Behind the Headlines

Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

Here it is, New Year’s Eve again.

Let me be up front about this: I hate New Year’s. I find it usually fraught with anxiety and expectation - you have to find something to do, you just have to! and it has to be the best thing ever! And then comes the let down - another year notched on the belt. The natural question to ask - Did I do anything remarkable?

Then, the holiday season concludes and there’s just winter. I actually love winter - i.e. snow and that clean feeling only a crisp breeze can provide - but SE Michigan winters don’t exactly fulfill that. (I’m a U.P./Minnesota girl, what can I say?) So, I’m trying to shake off my New Year’s Blah in order to get the new years how-to-have-a-better-year-story done.

In researching the origins of New Year’s and what people around the world do, I came across a list of things you should say to another person to wish them well into the next annum. On Wikipedia (yes, I check out wikipedia when researching things to make sure I covered different bases…) there’s a list of “typical phrases seen on cards or heard in greeting.”

Here are the suggestions:

• Happy New Year.
• Have a happy new year.
• We wish you a happy new year.
• I wish you a happy new year.
• Wishing you a happy new year!
• With best new year’s wishes.
• May the new year turn out to be the happiest and the best for you.
• May the new year be a happy one for you.
• May all your hopes and plans for this year come true.
• I hope this year will be a very happy one for you.
• Happy New Year! May this year be happy and fruitful.
• We are very grateful to you for the kindness you showed us last year.
• Thanks for the kindness you showed me last year.
• – Insert the appropriate year(s) below. –
  • Happy New Year 2008!
  • I hope 2008 brings you peace and happiness.
  • I hope that 2007 was a good year for you and that 2008 will be even better.

I just have to ask though, is this truly necessary? Does anyone need a guide to New Year’s tidings? It’s not like back stage where you say some specialized thing like “break a leg”. The only one you are to exclaim, according to the list, is “Wishing you a happy new year!” I especially like that they have both “I wish you…” and “We wish you…” listed, just to avoid that possible snake den of confusion.

So, I propose we come up with one, just to see if it makes the wikipedia list of possible things to say to one another on New Year’s. What should it be? And make sure you ‘insert the appropriate year(s)’.

Here’s to jibbing the rig and pie in your eye in 2008!

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

I happened to be on call yesterday - just in case something had to be covered or reported on. On Christmas, it usually has to be something big to warrant a call in.
So, I was a little shocked to get a call from both my editor and the editor of the paper. However, when they informed me that our second-generation editor and former president of Monroe Publishing and The Monroe Evening News, Grattan Gray died earlier that day, it was clear why.

I would be the one putting together the story on his life and his death. Talk about intimidating.

Knowing that Mr. Gray has such an enmeshed history in not just our paper, but the community at large, I came in last night to read through clips and old articles to get a sense of who he was and what he did in his life. The more I read, the more I realized just how enormous a task it is to summarize a person, their life and actions and what they’ve contributed to a community. Mr. Gray may be an exception in general, simply because he did so much.

I met Mr. Gray maybe two times since I’m relatively new to the newsroom. I had heard stories and knew he was held in high regard by some of the more esteemed of my colleagues, but I had no idea. He had spent more than 70 years in the newspaper industry - (70!) something that is inconceivable. What I found I really liked about him, as I was reading, was his drive to try new things, to keep things moving and to keep an eye on the little things but only while knowing how the big picture was shaping up.

I’m the first to admit that I’m not the strongest obituary/life story writer (when it comes to newspaper). I get caught up on the whole how would this person want their story to go? aspect a little too much. Plus, space and time are the usual constraints. With someone like Mr. Gray who had been a writer and newspaperman for so long, when I went to type, my fingers wouldn’t move. I was cracking - not something that usually happens to me when under pressure.

That was, until I read a column that Steve Gray, Grat’s son wrote in 1995 when his dad was handing over leadership of the company. The column, titled “From a son to a father:” starts off with the words “thank you.” Steve goes on to summarize kind of how I was feeling in the next few lines. (Obviously the sentiment from a son to a father was beyond anything I was experiencing, but I felt similarly overwhelmed.)

“Ours is a family where words come easily and sentiment doesn’t.” Steve wrote. In journalism, this is the hope - that words flow, but emotions don’t.

“But this is a time when I feel a powerful urge to say something special,” he continued. “There’s so much I could say that I scarcely know where to begin,” he wrote. “So I’ll keep it simple.”

So, that’s what I tried to do. I missed the mark. And my editor did some rewriting - but with the history we have in the newsroom and the collaborative nature of it, we were able to put something together that tells Mr. Gray’s story and also highlights his many accomplishments.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Yes, the crew at NORAD is continuing its annual Santa Claus watch. You or the children can see what’s going on at NORAD Tracks Santa.

(FYI: this site has been updated quite a bit with animation and videos as compared to previous years’ editions. Some older computers or slower connections may have problems.)

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

Last night I watched one of the one-hour specials on The History Channel about the history of Christmas: Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas.

