activities of elected officials and special districts, but the laws themselves are designed to benefit everyone, including members of the general public. A rash of recent[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Bias
Bias and impartiality is in the eye of the beholder. Samuel Johnson More than 20 years ago, when I started covering town board meetings and writing an occasional feature story, I asked former editor/publisher Mitch Bettis how to keep my reporting free from bias — inserting my own perceptions and[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN
There is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into ‘coteries’ where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the emasculated form of rumor that the outsiders say thus and thus. The absent are easily refuted, complacent dogmatism thrives, and differences of opinion are embittered by[Read More…]
Editor: What have we learned?
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. ~ Søren Kierkegaard Someone has said that when we go through difficult times, instead of asking “why is this happening?” we should be asking “what can I learn from this experience?” So what can we learn from the[Read More…]
EDITOR’S COLUMN: Mental Health
Since 1949, the month of May has been recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month. Statistically, about one in four Americans will experience a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year. More than 50% of us will be diagnosed at some point in our lifetimes. I’m not sure why those numbers[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Culture
“Protecting our customs and culture.” That phrase started showing up in county documents and being tossed around in meetings a few years back as an explanation for decisions made and actions taken. It reminds me of the classic frustrated mother’s explanation: “Because I said so, that’s why.” Every time I[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Blessed are the peacemakers
“I’m so tired of all the conflict and division.” “Why can’t people be nice and get along?” “Can we stop with all the drama already?” I hear these statements (and have said them myself) with increasing frequency. I think most of us are “conflict-avoidant” by nature. It’s part of the[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Death and taxes
If you haven’t filed your 2021 taxes yet, you have until Monday, April 18 this year, instead of the usual April 15 deadline, thanks to a locally recognized public holiday — Emancipation Day — in the District of Columbia that has IRS offices closed on Friday. The D.C. Compensated Emancipation[Read More…]