I love a parade

Just got in from a fantastic experience over at the annual Christmas parade put on by the Blytheville/Gosnell Area Chamber of Commerce. What a great time. Seriously ... it's one of the events that makes you feel really good about your community.

The weather was perfect for a Christmas parade ... nice and chilly, but not too cold.

I viewed the parade this year from the Lights of the Delta's hay-wagon float (my wife, Jena, is affiliated with the Lights organization.) From that vantage point, the crowd size looked really nice. There were thick crowds from Broadway to one block past the railroad tracks, with the crowds thinning out after that.

I didn't get to see the floats as they motored by, but I saw quite a few in the staging area on West Main before the parade began. There were many nice entries, and it was good so see so many folks involved. But my personal favorite was the Dancing Dora who was part of the Zaxby's entry. They had Elmo, Shrek and Spongebob, but it was Dora who stole the show, strutting her stuff all the way up Main Street. Honestly, if anyone has video, they need to put it up on YouTube. It would be a national sensation. All I was able to get was a few still pictures:

Overall, it was a great time. The kids had fun riding on the float and waving at people, and everyone there seemed to walk away a little bit more in the holiday spirit.

For more parade coverage, see Sunday's CN.

An obligatory update

I've never claimed to be an expert on this whole blogosphere thing, but one thing that makes logical sense is that if you want to maintain any degree of readership, you've got to have updates. You've got to give something to the people. After all, I wouldn't want The Talker to become one of those Internet ghost towns, where you half expect to see a cyber-tumbleweed scroll across the screen.

Usually, I update at least once a week, with my column that runs Wednesday in the CN. However, I didn't write a column this week, for I have been busy catching up on work after traveling to Iowa — the land of the midnight corn — for the holiday weekend. It was a good trip, if you must know. Kind of a Thanksgiving-and-Christmas-all-rolled-into-one kind of thing. They even had snow on the ground, so the kids got to play around on Grandpa and Grandma's sled for a little while. A good time was had by all.

But now, it's back to the grind, and between Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, various holiday happenings, and doing the work that I'm actually paid to do, I'll try to keep the updates coming. I wouldn't want to disappoint all 11 of you who check this blog regularly. ;)

Lights make memories ... then and now

Though it's not yet even Thanksgiving, I find myself already in the holiday spirit. Sure, like pretty much everyone else, I like to gripe about the onslaught of Christmas, which seems to come earlier every year. But I've decided to quit fighting it. After all, it is a pretty fun time of the year.

I have so many fond memories of the holiday season, from my youth, to my young adult days to the past few years. I think that's a big part of what Christmas is all about — making memories and remembering good times shared with family and friends.

One of my favorite childhood memories involves a small Iowa community known as Vinton. Now, Vinton, Iowa, isn't really too much to brag about. It's a small town of about 5,000 people located on Highway 218, about 20 miles from my hometown of Cedar Rapids. Yet every Christmas, my family would pack into the family station wagon for a trip to this little town.

The reason? Well, just north of Vinton was a farmer who apparently either had an overdose of the holiday spirit, or way too much time on his hands. Every year, he would decorate his property with thousands and thousands of Christmas lights. Every tree was full of lights, and the road along his land was lined with various Christmas displays. The displays included wooden and plastic figures, ranging from classic holiday icons like Santa, snowmen and elves, to the pop culture icons of the day like the Flintstones and the Smurfs. Some figures were animated — I remember a chimney — about 25 feet tall — where Santa would alternately appear out of the top and from the bottom. Some of the displays even played music, and I remember my sister and I hanging out the car window to hear it, though the temperature was probably in the teens or 20s.

Going to see the lights in Vinton was something my sister and I looked forward to doing every year. Some years, we would swing by on the way home from a trip to my grandparents. Other times, we would take a trip to Vinton for the sole purpose of seeing the lights. We would play holiday music in the car, and sing carols all the way.

The farm in Vinton was a popular spot, being regularly featured in area newspapers. One year, in fact, we waited more than an hour to drive past the lights, lining up with hundreds of other motorists. At the time, of course, that long wait was a pain in the rear. But looking back, it's a great story to tell — a great holiday memory.

