Wedding Bells

3. September 2010 by pat desmond.

 (This poem was written to commemorate the marriage of my only son Aug. 28 at Slide Ranch in Muir Beach, CA. Sometimes even a publisher travels beyond the borders of Milton.)

I carried the precious

as rainbow mist groom’s ring

across the continent,

to reach the fog of San Francisco

the foothills of the wedding of the millenium.

30+ years ago I carried the groom

from possibility into life.

Steeped in joy and warmed

by the love of my tiny family,

I sit with my memories

and smile like an aged cat

as I remember the boy

who walked on walls

and played as if his games

were earth-defining.

My son with his ah-so-many questions,

his torn dungarees

and his tilted baseball cap.

I miss that child of mine,

much as I glow with pride

at the man he’s become.

Years move quickly.

Yesterday disappears like smoke.

Timothy Ambrose

True Mountain of Joy.

Joy of my life.

I remember when you

introduced Annie to me -

Your friend, you said.

And I smiled, knowing better.

She was there to support you,

the day you wore your master’s hood.

And so, dearheart, was I.

Years pass

when you least expect it.

Days dissolve.

My family grew today

as we circled around the bride and groom -

Annie and Ambrose.

This is a day to cherish.

A day worth holding fast in memory.

A memory to feast upon in years to come.

Carry it close to your heart.

Take it out when you need

a breathe of love

a moment of joy.

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Deep Background

8. August 2010 by pat desmond.

Now that my children are grown and living out of state, I have more time to think about whether my life’s work is moving in the right direction.

 

I began working in journalism in 1966 while still in college. I had zero skills for the occupation but I loved to write and thought newspapers were about writing.

 

Over the past 40 years I’ve learned about journalism.

 

Good journalism is essential to preserving democracy. Shedding light on the issues allows voters to make informed decisions.

 

There was a time in my life when I worried about the direction newspapers were taking.

 

After all, my career came of age at a time when newspapers were taking risks to uncover problems in our society. The New York Times – and other papers – published the Pentagon Papers released by Daniel Ellsberg, making the world aware of the lies beneath the rationale for the Vietnamese War.

 

Then Washington Post set two of its investigators loose on the Watergate story. We all know the end.

 

Back in those days, mega-corporations hadn’t taken control of the news process. And Wikileaks hadn’t begun overwhelming the citizenry with information. Years passed.

 

The Milton Times began publication in 1995. Both of my children helped in the beginning. My son, who was at Milton High School, handled deliveries and picked up the newspaper from the printing plant. My daughter worked full time creating ads and helping with page layout on the computer. My mother helped proof the pages.

 

The paper has changed over the past 15 years. A full-size truck brings the paper to town because it no longer fits in a large car or SUV. There is a staff of hard-working professional who put the pages together.

 

About 14 years ago, the paper developed a static web site which has undergone steady improvement. We continue to think about ways to change and improve the product.

 

While I’ve been busy growing the paper, my children have moved in other directions. My daughter is working towards her bachelor’s degree while raising two children. She has written two excellent children’s books.

 

My son is working as a therapist in California where he seems to have settled after traveling all over this country and through at least four Continents. He will marry later this year and I gain a new daughter. Today he has a web site of his own. Visit him at www.psychresources.net for more information.

 

 

 

 

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Summer Hours

1. July 2010 by pat desmond.

For the summer months, the office of the Milton Times will close at 4 p.m. After Labor Day, we will return to our regular 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours.

The early closing begins July 1. We continue to open at 9 a.m. at our office in the Jesson Building, 480 Adams St., Suite 208, East Milton.

Summer months are always slow at the paper.

In the past few days most of our staff has been leaving far before 5 p.m. With the 4 p.m. closing, our staff will have more time of their own. We may even keep the 4 p.m. closing on a permanent basis if it seems to work for our readers.

(We will still be closing from 1 to 2 p.m. on Fridays for our staff lunch.)

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NNA Board Met Last Week

17. June 2010 by pat desmond.

The core mission of the National Newspaper Association is to protect, promote and enhance America’s community newspapers.

As the owner of Milton’s newspaper of record, The Milton Times, I am excited about the opportunities that working on the NNA board can create.

