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Showing posts with label Happy New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Happy New Year. Show all posts
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Happy New Year!
At least, I hope it’s happy. For our family (and from casual observation, a lot of other families out there), 2015 really ... kind of stunk.
There was the loss of a beloved family member. The loss of a long-time job. Stress. Grief. Uncertainty. This sort of thing can mess with the very core of who you are and what you want out of life, and it’s never easy to deal with.
The kids learned hard lessons on how friends can betray you, that life isn’t always fair, and that parents can be sad and angry, too. We reassured them as much as we could, but some of their foundations had been shaken (just like ours) and they knew it.
We found our feet. We carried on. But it’s nice to start a new chapter and close the door on 2015.
And sitting here, writing this, I’m forced to admit that it wasn’t all bad. There’s a great new job. (Far better than the old one, to be honest.) And through it all, we had each other, in our warm, safe house, with plenty of food to eat and no shortage of friends and family members to help us through it all.
I’m thankful beyond belief for them. We’re lucky. There were times we didn’t feel that way, but we are.
I’ve never been one to make New Year’s resolutions, but I’m going to try this year. I resolve this: To try to look on the bright side a little more. To try to be a bit more optimistic. To appreciate what I have. To worry, just maybe, a little bit less.
I asked Jim for his resolution. “I want to call Grandma and Grandpa!” Well, OK. More contact with loved ones is always good.
Then I asked Sam.
“My New Year’s resolution is to make sure I wash my hands after using the bathroom.”
Well. That’s good, but not what I was looking for.
“OK. My New Year’s resolution is to take over the world!”
Uhh ...
“Just kidding. My New Year’s resolution is to make everything better. Instead of all those people who are grumpy and mean. I want to help.”
Now that’s a resolution.
Here’s to 2016. May it be better for all of us.
***
I’m sure I’ll write more about this next week, but I had to confess: I’m about to become a hockey mom. Sam starts a local floor hockey league next weekend.
It was sort of inevitable, in our family. Still, there is some trepidation (on my part, not his). How will he take to team sports? How will I take to team sports? I’ve always sworn I wouldn’t be that parent. And I won’t, I promise, but how tough will the temptation be?
I have a feeling this will be a challenge for all of us. Stay tuned.
+Jill Keppeler hopes your 2016 is awesome. Follow her on Twitter @JillKeppeler or email her at jillmkeppeler@msn.com.
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Friday, January 2, 2015
Holy cow! It’s 2015.
I usually wait until the last minute to write my column — for a variety of reasons. For one, I want to be able to touch on the latest news if something happens that I want to comment on. I hate talking about one thing if everyone is talking about something else. Second, I want my column to reflect my mood at the time of publishing it.
For the sake of expediency, I pre-wrote today’s column. I sat down at my kitchen table Tuesday night and wrote about New Year’s and resolutions and things I want to change and blah blah blah. It was decent … as my columns go.
About half way through Thursday I became concerned that my pre-fab column might not do. My mood was changed. And there were fun things I wanted to share. But I wasn’t sure. Who knows what my mood might be this morning. Well … as you can tell, I’m telling you about the column I *had* written, so … that should tell you I decided to make the change.
See, the column you’re not reading was kind of vanilla. It was absent any real personality. In retrospect, it was almost a column for the sake of a column. “You can’t not have a New Year’s column, Scott,” I said to myself. Yeah. I talk to myself. Most geniuses do. And so do I.
Nothing in “old column” is untrue. It just wasn’t exciting. And really, I can sum it up quickly: I want to be the best me I can be in 2015. Every hat I wear, I want to make it look good. Blah. There were also some tidbits about news people doing the news because we want to make the world a better place. All true. But … blah.
Instead, let me tell you about my first day of 2015. It was fun. I was happy. And if every day could be like Thursday was, I’d gladly “Groundhog Day” it.
Ignoring the fact that Wednesday night was an absolute blast; There were five bars, french fries, chicken wings, about 483 glasses of Coke (or Pepsi, depending on the bar), and one accidental sip of some drink at a bar. To the girl whose drink it was, I’m so sorry. I should have bought her a new one. She just sat there staring as I drank it. We left that bar soon after. (Sorry!)
Then midnight strikes. I enjoyed the strike of midnight at a place I’m comfortable — with people I like. We watched the ball drop on television. Then saw 24 minutes of credits on Channel 7, including some super slo-mo action at the end of the credits, no doubt to get the local affiliate clock synched with the network. But it was odd. Most people might have not noticed it or written it off to the alcohol, but in my sobriety, it was obvious. And oddly funny.
We waited until closing time and then cashed in our golden ticket to the 21st Amendment. We had been there earlier in the evening and got a personal invite to return from Jon George, owner of the bar.
Walking in, it looked like everyone in Lockport was already there. A lot of people I knew. A lot of people I didn’t know. Business owners, emergency responders and an elected official who bought us a drink despite my insistence that we pay for our own. (Drinking Coke, I didn’t feel *too* guilty, I guess, although Journalism 101 taught me never to accept “gifts” from sources.)
