I never asked to be a baseball coach. As you might recall (see “A New Beginning,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, April 27, 2017), baseball and I have had a strange – and sometimes strained – relationship. You could understand my reluctance to agree to play the part of assistant coach for my son’s T-Ball team. Still, it was only T-Ball (how hard could that be) and it was my neighbor who was the head coach. He needed help, so, as any good neighbor would, I readily assented to assist. But, then, the unexpected happened.Continue Reading “5 Tactics of a Winning Little League Coach”
5 Tactics of a Winning Little League Coach
By on April 24, 2018
Sinclair Bashing: Talking Points Attacking the First Amendment or Merely Competitive Mudslinging?
By on April 17, 2018
“It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn’t know they were in the water, for they were dead.”
Ernie Pyle wrote those lines in his column describing D-Day in 1944. He was the most popular – and memorable – war correspondent during World War II. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. The following year, with the European Theater of Operations coming to a close, Pyle relocated to the Pacific Theater of Operations. There, on April 18, 1945, on the island of le Shima, Ernie Pyle’s pen fell forever silent. Covering the Battle of Okinawa – the last major battle of the War – the 44-year-old journalist was killed instantly in a hail of Japanese machine-gun fire.
President Harry S. Truman eulogized Pyle saying of the columnist, “No man in this war has Continue Reading “Sinclair Bashing: Talking Points Attacking the First Amendment or Merely Competitive Mudslinging?”
Say “Yes!” to Life
By on April 10, 2018
As any good soul of the space generation would, I leapt at the chance when the Kodak Center offered tickets to see William Shatner host a screening of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. As with 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Keir Dullea last year, (see “Exclusive Interview: 2001: A Space Odyssey actor Keir Dullea one-on-one with Sentinel Publisher Chris Carosa,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, January 26, 2017), I had hoped to score an interview with the man who first portrayed Captain Kirk. Alas, our schedules didn’t allow it.
Catarina, perhaps feeling slightly sorry for her Continue Reading “Say “Yes!” to Life”
The Difference Between a Reporter and a Columnist
By on April 3, 2018
I interviewed a prospective intern the other day and she asked a very interesting question. I was explaining how, because our vast publishing empire does so many things – from print to digital, from text to video, from social media to books – we have the flexibility to design an internship program customized to her specific needs and wants. I asked her, “What should you have on your resume that would most impress your future employer? Chances are, you can get that by interning here.”
She was contemplating a different question, though. Something I had told her about what I do intrigued her, and she wanted to explore that. So, instead of answering my question, she asked me one of her own.
“What’s the difference between a reporter and a columnist?”
I leaned back in my chair. Wow, I thought, what a great question!
I had told her I did both. She wanted to know specifically how the two journalism functions Continue Reading “The Difference Between a Reporter and a Columnist”
3 Reasons Why Amtrak Should Not Rename Rochester’s Train Station after Louise Slaughter
By on March 27, 2018
Many who met her say she seemed like a nice lady, but should Amtrak rename the Rochester train station after Louise Slaughter? To best answer this question, we should consider her legacy, a legacy long forgotten but memorialized in a book written nearly three decades ago. Here’s what made me remember it:
About a year ago, Ted Benna went over the beginnings of the 401k with me. The interview was for part of a series of articles that would eventually be published in several national media outlets. You might not recognize the name “Ted Benna” but you should. Chances are he changed your life and the lives of many of your neighbors. He was the man who discovered and created the world’s first 401k account. Well, he didn’t exactly do it alone.
Ted Benna’s discovery of the true significance of section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code required confirmation. As he retold the story of the very beginning, he read through the litany of executive branch policymakers who helped pave the wave for Benna and his coworkers. They represented familiar figures from the Reagan administration.
But Benna said the seeds for his discovery were sown years before when Congress amended the U.S. Tax Code in 1978. He mentioned many names, quite a few who I remembered. I listened and let him talk uninterrupted. Until he said one congressman in particular offered the key piece to this 1978 legislation. His name was Barber Conable.