I knew that many of the customs and traditions we take for granted today were not introduced to America, or in some cases observed anywhere, until the mid-1800s. But I didn’t know why Christmas was overlooked or even outlawed as a holiday festival in earlier years of this country. (Answer: Christmas festivities in that era were more like what we see today at Halloween or Mardi Gras).

One of the comments in the video production that I found interesting is that while many people struggle with religious vs. secular observances of the Christmas holiday, the two aspects contribute to and support each other. Without secular observances such as Santa Claus making department store appearances, the Christmas holiday would not be as popular or as pervasive in our culture. But until Christmas morphed into a family-friendly holiday, many religious people wanted nothing to do with the raucous festivities formerly associated with Dec. 25.

If you’re interested in this topic, the History Channel has additional features on its web site. Enjoy!

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

Google Maps recently launched their “street view” feature for Detroit. You can type Detroit, MI United States into Google and come up with a map of the city. Click the “street view” option to the left of the usual options and certain areas of the city will become highlighted in blue. You can pretty much click where ever on the blue parts and zoom in to street level. The idea is that you can see what you would see if you were standing there.

It’s really kind of neat. They’ve been doing this for awhile and there was some buzz when it first launched, but the fact that Detroit was added is important. It maps all the way down to Woodhaven and Trenton, stopping just short of Huron River Drive, and Monroe County. It also goes west as far as Plymouth in spots.

Detroit street view now joins the ranks of other cities like Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, LA, Minneapolis, NYC, Philadelphia, Portland, Orlando, Tucson, and a few others.

What I like is that you can get a feel for a place never having been there or check out where you grew up, if you happened to grow up in one of the cities that offers the feature. It takes a while to load, but once you’re at the spot you want to be at, you can zoom in, look all around, and travel down the street. So, if you’ve never been to central park, but would like to know what it looks like, go for a visit. It would be helpful also if you’re planning to go somewhere like downtown Detroit and want to get a feel for where the entrance is, where you can park, etc.
Click here for a place to start.

By Charles Slat
Most of Monroe County woke up to a white blanket of snow Sunday, but it was a rarer storm than one might imagine.
Best estimates are that the Monroe area got from 5 to 8 inches of snow. According to the National Weather Service, the probability of Monroe getting 5 inches or more of snow on any Dec. 16 is 2 percent. That’s based on a span of about 45 years.
This 2 percent storm came in a series of weird waves. For reasons we won’t get into, I was up at 12:30 a.m., 2 a.m. 3:15 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. watching it.
If you were out on the roads after closing down a bar in the Monroe area, you probably were driving in a mix of rain, sleet and snow, all rolled into one. That’s when the real ugly part of the storm seemed to hit. Then it turned back into snow. That’s why underneath that mantle left behind on Sunday was a hoary crust of ice. It really is a wonder there weren’t a lot of widespread power outages.
The stats on this one might make some record book, if only because the amount of snow on Dec. 16 is so rare. In fact, the closer the official snowfall moves toward 10 inches, the rarer the version of the storm you got. The NWS says the chances of a one-day snowfall dumping 10 inches on the Monroe area on the 16th of December is 0 percent.
And just think, the official start of winter is only five days away.
Happy shoveling.

“What on earth is that?”

“It’s… some kind of Grinch.”

“It’s like a Planet of the Apes Grinch.”

“That’s exactly it. I was trying to figure out what it was, but that’s the perfect description.”

“Yeah, well, either way, it’s creepy.”

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

As I’m writing a story right now about the State of the Communities breakfast - hosted by the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce this morning - I keep thinking back to the conversation that was floating around at the table I chose as I was sitting down.

One of the women was telling a story about a wedding where the mother of the groom objected to the union during the ceremony. First someone asked if she was serious about it. Apparently she was.

Secondly the other women wondered what the marrying pastor/priest did - did he proceed? Surely they must have training for that, someone suggested. He reportedly just continued with the ceremony as though she had not said anything.

But it raised the question - do those doing the marrying still offer the option to object? I didn’t hear the whole thing, but thought she said that it wasn’t offered, that the priest or whoever, never said object now or forever hold your peace. Has this been taken out of the wedding ceremony? Have you ever been to a wedding where someone objected? Who was it, and what did they do?

Where did that come from in the first place?

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

As I was having my quick breakfast of dried apricots I kept thinking of a poem, referring to dried human ears as dried peach halves. I couldn’t remember all the details, but that description, even years and years later, has never left me.

So I found the poem - which is actually written by a native Detroiter who went to MSU and then grad school at Bowling Green. I’m posting it here to demonstrate the power of writing, the power of descriptions that leave branded spots on our brains. (Note: I had to edit it in order to remove the “f” word, which appears in its entirety in the poem.)

