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For The Record: Blogging, History, and The Legacy We Leave

Every morning I start my day by connecting to the thoughts of others. I go on-line and read a series of news feeds on the ol 'puter. We still get the local paper too, (mainly for the crossword puzzle, and the authoritative feel of snapping the pages), but aside from the portability of taking it with me to the, uh..."reading room", I tend to rely more and more on electronic content.

The print papers just aren't as relevant anymore. The paper today is just a rehash of what I read on line last night. It's old news before the ink even dries on the page. In addition, my on-line content is tailored to my interests. It's more personal, more real, and often more honest because of the freedoms of personal publishing.

One favorite site of mine is a daily digest from History.com.

This mornings entry tells how on this date in 1917 the U.S. ended its search for Pancho Villa. That little gem is of personal interest as my Great Grandfather W.A. Sands was one of the men sent into Mexico to hunt down the famed revolutionary under the command of General Black Jack Pershing. I can look at that history and write about it. I can link to it and add a new and more personal piece to the puzzle of the past.

I have grandpa's diary's. They are filled with day by day accounts of that mission, with a whole lotta talk of the Mexican"working girls" who entertained at their camps each night.

My father says W.A. and his wife did not speak directly to each other for the last forty years of their lives, even though they never divorced, and lived in the same house on Bryden Road until their deaths. In order to communicate, they would direct their comments to one or more of their seven children, -or occasionally the dog.

I have often wonder if that diary might have played a part in their long running marital feud. His diaries don't say. There is not one cross word about his wife or children in those pages. He talks extensively of his missions with Pershing, both to Mexico, and later into WWI France. He talks of his work as the leader of the 42nd Rainbow Division military band, and later of The Great Depression and his work as a business man in Columbus Ohio, but there is not a single sentence in those volumes discussing his personal feelings about his family.

His wife, Tose Sands, kept a diligent daily record too. She logged the weather, who came to visit, what the meals were, who was born and who died, but she too wrote nary a word about their personal lives. Even on holidays like Christmas, the accounts fail to mention feelings about family or gifts, or the joy of celebration.

I think there is a lesson in those musty old books for the bloggers of the future. While a meteorologist or a war historian might find gold in those pages, regular readers are looking for something more...a personal history, with feelings and personal philosophies on life. Entries like that not only teach us who these people were, but it keeps their memories alive, and provides us with a way to connect to our collective past, and relate their struggles to our future.

When I look at the photos in the old family trunk, I often wonder what those ghosts of the past were like. I wish we had more diaries, more personal glimpses into history, and I hope the age of the Internet will make that dream come alive for the children of tomorrow.

When I look into the eyes of those old photos, I want to know who those people were. Don't you?

Times Square, where dreams come true

Just got back from The big Apple. -Had a ball.

Here's a fake tourist photo I purchased for 10 bucks in times Square.

A place where anyting can happen, and everything does!

3...2...1...LAUNCH!

I just launched a new blog. It's called Applesassy.com. I spent the past three weeks learning css, html and php codes so that I could do some fun customizations and put a few advertisements on it.

The focus of the blog is writing and social networking. Anything outside that realm (Mostly family funnies and slice of life) will still appear here, unless its a political post. All politics will appear only on The Huffington Post from now on.

If you have a chance to drop over to either site and make a comment, you would surely make me smile.

Thanks Everybody.

3...2...1...LAUNCH!

Geese Grumpy over Airstrike Coverage

The United Geese Federation is upset with coverage regarding the Miracle on the Hudson. Spokes-gander Loosey Goosey claims an unfair anti-avian media bias regarding the recent plane crash in New York.

"All the news coverage is claiming a goose hit the plane. Our position is the plane hit the goose. They keep quacking about the damage our goose did to the engine, but did you see the damage that engine did to the goose?!"

Geese all over the country are flocking together in protest of the coverage, flying in the classic V formation as a symbol of solidarity.

Right Wing Opponents say "They can honk all they want, but the fact is, they don't have a case. Geese are not considered credible in court."

The Power of Words

I just received a nice e-mail from Gloria Feldt. Gloria is one of my "SHE-RO's". She is a writer, activist, and public speaker with a long history of involvement in the Women's Movement.

She sent me a review copy of her book The War on Choice for an article I am working on for The Huffington Post.

After putting the bones of the piece together, I sent her a draft to fact check.

The first line of her reply to me was:

Kelley,
I am greatly honored that you are citing my book. You
have created a beautiful framework to remind Americans what is at stake on this
Roe anniversary.

Wow. What a perfect thing to say to a budding writer. "You have created a beautiful framework...:

That is after all, what we all dream of doing when we write; Create beautiful frameworks.

I don't know about you, but I often find that a difficult thing to do. I have so many ideas floating around in my head, and they ALL have connections. More often than not, I tend to connect too many different dots in my essays, which basically turns the framework into a pile of mangled steel.

Beautiful frameworks require structure, and simplicity. It is a melding of art and form. It can be linear, or circular, or spiral, in style and point, as long as the framework is sound.

But simplicity is complicated.