“Barber Conable?” I asked in shocked disbelief. “You mean the same Continue Reading “3 Reasons Why Amtrak Should Not Rename Rochester’s Train Station after Louise Slaughter”
How Has Your Life Changed in the Past 30 Years?
By on March 20, 2018
By Raphaël Thiémard from Belgique (Berlin 1989, Fall der Mauer, Chute du mur) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Maybe, rather than the geopolitick, you preferred the here and now of the budding world of technology. You probably couldn’t believe this “486” chip just introduced by Intel could make “home” computers (that’s what they were called then) operate so fast. Little did you know you’d need that extra power to best use Microsoft’s new entry into the business software market with its product called “Office.” (And, if you were like most of us, you’d have thought only a fool would believe Excel could supplant Lotus’ 1-2-3.) Less interested in home computers? How about home video games? Nintendo releases something called a “Game Boy,” an 8-bit handheld system featuring interchangeable cartridges that revolutionized the industry.
High tech not your gig? No doubt you spent time waiting in line at the post office to buy a Continue Reading “How Has Your Life Changed in the Past 30 Years?”
This is What’s Preventing You from Saying that “Something Important” You Want to Let the Whole World Know
By on March 13, 2018
You have something important to say. Admit it. You’re not different than anyone else. We all have something important to say. Your “something important,” though, is different than everyone else’s. Yours is unique. Yours has never been said by anyone else at any other time in history. How can this be? The answer is simple: there’s only one of you, only one of you to ever exist, to think what you think, to discover this thought, idea, solution – this “something important” – in a way no one else could have possibly done it. You are unique. That makes your “something important” unique. And that’s why Continue Reading “This is What’s Preventing You from Saying that “Something Important” You Want to Let the Whole World Know”
Can You Turn Certain Defeat into Victory in Less than 40 Seconds? Follow These Four Easy Steps and You Can!
By on March 6, 2018
Everyone dreams of being the hero. You can imagine yourself being in the right place at the right time. There’s no reason you can’t be that person – the only person – who knows what to do when the going gets tough.
Everyone dreams of snatching victory from certain defeat… and everyone, including you, can do it..
If only you have the time…
Face it, we all know we can make the right decision if we only had all the facts. But rare are the opportunities that offer enough time to gather the facts.
You can’t control the calendar, you can’t control the clock, you can’t control the stopwatch.
And who doesn’t fear what they can’t control?
It’s normal, so sit back and relax. You’re no different than anyone else.
The clock is the clock. The bad news is your rivals have long known this. They’ve used it to Continue Reading “Can You Turn Certain Defeat into Victory in Less than 40 Seconds? Follow These Four Easy Steps and You Can!”
The Secret to Winning: Look for Patterns of Success
By on February 20, 2018
Would you like to know the secret to winning? It’s a system you can easily learn. It works every time. There’s only one trick. I’m guessing you already know what it is.
I’m a Frank Sinatra fan. That means, like any other Sinatra enthusiast, the song “My Way” inspires. (You can read my thoughts on that in “Ruling the World My Way.”) I thank my parents for this, for it was listening to their records that convinced me the Hoboken Hero deserved my attention.
Of course, I was born too late to experience Old Blue Eyes at his vintage best, but I was Continue Reading “The Secret to Winning: Look for Patterns of Success”
Do These 5 Easy Steps When Writing a Press Release and Good Reporters Will Respond Every Time
How would you feel if I told you this system is so simple its steps can be counted on one hand? Read this story and you’ll experience the ease with which these steps flow from each of your fingers.
Why is it important you learn this system, commit to it, and practice it regularly? Read this story and see first hand how this can change your personal, professional, and avocational life.
Remember Your First Time?
Remember how you felt the first time you saw your name in print, watched yourself on Continue Reading “Do These 5 Easy Steps When Writing a Press Release and Good Reporters Will Respond Every Time”