The Colonel

by Carolyn Forche

What you have heard is true. I was in his house. His wife carried a tray of coffee and sugar. His daughter filed her nails, his son went out for the night. There were daily papers, pet dogs, a pistol on the cushion beside him. The moon swung bare on its black cord over the house. On the television was a cop show. It was in English. Broken bottles were embedded in the walls around the house to scoop the kneecaps from a man’s legs or cut his hands to lace. On the windows there were gratings like those in liquor stores. We had dinner, rack of lamb, good wine, a gold bell was on the table for calling the maid. The maid brought green mangoes, salt, a type of bread. I was asked how I enjoyed the country. There was a brief commercial in Spanish. His wife took everything away. There was some talk then of how difficult it had become to govern. The parrot said hello on the terrace. The colonel told it to shut up, and pushed himself from the table. My friend said to me with his eyes: say nothing. The colonel returned with a sack used to bring groceries home. He spilled many human ears on the table. They were like dried peach halves. There is no other way to say this. He took one of them in his hands, shook it in our faces, dropped it into a water glass. It came alive there. I am tired of fooling around he said. As for the rights of anyone, tell your people they can go f— themselves. He swept the ears to the floor with his arm and held the last of the wine in the air. Something for your poetry, no? he said. Some of the ears on the floor caught this scrap of his voice. Some of the ears on the floor were pressed to the ground.

The poem comes from Forche’s book called “The Country Between Us” published in 1981 by HarperTrade New York. (Incidentally, Margaret Atwood had a hand in getting this published - one of my all time favorite authors.)

In this picture, if you look really, really closely, I’m the one in the bright orange cap sort of toward the left side.

Ever wonder what it looks like here at the News? Here’s a glimpse of where the magic happens.

If you were me, this is what you would be seeing right now:

A shot of Dean Cousino from the last couple of weeks. Looks like I got him at a good time:

Why are the people on the desk always so intense? Oh, right. That deadline thing. Here are Doug and Jessica, putting together the day’s news back in November (when I originally tried to post this to no avail).

“I have many talents; knowing where I’m going is not one of them.”

Hmm - literally or figuratively?

By Stephanie Ariganello; stephaniea@monroenews.com

Reading! Yay! I was just turned on to a new (for me at least) Web site from coworker and fellow reader Stacy. You can find it at www.goodreads.com. it’s an online community specifically for readers.

With another Big Read right around the bend, and a community focus on reading, I figured I would mention this. Plus, as “the paper” or “the news” we kind of have a vested interest in the further promotion of the written word.

It seems like it could be a great place to get some Christmas gift ideas, too.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

It’s been a long time since I got a story assignment with the instruction, “wear your press pass.” But because of security details at the Radio Disney concert this afternoon in Ida (story will be in Sunday’s edition of The Monroe Evening News), I needed my press ID to get into the VIP reception at Ida Public Library.

The press pass I usually pull out is in my wallet (actually, my business card works in most situations). But, I do have a copy hanging on a lanyard tag to use as needed. It is useful to be that visible at times.

When I got to the library door, the event staff checked my media credentials and gave me a new lanyard with a card labeled with “VIP: Radio Disney Jingle Jam.” Within a few minutes, another event worker gave me a yellow ticket for the reception and a green ticket for reserved seating at the concert. So, I put all the passes in the concert lanyard and concluded I now looked like a music groupie with everything that was hanging around my neck.

After the reception ended and the audience was waiting for the national show to start, I went inside the library lobby to warm up.

A girl who was probably about 10 years old looked at my array of tags and said, “No fair! You’ve got a VIP pass.”

Her dad started laughing and said, “she’s a reporter.”

“Did you meet Keke?” the girl asked me.

“Yes I did. She was really nice.”

This response resulted in another agonized response from the young fan.

I explained that I didn’t get Keke’s autograph and had only enough time to give her two or three questions. Even a VIP pass doesn’t give you much more time than that, I explained. Other fans want to say hello.

But, I told the girl, if she wanted to meet Keke in person, there was still a chance to do it. There would be a public meet-and-greet with souvenir sales and autograph signings after the show.

This young fan let her dad know she was quite willing to give up her spot for the Night Light Parade so she could meet Keke Palmer. And, I think he was going along with her request.

Here are the tags that got her attention:

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear Keke perform live. I had to leave the show early.

But I did listen to clips on the Internet from the entertainers before going to Ida this afternoon and I like Keke’s music.

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

There were lots of cute moments during the VIP reception Saturday afternoon at Ida Public Library with the Radio Disney Jingle Jam performers. During this event, fans had a chance to meet and get autographs signed by Sarah and Julia Ross of the band Everlife and soloists Keke Palmer and Drew Seeley. It was a very well-organized event, with lots of refreshments and an event staff who made sure all the fans got the photos they wanted.

Well, it’s not just the kids who enjoyed this event. It just so happened I was on the sidelines when the national celebrities met a local celebrity. Miss Monroe County 2007 Rachel McCleery was at the VIP reception. During a break in the line of fans, Rachel came up to the national stars’ table to introduce herself.

Rachel, according to protocol for formal appearances by the Miss America preliminary royalty, was wearing her crown.

So when Rachel explained who she was, Keke took a good look at the sparkly crown. “Can I touch it?” she asked.

After that conversation, Rachel, just like all the other fans, got her photo taken with the national entertainers.