Because I admire Gloria and her achievements, I will hold her kind words most dear. And hopefully, I will build better frameworks this year as a result.

Twitter

Are ya'all using Twitter yet?

I kept reading how hot it is, so I decided to give it a try. I admit it confused me at first. The idea is you sign up for a free account, start "following" other people, and they in turn "follow" you.

To "tweet" on Twitter, you go to the Twitter dashboard and answer the question: "What are you doing?"

You have only 140 characters (letters & numbers) in which to answer.

When you hit send, everyone who is following you receives your Tweet.

Some folks say things like "Going to bed now." or "Spilled my coffee."

Others report news headlines, or provide updates to their latest writings.

When you insert a url into a Tweet, twitter automatically converts the link to something called a Tiny url. Basically all this does is make your link smaller so that it uses less characters.

When I first began using Twitter, it did not make a lot of sense to me. In order to see followers Tweets, I had to go to the Twitter site and scroll through all the Tweets. Most of them meant nothing to me, so it thought "Hmm...Twitter huh?...meh."

But then I discovered an add on for Twitter called Twhirl. Twhirl is a little piece of Twitter software you download on to your desktop that sends those Tweets in real time. Now I get my news faster than anyone on the planet.

I "follow" good news sources, and those tweets let me know whats going on around the globe as it's happening. I also know what my friends are up to, and who just posted a new article.

Chris Brogan just wrote a cool twitter story. He was in Las Vegas for a convention. His gang wanted to get permission to have a promotional photo taken while on board a pirate ship. They sent out a few Twitters to see if anyone at the convention knew who to contact to get permission to board the ship. Within minutes, they had their answer, got permission, and now have a hot photo of the three entrepreneurs standing as swashbucklers aboard the famous ship.

Another fella used Twitter to hook up with his friends after a football game. He tweeted his location and they all met up at the same pub after the game.
Lara Kretler shares a story on her blog of how she needed some quick information. She posted her question to Twitter, and got the answer she needed right away. On her post she said it was better to get answers from real people she networked with rather than depend on the Google bot. I think she is right about that.

So in conclusion, Here's a Thumbs up for Twitter. I think it's sings.

You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here. I promise to follow you back.

New York City!

Oh how exciting! I am about to embark on my first ever trip to NYC!

Next week Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post, will moderate a discussion on "The Year Ahead" in politics and culture with HuffPost bloggers: Nora Ephron, author and screenwriter; Erica Jong, author; Barbara Ehrenreich, author; Trey Ellis, author and screenwriter; and Paul Rieckhoff, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) executive director.

As a contributing writer for Huffpo, I will be driving to The Big Apple to attend. It's about an eight hour trip, and I am a little nervous about actually driving in the city and finding my way around, but only with great risk comes great reward, right?

In addition, the trip will offer an opportunity to get some face time with my cyber-friends.

I can't wait to post all about it and share the goings on of the event with you all.

P.S.
(I will also have a big article coming out on Huffpo that week...so stay tuned folks.)

Sponsor a Poor Wall Street Pauper Today!

This is great. I love her Safari outfit, and the way the "poor exec." plays up the puppy eyes. Tooo Funny!

Holiday Movie Reviews

In my annual quest for Oscar picks, I have seen three movies over the holiday break.

The first was Marley and Me. It’s a great little film; Heartwarming and very funny. I recommend you buy the ticket, but walk out ¾ of the way through the show. The ending is a real tear jerker. Quite frankly, it was too much for this dog lover to bear.

Then there is The Curious Case of Benjamen Button. I held high hopes for this piece, fully expecting it to be my favorite film of the season, but instead found it filled with distractions. The technical effects were indeed Oscar worthy, and I watched with anticipation as Brad Pitts face grew ever younger from scene to scene. My sheer interest in seeing Pitt de-age pulled me right out of the story. The plot dragged in the middle, and the big emotional moments of the movie failed to ring my heartstrings. I stayed through to the end, but did so reluctantly. Maybe it had something to do with the foul smell I endured as the woman sitting next to me removed her shoes, crossed her legs, and propped the offending appendage just inches from my popcorn. That distraction had me ready to beat feet for the door.

Last night I went to see Doubt with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep. We have a winner with this one. It was the best picture I’ve seen so far. Streep was at her very finest. I actually recall being startled during a particularly intense scene when I heard a little something in her voice that jolted me to remember it was her. I was so engrossed in the character she created, I actually forgot I was watching Meryl Streep! (Which is exactly the opposite of what it was like to watch the Brad Pitt film.)

I have no Doubt Streep will win Best Actress this year. But I say that not yet having seen the Nicole Kidman film, Australia, which is next on my Oscar Quest list, but really, I simply can not imagine Nicole could be lucky enough to have all the stars in Holly-world align to allow her to find the right vehicle, the right direction, the right script, and the depth of passion required to compete with Streep on this level.

So far, my money is on Doubt to sweep the Academy Awards.

Of Course I still have a few more films to go see before making those fun final picks. The list include:

Slumdog Millionaire
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Dark Knight
The Wrestler
Revolutionary Road
The Reader
Defiance

Christmas Cash

Every year we take the children to visit their grandparents on Christmas Eve. After the hugs and greetings the children run to the Christmas tree where they search like squirrels. Hidden in the branches they each find an envelope with a crisp new twenty dollar bill.