And it was memories like these that made me happy a few years ago when Blytheville brought a spectacular holiday light display to the Arkansas Aeroplex as part of its Lights of the Delta. In the name of full disclosure, I should mention here that my wife, Jena, happens to be active with the current Lights of the Delta board. And for those who might view this column as nothing but a shameless attempt to get out of doing the dishes, you are wrong. The truth is, I've been a fan of the Lights of the Delta long before Jena got involved. (Though if this column does, in fact, get me out of doing the dishes; well, that's just gravy.)

The reason I'm a fan of Lights of the Delta is because it has helped me make memories for my own children. It's about more than seeing some pretty lights — although the lights are very pretty — it's about creating memories that will last a lifetime. Already, my kids have been talking about going to see the Lights. It's a ritual that they've come to know as part of the holiday season. During the recently completed soccer season, the kids got a kick out of seeing the frameworks for the displays as they were being put up at the Aeroplex. Eight-year-old Katie, is fact, has already begun lobbying for a stop at the concession stand for some hot chocolate when we make our trek through the display in a couple of weeks.

Visiting the Lights of the Delta is something Katie and her 5-year-old brother, Drew, will always remember. It will become a part of the fabric of their Christmas memories, just as trips to Vinton are a part of the fabric of the Christmas memories for me and my sister.

If you've never made a trip out to see the Lights of the Delta, make sure you do it this year. If you've been out before, make sure you do it again. Play some Christmas music along the way, and maybe even sing along with some carols. Stop at the concession stand midway through, and have a cup of hot chocolate and say hello to Santa Claus. You'll be glad you did, and you'll walk away with a great memory.

After all, making memories is what the holiday season is all about.

And then there were 12

Arkansas State University's quest for a new mascot is apparently moving forward.

The university has named its 12 finalists to replace "Indians" as the school's nickname. Those finalists are: A’s, Black Wolves, Red Wolves, Diamonds, Express, Mallards, Mustangs, Red Dragons, Red Storm, Ridge Runners, Ridge Raiders and Thunderbirds.


First, I can't believe they dissed the "Big Red Rhinos." You may recall, in a previous post, Rhinos was identified as the favorite suggestion here at The Talker. And it would have been an awesome, glorious mascot, that other schools would envy for generations. (See depiction).

However, the Rhinos are apparently not to be. Sigh.

Well, moving forward, there are a few decent possibilities still on the board. Our current favorites are "Mallards" and "Red Dragons." Both are unique and would provide specific idenity to the ASU sports teams. Mallards would be especially good, as the name would connect with a popular regional recreational activity. And let's face it, outside of Oregon, there just aren't enough good duck mascots.

There's also some duds on the list, like "Express" and "Red Storm." Mascots should be tangible things, not abstract concepts.

And "Diamonds" and "A's" are just dumb. Period. Nobody wants to cheer for a precious gem or a letter of the alphabet.

"Red Wolves" isn't bad; it's a tangible thing, and an animal indigenous to the region. But it doesn't roll off the tongue. "ASU Red Wolves"? Just doesn't sound good.

And as for "Ridge Runners" and "Ridge Raiders," well, I just don't have a clue what those things are.

When ASU announced plans to change nickames, I had hoped they would find something better than "Indians," which I find quite bland and boring, to be honest. And looking at the finalists, there's a decent chance the univeristy might come through. I still think they're missing the boat on the Rhinos, though.

Measuring your standard of living

When it comes to standard of living, I generally think of my kids having more or less the same kind of upbringing that I had.

In most simple terms, we're middle class. We do well enough that we're able to have a few nice things, but we're not in a position to make lavish expenditures. We own modern technology, but not necessarily the latest technical gizmos. We can dress nicely, but our kids will soon learn that they will surely lag behind some of their friends when it comes to the latest styles. We can take some small trips, maybe save up to go Disney World once in a while, but we're not jetting off to Europe on a regular basis.

As the years go by, I hope my kids will learn — as I did — that there are things more important in life than possessions and material things. That's the general sense that I have.

