Lisa Albin, information person for Carroll Lutheran Village called me this morning in an attempt to assuage me for complaining about the editing of an entry of mine for our Creative Expressions magazine. I had attempted to write a short piece about a former SSA secretary who had been a twin, and how that fact affected many of us at the time of her death. The editing committee decided that my sentences were too short and my spacing too long. I disagreed. I felt that this was the way I wanted it to be.. similar, in my mind, to the work of Norman Mailer or Earnest Hemmingway.
Lisa, a very nice person by the way, suggested that instead of editing, a phrase might be added under the title: ala Earnest Hemmingway.. or: in the style of Norman Mailer. I agreed.
Lisa has also been very successful in getting pictures for CLV into the local paper. However, she did tell me that there is a large backlog of pictures at the paper and it may take a long time to get something published. I have about 7 pictures that I've been waiting to see.
In addition, the local paper has been sold.. so, I expect big changes coming soon in how they handle news and pictures coming in from Non-Profits, speaking of which:
Our Carroll County, Maryland, commissioners (5, count-em), when they are not busily praying and conducting off-County Conservative forums, have granted another $400,000 to be given out to home-schoolers and private-schoolers to cover their non-scholastic expenses. They granted a previous $400,000 last year.. not all of which we're told has been given out yet. Democrat Neil Ridgely was published today questioning this practice of giving out so much money to a Non-Profit.. The "catch-all" non-profit group that handles this money, is run by an honest lady.. but some are concerned that somebody else in her office might consider the temporary usage of that money to be appropriate. I hope not, but $800,000 in available funds might be an enormous temptation. As Bruce Lohr says: There is no crime unless there is an opportunity.
The Non-Profit group is not required to account for the use of the money... can you believe that? We, in TRIAD/SALT for Carroll County, were told once that we could apply to get covered by the CC Non-Profit group, but I could not see any use to that for us unless we decided to expand "big-time" and needed to solicit funds. Our source of expense money comes from the sale of old cell-phones and they do not bring in much money at all.
Change the subject, Joe:
My brother, Joe, who lives in Ohio, turned 78 yesterday. I have a card for him, but I've lost his address again and I don't have his phone number. It's tough to get old! Anyway, a while ago, he sent me a literary "bucket list".. a short list of books and movies to see before dying.
1. Jack London: To Build a Fire
(There are several versions.. I downloaded them all to my Kindle and reread them.)
2. Earnest Hemingway: A Man of the World
(Looking forward to reading it.)
3. Shirley Jackson: The Lottery
(A classic that I enjoyed again recently.)
4. Mark Twain: Literary Offenses of James Fennimore Cooper
(Must be the only MT writing that I haven't read yet.)
5. Movie: Bagdhad Café
(Haven't seen it yet.)
6. Movie: Pritzzi's Honor
(Can't remember it, so maybe I didn't see it yet.)
My brother has great insight when it comes to matters of the mind, so I will make every effort to acquaint myself with these works.
By the way.. a little set of statistics on Baltimore by the Nation magazine (my favorite).
Life expectancy in a not so classy anymore neighborhood: 63
Life expectancy in a still classy neighborhood: 83
Median household income in the first neighborhood: $13,000.
Median household income in the second neighborhood: $90,000.
A worthy goal would be to get a lot of folks FREE educational opportunities, so they can get good, well-paying jobs.. so they can migrate from the first neighborhood to a neighborhood similar to the second. Does anyone in Congress share my view? I don't think so.
Enough!
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