No wonder they don't believe me when I tell them money doesn't grow on trees!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Puppy Mill Problem

All across the country, people were protesting in front of Petland stores this weekend. It happens every year during the Holiday season as, The Humane Society of the United States, a private not for profit advocacy group, works to raise awareness about deplorable conditions in puppy mills. Complaints include charges that animals are kept in unsanitary cages, are unsocialized, poorly bred, have numerous health problems, and breeding bitches are kept in cages and impregnated every time they come into heat until they are not longer viable, and then are killed.

I came across one of the protest groups as I was doing my holiday shopping in Lewis Center, OH. A group of people gathered in front of the mall braving frigid temperatures for the sake of abused pups. A spokeswoman for the group, Mary O’Connor-Shaver of Columbus Top Dogs provided a press release which states:

“The goal of this event is to raise awareness of Petland and its relationship to puppy mill breeders and to solicit support from the community asking that Petland stop selling puppies while Central Ohio homeless dogs and puppies wait to be adopted.”

She wants the public to understand “There is a difference between reputable breeders and commercial breeders…Pet stores should be more regulated. We are finding these [pet store] dogs are very sick.”

She said “Lisa Wahoff, director of the Franklin County Animal Shelter pulled data in 2006 showing that as many as 7 out of every ten dogs coming into the shelter each day could be traced back to Petland sales.”

After speaking to the protesters, I took the time to talk with the folks at the Lewis center Petland store. Danny, the manager, brought out the Petland mascot Safari Sam to greet me and pose for pictures. He said Safari Sam was on his way out to the roadside to wave at the cars, and had been out earlier that morning standing side by side with the protest group. “The protesters show up every year during the holidays, but as you can see, it does not affect businesses at all.” He said with a wave of his hand, indicating the packed crowd of customers in the store. He was very good natured about the protest and adamantly stated that “all Petland puppies come from U.S.D.A. approved breeders.”

A report from the website bestfriends.org provides a comprehensive .pdf report outlining the definition of a puppy mill. One point of note in the reports states:

• Puppy mills are often USDA-licensed so they can sell puppies to pet stores. A USDA license is a red flag that breeders are in the business to make money.

The Petland manager went on to say “Petland does not approve of inhumane animal conditions.” “We think of Petland like a pre-school. We sanitize several times a day, and have customers use anti bacterial hand cleaner in between every pup they handle. Sanitation is a number one priority.”

In addition, the Petland website provides a comprehensive and scathing retort to the HSUS charges claiming this organization falsified video footage, fools the public, and uses a large percentage of donated monies for salaries and operating costs instead of the intended purpose of saving dogs.

I looked at the puppies and the condition of the cages and could only describe the Petland environment as impeccable. The puppies were handled by many customers who would go into a designated play area and get down on the floor with the pups while a staff member supervised. The staff was very attentive and helpful as they explained various breed traits. Clearly the workers were well informed, and dedicated to matching the right breeds with the families needs. Issues of size, temperament allergies and shedding were all topics I overheard during my visit. If these puppies came from disreputable puppy mills where poor kennel conditions and lack of socialization are a problem, the pups certainly do not live under those conditions once they are in Petland’s hands.

The Petland manager also talked about Petland’s Adopt-A-Pet program, which connects families who have a litter of puppies or kittens to families looking to adopt. He said “When someone finds a box of abandoned kittens and brings them in to us, we take them in, get them vaccinated, feed them, and provide them with good homes.” He want on to add, “Every Petland animal finds a home.” Implying Petland does not ever euthanize unwanted animals.

O’Connor-Shaver scoffed at that claim saying “no rescue organization in town has ever been contacted by Petland in regard to developing a partnership for their Adopt-A-Pet program.”

I asked Petland what they do when a puppy is growing and no one is buying. “We mark down the price, several times if we have to. Eventually they all find a home.”

While that may be true, one anti puppy mill website has posted an interview with a former Petland manager who tells of dogs being brought to the stores by the truckload, and those that do not pass muster are returned to the breeder. What happens to those puppies is unknown.

Petland claims the animal advocacy groups tie their annual protests to year end fundraising drives and prey on the sympathies of consumers to increase donations. The flip side of that argument is the protesters say this is the third year in a row the Ohio legislature has allowed the Puppy Mill bill to die in committee. They claim the commercial pet industry has ‘a strong lobby at the statehouse”, and “several powerful members of the committee make sure the bill never reaches the floor.”

For additional background information regarding the legal battles on this issue visit The Dog Service Network LLC blog and The Columbus Dog Connection.

These sites list the names of Ohio legislators involved in the committee hearings on The Puppy Mill Bill, but do not provide details on which legislators have received campaign donations from related lobby groups.

Such information would be most helpful to voters wanting a common sense solution to this issue.

For more information, the on line magazine Dog Owners Guide provides a balanced review of Puppy Mills, respectable breeders, and rescue organizations.