But then, when I look back on my own youth, and think about the things we had back then, and then think about what we have now, the differences are rather striking.

Growing up, we had one television. It only got four channels, and if you wanted to change what you were watching or adjust the volume, you actually had to get up and walk across the room to do it. Today, we have three main TVs, each hooked up to satellite so we can scroll through about 100 channels. Each has its own remote control, so we don't even have to get off the couch if we don't want to. Besides that, we can now pause and rewind live TV, so we don't miss a second of our favorite shows. We actually also have a fourth television, a mini-unit we use only to watch DVDs.

Speaking of DVDs, we hadn't even heard of such things when I was growing up. In fact, for many years, we didn't even have a VCR. I remember when the VCRs first came out — we would actually rent the players right along with the tapes from the video store. When we finally did get our first VCR, it was a monstrosity compared to today's sleek models. Nowadays at our home, we have a VCR and a DVD player attached to two of our three main televisions, in addition to the afore mentioned mini-unit.

The home I grew up in had one telephone. It was a rotary-dial unit we rented from the telephone company, that plugged into the wall in the kitchen. We got an extra-long cord so that we would talk on the phone in another room. These days, we have two "land-line" phones in our house, and both are cordless. (Can you even buy non-cordless phones anymore?) Both are touch-tone units with programmable dialing and a built in answering machine. In addition, we also have two working cellular phones, in regular use.

We only had one car in my youth — a 1975 Pontiac station wagon, with wood-paneling on the side. My dad pledged to keep it until it reached 100,000 miles, which it finally did well after my sister and I had left for college. Our household today is home to two cars, both with more than 100,000 miles and climbing. But it terms of amenities, our cars today are really not much different than what I grew up with. Air conditioning, power locks, AM/FM radio have been a constant then and now. About the only difference is that our cars today have CD and cassette players, replacing the eight-track player we had in the old Pontiac.

So quite obviously, it terms of standard of living, my kids have a lot more than I did. But this is something that holds true for every subsequent generation. Just as my kids are growing up with mobile phones and MP3 players that I didn't have; I grew up with microwaves and color TV that my parents didn't dream of. Older generations grew up with cars and indoor plumbing that their parents didn't have. This is the mark of progress.

But standard of living is not only a comparison to those who come before or after you; it's also a comparison of those those live the same time as you. And in that sense, I think my previous assessment still holds true. My kids are more or less in the middle of the road when it comes to the amenities of their lives, just as I was.

And I think that's a pretty good way to live life. There will always be people with more or less than you have. And I think understanding that, and learning not to define yourself by it, is one of the keys to a happy life.

Pick your candidate

We've been on a political kick the last few days here at The Talker, and before we let national politics fade into the background for a while, we wanted to give readers a chance to find out for themselves who their ideal candidate is.

Clicking here will take you to a Web site that will help you out. The Web site presents a number of key issues, and visitors are asked to agree or disagree with each, and attach a level of importance to the answer. The Web site then automatically calculates which candidate best fits your views.

There's a whole slew of similar candidate-pickers out there on the Internet, and their true value is obviously pretty questionable. Nonetheless, it can be fun to see the outcome. You might be surprised at the results.

Meet the candidates

In yesterday's post, I railed against the national media for ignoring lower-tier candidates for president.

Of course, then, in a classic case of media hypocrisy, I did the exact same thing by neglecting to mention some of the individuals currently seeking the Oval Office.

So, to remedy this, I'm am providing here links to all the major party candidates who have filed with the FEC. Check them out.

Democrats
Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson

Republicans
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
Alan Keyes
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Fred Thompson

National media ignoring candidates

According to a recent Associated Press news article, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul set a one-day GOP fundraising record Monday when he took in $4.2 million in donations.

And I know what most of you are thinking right now: "Who the heck is Ron Paul?"

Well, if you're interested, Ron Paul is a Texas congressman and one of nine candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president. If you haven't heard of him, don't be too surprised. The national media has kept its limelight clearly focused on the "rock star" candidates of the race.

