07/30/10

“They’re not coming. They never were.”

That’s the quote from Brian Higgins I’m hearing on WNED AM as I write this. Do I care? Do you? By this time, probably very few of us care that much.

Actually, relief is the biggest emotion. And a faint hope that now we can all move on, and continue to create positive at the Inner Harbor/Canalside. I was down there with a friend Tuesday, for a cruise on the Spirit of Buffalo. What’s there already is actually quite nice, from the little bridge to the rock-lined canal to the battleships looming alongside (above). I always discover something I didn’t realize we had whenever I visit this historic site. A big plus is the nearby Erie Basin Marina Test Garden, now bursting with summer color.

What will be there instead? What would you like to see? A brief...

Posted at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

03/26/10

Must-read: the FAIL tourney

Hats off to our friends at WNYmedia.net for their latest satirical look at local politics.

Posted at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

02/01/10

Vote architect Barbie, and vote often

Mattel recognized the power of Barbie and developed an “I Can Be” series, designed to allow children to see all the things Barbie—and by extension, girls everywhere—can do. The overwhelming winner was "architect Barbie," But Mattel voted it down.

Posted at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

01/01/10

Rose-colored spectacles: my 2009 top ten

A different kind of top ten for 2009

Posted at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

12/21/09

These three stores

Wishful thinking about retail we don't have seems a waste of energy.

Posted at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments: 2

12/10/09

This is what happens when the City of Buffalo runs an Olmsted park

If it's not broke, don't fix it—a look at what happened when Olmsted was under city management.

Posted at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/18/09

Always on call—even at church

Sunday morning at church, a man passed out and coded in the pew right in front of us. We were there with our three little girls, and certainly weren’t expecting anything like that—one never is.

He began to slump forward, and his wife couldn’t hold him. I reached forward, and helped her to get him to a sitting position; my husband stepped in, because he’s MUCH stronger than I am. A few doctors from the congregation immediately ran over and took over the situation. The gentleman said he felt okay, and just needed to sit.

About five minutes later, it happened again. And the doctors ran over again. But this time, the doc who had taken charge couldn’t get a pulse. One lady parishioner helped to remove the...

Posted at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/16/09

“He just didn’t have the luck, I guess.”

The words were spoken by a grandfather, referring to a grandson’s problems with catching fish, but the discussion was happening in a much larger and more serious context.

Posted at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/21/09

No place to hide

Entering the online world is always a painful process for print publications, which have decades, sometimes, centuries of human, technical, and financial resources invested in the world of the tangible printed object: a newspaper, a magazine, a pamphlet, a book.

But we’re all doing it. Spree has been a Johnny-come-lately to the world of online media production, but as we’ve figured out our situation, we’ve had the benefit of reading and enjoying the vibrant, energetic, and occasionally combative WNY blogosphere. It used to be that news about political happenings came primarily from press releases and through TV and newspaper reporting—and it still does—but now add to that daily blog commentary and regular emails talking about issues in a...

Posted at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0