Last week I spent a few days in Michigan - it was my first chance to sit with the other members of the NNA board.

I have Cheryl Kaechlele, association president, to thank.

As a board, we spent most of our meeting working on a plan to reset priorities.

It’s always a good idea to take a look at goals and decide if current strategy is working. So we’re moving in a new way to achieve our mission.

We talked about concentrating on the basics. After all, isn’t that what usually leads to success?

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Back in Town

15. June 2010 by pat desmond.

Last week I was in Michigan meeting with the other members of the Board of Directors of the National Newspaper Association.

Cheryl Kaechele, publisher of three papers in Michigan, is president this year and she wanted to show off the interesting side of her state. Ease of transportation is not part of the picture.

What I learned when I arrived at Logan Airport is that the body scanning devices are in place in the security line. Despite the fact security lines move slowly through the body scanners, four TSA people decided to randomly check people at my gate. The plane was heading to San Diego with a stop in Detriot. (Obviously, I was getting off in Detriot.)

I was in Zone 3, which means I wasn’t the last to board the aircraft, but in the time I watched the special screening, I saw several the TSA people go through the carry on luggage of several women in my age range.

Are any of the known terrorists women in their 60s?

Does the government think this makes anyone believe they have a security plan that works?

I remember traveling to Israel back in the 1970s and wondering why there were so many soldiers walking in the cities. Why people were searched before they could board a plane. Why there were fences topped with barbed wire near the sandy beaches.

It seems we are moving back in time.

Anyway I will be doing more airplane travel this year as I finish my year on the NNA board. I head to Omaha in September for the annual convention.

Will the Milton Times improve because I will be traveling more? Maybe. There are some wonderful ideas employed at other small newspapers.

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Our Advertising Guy Moved On

25. May 2010 by pat desmond.

It’s been busy in the office this spring.

It’s always a busy season - but we’ve been trying to finish off our first ever Little MiltonTelephone Book and then our advertising coordinator, Phil Perry, was hired by Comcast.

Phil wanted to keep both jobs. The hours didn’t conflict. At the Milton Times, we work 9 to 5.  The Comcast job was 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. with varying days.  Since he isn’t 30 yet, it was possible. But somehow even young people need sleep.

Phil, a graduate of Boston College High School and Georgetown University, lives in Milton. His goal is sports writing and while he worked on the Milton Times ad, he also turned in some excellent local sports articles.

We all miss Phil. He was forthright, hardworking and committed. We were disappointed when he gave his two weeks notice.

This week our new advertising coordinator began working in our office at 480 Adams St.

Patty Casinelli D’Agostino won’t be writing sports stories in her free time. Once she learns the ins and outs of the job, we expect our page count will increase. We base the number of pages of our weekly paper on the number of advertising inches. The more paid inches, the larger the paper.

We look forward to growth. There is so much more to write about and photograph in Milton. All we need is the space.

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6 Day Mail

9. April 2010 by pat desmond.

This afternoon the board of the National Newspaper Association voted to fight the plan to end Saturday mail.

The board will be putting its financial resources behind the fight beginning with the hearings planned before the Postal Regulatory Commission.

In case you aren’t up on the issue, the postmaster general has proposed the idea of ending 6-day mail delivery as a solution to the fact the United States Postal Service is losing billions of dollars.

Newspapers that rely on the mail for delivery, like the Milton Times, are not supportive of this idea. We know that slower and unreliable mail will push more items out of the mail stream.

As a member of the NNA board, I was able to be part of the vote to fight for 6-day mail delivery. We spent about an hour on a cross-country conference call this afternoon, hashing out the budget details that will allow the NNA to be an effective voice as we make this argument.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is not the last word in this debate.

Congress has the power to decide whether USPS will continue 6 day delivery. It has the last word.

I am hoping that there are people in Congress who understand that the economy relies on mail. I know the readers of the Milton Times want to see the newspaper delivered promptly. We are in the mailboxes in Milton every Thursday. We already find that delivery outside the community is sometimes spotty.

Taking Saturday mail out of the mix will slow the out of town delivery. But as a business, the Milton Times will suffer far worse from slowing cash flow caused by slower mail.