It was nice to be out. Lockport was fun. Everyone was in a great mood, save for one guy who was sleeping on the bar. He was asked to “celebrate” the rest of the night elsewhere. We left around 3:30 a.m. Not bad for a Wednesday night.
Skip ahead eight hours or so and we’re back out and about, grabbing our first coffee of the new year. A check of the police blotter, some photos of ice skaters at the arena, a fire, some stories posted, etc.
And then Heather and I shuffled off to Buffalo for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s inauguration at the Buffalo and Erie County History Museum. And what happened next totally made my day.
We walked into the museum around 4, when press was asked to arrive. In the foyer of the museum were a handful of press people, including a cameraman for Channel 2, one for Channel 4 and one for Channel 7. This was the queue. Where media waits to have their credentials checked. It’s standard operating procedure at political events.
So we walk in and are prepared to wait when a former colleague and friend who was working the event says, “Hey Scott! Come right in.” We walk by the “major media” outlets and into the event. Sometimes knowing the right people is key.
Heather got a great vantage point for photos and I sat with the rest of the press ready to live tweet the event. Byron Brown, Kathy Hochul, Andrew Cuomo, etc. Read the story … or read the tweets if you want a play-by-play.
After the inauguration, I went home, drank some more coffee, wrote some stories and eventually went to bed … but not before posting to my Facebook: “The first day of 2015 was damn near perfect.”
And after a perfect day, a pre-fab column just wouldn’t suffice.
Happy New Year everyone. May all your days be as good as my Thursday.
Scott Leffler is thrilled to be news editor of East Niagara Post. And generally pleased with life. Follow him on Twitter @scottleffler.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
As the year draws to a close, I think about how much more divided this country is than it has ever been in my lifetime. I was not around for the civil rights protests of the 1960’s, but I remember the riots of the 1970’s and they scared me. When everything seemed to calm down, even as a kid, I was relieved.
Today, thanks to the persistent efforts of the 24-hour news media and attention hogs like Al Sharpton, the country is never given a chance to rest in order to heal. Each violent act against the police brings us closer and closer to the very martial law that we have abhorred throughout our history. The land of the free and the home of the brave is about to become the land of the locked-down and the home of the cowards who throw rocks from behind their naïve, racist shields.
I didn’t like 2014 from the moment it started. I sensed from the beginning that something was wrong and that feeling never went away. At first, the senseless deaths were of celebrities who were struggling in silence and never felt like they could reach out for help. Then the struggles took to the streets and morphed into a grayscale hue that has never looked right to me.
People. We are all People. We, the People. Why do some insist on using race as a reason to be destructive or as an excuse to be ignorant? I have always been, and always will be, a firm believer that the content of our character matters and the color of our skin does not. I stole that from a great man, as we should all steal the teachings of that great man.
To divert our attention, every once in a while, a little gnome in North Korea pipes up and keeps us all entertained. As we find out more about the Sony hack, we are starting to think that it could have been an inside job and Kim Jong Un had nothing to do with it. But don’t change protocol now. It has been great sport to watch the little guy pipe up, make his threats and then fade away.
Kim Jong Un is like a blast of unpleasant gas passed in church. The tension builds and builds until it erupts with an inappropriate and foul blast of energy. Then, it slowly dissipates while the people all around continue to stare with disapproving scowls. After a while, the tension and the energy are gone and the whole thing is forgotten. But unlike gas passed in church, watching Kim Jong Un in action is a lot of fun.
Can we do better in 2015? I’m not sure. For our little corner of the world, 2015 represents the single most important election year in the recent history of Lockport. If we do not educate ourselves and vote for the right people, then there very well may not be a Lockport to leave our children. Bankruptcy means a rise in crime, a decrease in basic maintenance and the decay of our city unlike anything we have ever seen.
If we get complacent and vote in the same Harrisons cronies that we vote in with each election, then our city is done for. But if we take the time to learn about the people who want to run for office, then we have a fighting chance at getting better. We have a long road ahead of us Lockport, and we can determine whether or not there is light at the end of the tunnel by our decisions next November.
What about the country? A country that gets more sharply divided each year will find itself mired in a full-out presidential war as the 2016 campaigns again. Politicians who are supposed to be uniting the country will tear the country down to its very foundation just to further their own causes. Politicians do not unite – they divide. Until we learn that, we will never make any progress.
We will be subjected to two years of inappropriate comments ruining political careers and 40 year old war records shaming politicians into getting off the campaign trail. Is it really any wonder why men like Colin Powell refuse to run for president? Being president of this country is not about making America great; it is about burying your opponent so deep in mud that the voting public can no longer see that opponent. That is the basis for a political system that, at some point very soon, will fail.
On the one hand, we have our city’s destiny in our own hands. We will decide whether Lockport makes a slow comeback, or whether a lazy reliance on old habits drives us into the ground. On the other hand, we have to sit back and watch the rest of the country implode knowing full well there is nothing we can do about it.
Happy New Year.
Nick Oliver is a Niagara County resident who is running out of hope for the future. His column appears each week and offers hope to no one.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
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