The MLK History Forgot During his last three years on Earth, Martin Luther King went through hell

January 16, 2017 By Leave a Comment

MLK imageIn January 1966, Martin Luther King Jr.—founding president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Nobel laureate and the nation’s most prominent civil rights activist—moved his family into a squalid tenement apartment in one of Chicago’s economically barren ghetto neighborhoods. A fixture in American political life since December 1955, when he assumed leadership of the Montgomery Improvement Association—a coalition of churches and organizations that banded together to coordinate a boycott of city buses following Rosa Parks’ arrest just weeks before Christmas—King subsequently appeared to be everywhere the civil rights movement took root. Albany, Georgia; Birmingham; Selma; Atlanta. Even when he wasn’t at the forefront of events, as was the case with the wave of lunch counter sit-ins and Freedom Rides that shook the South in 1960 and 1961, civil rights activists at the grassroots level looked to him for guidance and inspiration. Please click to read the entire piece that was published on politico.com

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JALC MAKES MOTHER’S DREAM COME TRUE

January 16, 2017 By Leave a Comment
West Frankfort native and recently retired master seargent from the ISP, Scott Isaacs presenting his mother his degree from JALC

West Frankfort native and recently retired master seargent from the ISP, Scott Isaacs presenting his mother his degree from JALC (Logan Media Services)

CARTERVILLE — Mothers have been known to nag their children from time to time. Maybe it’s to clean their room or take out the trash, and if mothers are persistent long enough, most of the time, they get their way. For 27 years, Bernice Isaacs never let up on her son, Scott. She, too, finally scolded him into action. It didn’t matter that Scott, a Marion resident, started working in management for John and Mary Moreland at McDonalds when he was a teenager. It also wasn’t sufficient that Scott passed the test to become a state trooper, eventually rising to the rank of master sergeant within the Illinois State Police. What Bernice wanted most was for her son to complete his college degree. “I’d say, ‘Mom, I’ve been promoted again,’ and she’d say, ‘yeah, but do you have that degree completed yet?’” Scott said. “She never let it go.” So in his final year with the Illinois State Police, Scott, who retired in December, decided to surprise his mother and give her the greatest birthday present of her life. Please click to read the rest of the story from John A. Logan College’s website.

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What If China’s Money Stream Stops Flowing to Hollywood?

January 15, 2017 By Leave a Comment

holloywood reporter cartoonBeijing begins monitoring “irrational” investments in entertainment companies (even while Alibaba pledges $7.2 billion) as one deal falls apart and all eyes focus on Trump. Chinese companies poured record amounts of capital into Hollywood in 2016 — a trend eagerly embraced by the U.S. film industry. Among the deals: Dalian Wanda Group acquired Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion and Dick Clark Productions for $1 billion; Alibaba made a major investment in Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment; and Beijing-based Perfect World Pictures put $500 million into 50 films from Universal. But tighter regulatory scrutiny and rising protectionism in the U.S. and China now have the industry questioning whether the deal flow could dry up in 2017. Already, there have been casualties. Please click on the link to read the rest of the story from the Hollywood Reporter magazine.

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Edwards explains reasons for ending career

January 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Carl EdwardsNote: NASCAR driver Carl Edwards has quite the story of perseverance. His announcement to step out of the sport at the height of career rocked the racing world today. Here is an interview with him highlighting his racing career from his hometown Columbia Daily Tribune.

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Monopoly Is Letting You Decide If They Should Change the Classic Tokens

January 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment

monopoly-board-webIf you’ve ever wondered why there’s still a wheelbarrow token in the Monopoly board game, now’s your chance to ensure that the game pieces for the next version of the game are the ones that truly deserve to be there. From January 10 through January 31, Monopoly is asking the Internet to vote for the game pieces that they deem worthy to be the next eight tokens, ranging from current classic pieces like the thimble and top hat to more than 50 new options that include a rubber duck and a penguin. Some of the tokens that more accurately represent modern times are a wireless phone, a computer, a kissy face that bears a striking resemblance to an emoji, and a sports car. This isn’t the first time that Monopoly game pieces have been updated; in fact, the most recent update was the replacement of the iron token with Hazel the Cat in 2013. Please click to read the rest of the story from Time magazine.

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Bullying prevention

January 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

cyber-bullyingI came across this story going through the Evansville Courier-Press website. In my opinion, cyber-bullying has made it so much harder to detect when a child is being bullied. Just read through this piece as a reminder of what some kids go through on a daily basis, and what we can do as adults to help or stop. Please click on this link to read the full story.  sd

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Liberal is very conservative

January 9, 2017 By Leave a Comment
The Liberal MO Bulldogs girls basketball team holds hands to pray before tip-off with their opponents, the College Heights Cougars.

The Liberal MO Bulldogs girls basketball team holds hands to pray before tip-off with their opponents, the College Heights Cougars.

This is a story of a town called Liberal Mo, located at the Kansas border. The town is 35 miles north of Joplin. It is one of the most conservative counties in the state. The Founding Fathers of the town had two laws, no churches or taverns. The locals of this town of 750 are embarrassed. Please click on this link to read the story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

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Memories I will always have of Royalton-Erv Coppi

January 9, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Before the days of cable and satellite television, there were only four channels in this market, WSIL, WPSD, WSIU, and KFVS. When WDDD, WCEE, and KBSI signed on the air, several were all amazed

Erv Coppi and Virginia Marmaduke hosting their classic movie show on Channel 8. (WSIU file photo)

Erv Coppi and Virginia Marmaduke hosting their classic movie show on Channel 8. (WSIU file photo)

at the selection. On Channel 8 Irv Coppi and Virginia Marmaduke hosted a weekend show on Channel 8. They showed classic black and white movies. I liked watching them especially ones with Ronald Reagan in them. I will share pieces of Franklin County history at times on this page. I do not know the date on this. The article was circulating on social media last night. To read the story click on the link from royaltonillinois.com sd

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Norman sets coaching record

January 5, 2017 By Leave a Comment

chesterNOTE: I came across this searching for a story on Chester-Z-R this morning. I remember Coach Norman as a player at Dongola. I would try to make an appearance at the Crab Orchard Thanksgiving tournament to watch Thompsonville play. He has been gracious with his time since I have been writing for over a year now. Please click to read the story from Pete Spitler of the Randolph County Herald-Tribune

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How nostalgia for white Christian America drove so many Americans to vote for Trump

January 5, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Main Street of Mount Airy NC, the town Mayberry was based on in the Andy Griffith Show...

Main Street of Mount Airy NC, the town Mayberry was based on in the Andy Griffith Show…

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. — From a perch on Main Street, the home town of actor Andy Griffith looks this day like it was plucked right out of the television show that bears his name. And it was. Residents and tourists from far-flung states mill along the thoroughfare, past the quaint low-slung shops made of Mount Airy’s famous white granite and named, like Floyd’s City Barber Shop, for references in “The Andy Griffith Show,” the folksy comedy set in the idyllic fictional small town of Mayberry that first aired in 1960. And yet even as this city of about 10,000 nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains fills its coffers by selling nostalgia, many of its residents would agree with the now-popular saying “We’re not in Mayberry anymore.”…Please click on to read the story from Sara Pulliam Berry of the Washington Post….

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