I know there are other solutions to the red ink of the post office. In most businesses, the decision to provide less service only results in a decline in revenue. For many years, there were no good alternatives to the mail. Now most of us, e-mail and text to reach our friends. Many people use the internet to pay bills and transmit business information.

Maybe the postmaster general hasn’t had to wait 10 to 15 minutes in line to pay for a postal account. Maybe the postmaster general thinks that when the post office cuts its delivery operation by 83%, he and all the other administrators will take a 17% salary cut - but somehow I doubt it.

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AWH Class of 1964 Salutes Gallagher & Gantley

28. March 2010 by pat desmond.

Archbishop Williams High School inducted 11 people into its Athletic Hall of Fame March 27 - two of them were from the Class of 1964, my class.

More than 40 of us from the class went to the dinner at the Lantana where one of our members, Dr. Carmen Mariano, who is now the school’s president, told us what a great school Archbishop Williams continues to be.

Jack Gantley was on the varsity football team for all four of his years at AWH. He was honored for his contributions to a team that seldom experienced loss. In fact there were only two losses and one tie in all his four years on the team. Coach Armond Columbo, Jack’s coach and friend, made the presentation. Jack is a retired US Navy captain now living in Florida with his wife. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis and achieved his career success inUS Special Operations Forces.

He made us all proud.

Then there was George Gallagher. George was one of the brightest students in our class.  He was honored for his excellence in track and cross country. I don’t remember a pep rally for the track team back in ‘64 but it was great to hear the cheerleaders from our class chant “George Gallagher” as he walked to the podium Saturday. He set a 300 meter tri-county league record in 1964 that wasn’t matched until 1979. He did it all on cinder track, without any practice space. He is a dentist who is a professor at Boston University. He still runs, in fact he has completed the Boston Marathon twice - both times he beat three hours.

Today AWH has a state of the art track at a sports facility near the school. When I started at AWH, we didn’t even have our own football field. We borrowed public school space. Maybe adversity has its plus side.

We remember what the school meant to us back when we were students.  School pride wasn’t invented in the 21st Century. But we were children back then. We all had our share of insecurity and anxiety.

Since then we’ve moved on, created families and careers. Coped with loss and personal challenges. Built success and faced failure. That’s not one or two of us. We share the normal passages of a lifetime. Some of us from the AWH Class of ‘64 remained close friends over the years. Most of us went our separate ways. But a few years ago my classmates began getting together for dinner from time to time.

I think we’ve finally come back together.

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All Politics Are Local

21. March 2010 by pat desmond.

Tonight as I watch the C-Span coverage of the healthcare insurance debate, I wonder whether Congressman Stephen Lynch was with the majority of 219 Democrats.

(Well the reason I didn’t see him is he voted ‘No.’)

The debate was repetitive. The House is not in order. Is that a surprise?

I am thrilled that Congress has begun to address the problems of the working poor and the middle class.

As a woman who brought up two children on her own, I understand what it is like to face large medical bills. Children are prone to fall and catch all sorts of diseases. I was fortunate in finding many kind people in the medical profession who would give me a break when I’d pull out a credit card instead of an insurance card.

My small business offers limited medical coverage to our employees. The premiums have been skyrocketing ever since Massachusetts implimented mandatory insurance. Now at least, there will be some sort of tax credit going along with the cost.

Could this be the start of help for small businesses?

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Town Meeting Shows Deep Division

7. March 2010 by pat desmond.

It’s been an exhausting week for Town Meeting members and others who have been watching the workings of Milton government.

Five nights of debate ended Thursday, March 4, when a motion to reconsider the Temple zoning article was withdrawn by the man who put reconsideration on the table.

Webster Collins had suggested the meeting reconsider the article so it could be sent back to the Planning Board. One hour later, after a number of town meeting members had spoken either for or against the concept of reconsideration, it was apparent the question was moot.

Temple President Linda Packer told the meeting the Temple has to act by May and town officials drew a time line that made it clear the article could not be discussed again at the annual town meeting.

Now the ball is in the Temple’s court. Some neighbors want to walk to retail shops. Some neighbors want nothing to do with adding a commercial mix to their area. Members of the Temple say their option is to sell the land to someone who would create affordable and high density housing in a way that would sidestep town zoning.

It was a draining process.

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