RamblingDyna

Weary, baggy eyed airport travelers are stranded for the second day in a row as winter storms shut down planes and ice runways. Retailers keep their fingers crossed praying that second black Friday will reap extra change. Gas prices are down by 60% but people are still watching their mileage as with any other expenditures. Families are tightening and streamlining their belts. Xmas wish lists are pared down or done without. In the Xmas 24 hour marathon television favorite, A Xmas Story, the mother of the main character, Ralph, asks him what he wants on his Xmas wish list. Initially, she denies him his Red Ryder BB gun because it's dangerous. In the end, Ralph and his brother get everything they wanted. Even though it's a fictional and all time movie classic favorite, I'm sure financially strapped families now watch these idyllic scenes with a sobering perspective. People are coping and learning, most for the first time, how to really save and buy what's necessary. Can...

It's been a couple of years since I've been to any career networking events but the past seven days sure have been busy and they all happened by accident. I just signed up for a journalism group that meets periodically in San Francisco; missed their first meeting and didn't expect to see their next invitation for a couple of weeks. But the group organizer emailed the members about a fundraising event for two local non-profit, online news startups: The Public Press and Newsdesk. The last time I was in the same room with a group of reporters was when I was covering a murder trial in New England years ago. As many national and local newspapers and other commercial media groups are shutting down shops and slashing hundreds of editorial staff, the life and livelihood of true news reporters and the journalism field is being threatened. These two online media groups like a few others nationwide are working hard to not let true hardnosed journalism succumb and wither away to ...