Yet Paul appears to have struck a chord with a significant niche of the political spectrum. His fundraising bonanza was a result of an outpouring of Internet support during something called "Guy Fawkes Day." Paul is known for his constitutionalist, libertarian views, calling for a dramatically smaller federal government. He is the only GOP presidential candidate calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

Paul's fundraising triumph sheds new light on the failures of the national media as it covers the presidential race. By focusing entirely on the front-runners, the national media is doing a disservice to the second- and third-tier candidates that may, after all, resonate with the American electorate. You get the feeling that there might be some well-qualified candidates that are simply being ignored.

On the Democratic side, a good example is New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. He seems to have the necessary qualifications. He has federal experience, having served in the Cabinet of former president Bill Clinton. He has experience as a chief executive, having served as governor of New Mexico since 2003. Besides that, as a Latino, he has the potential to connect with an ever-growing American demographic.

Yet Richardson is not taken seriously. Following a recent Democratic debate, for instance, commentator Chris Matthews interviewed Richardson. But did he ask about any of Richardson's views of positions? No. He asked about Hillary Clinton, and why Richardson defended her from political attacks.

On the Republican side, you'd think former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee would be getting a closer look. Sure, we Arkansans, for better or worse, are well aware of him; but for the rest of the country, he's still a no-name. Besides having experience as a chief executive, Huckabee, a former preacher, has better Christian-right credentials than any of his better-known rivals. And his personal weight-loss story gives him an interesting narrative to share, especially at a time when obesity is a national public health issue.

And this isn't to say that Richardson, or Huckabee, or Paul would necessarily win my vote. I'm just saying that it's a shame that the American public is being denied opportunities to learn about them.

The national media covers the presidential campaign like a horse race, where the only competitors who get mentioned are those at the front of the pack. The press corps builds a fortress of hype around the favorites, making it virtually impossible for other challengers to break into the arena.

This is great for the political junkies — the guys who view presidential elections no differently than a pennant race or a Super Bowl chase. But for Americans interested in finding the best candidate to lead this country, it's not so great. When the national media creates and perpetuates a system that treats hype as the ultimate political attribute, it's no wonder so many Americans grow disenfranchised with the system.

So that's what made it rewarding to see Ron Paul hit the jackpot with this week's fundraiser. It showed that maybe there are a few folks out there who aren't buying into the rock star campaign promoted by the television networks. And it got Paul a few headlines along the way.

Maybe the national media will wake up and see that there are a few candidates out there who aren't named Hillary, Rudy, Barack, Mitt or Fred.

But don't count on it.

Staph infection at BIS

Blytheville Superintendent Bruce Daniels has confirmed a report of a Blytheville Intermediate School student being treated for a staph infection. Rumors of a more widespread infection involving teachers are not accurate, according to Daniels.

For those who don't know, staph infection comes from a bacteria commonly behind minor skin infections that show up as pimples or boils. Those infections can usually be treated with medication. The best way to prevent an infection is with thorough and repeated hand-washing.

You can find about a million articles on staph infection on the Internet. Here is one of them.

To read more about what Blytheville Schools are doing, see today's CN.

Are we on?

A power outage knocked a good chunk of Blytheville into darkness shortly before noon today.

The apparent culprit was a tree that fell on a power line in the Hearn Street area. Early reports indicated that it would take a couple of hours to restore power; however, the lights were back on at the CN after about 20 minutes.

That said, we are told that Entergy crews will be taking several hours to clear the tree limbs from the power lines, and intermittent outages could continue into the afternoon.

If you can read this, congratulations ... your power is back on.

Go Rhinos!?!

Arkansas State Univerity officials say they have received more than 1,400 nickname suggestions.

Some of the suggesions include: Aggies, Armadillos, Big Red Rhinos, Black Leopards, Black Mallards, Black Paladins, Black Phantoms, Black Stallions, Boll Weevils, Buffaloes, Cardinals, Catfish, Copperheads, Cottonmouths, Coyotes, Delta Devils, Diamondbacks, Diamonds, Dixie Nights, Eagles, Engines, Fightin’ Farmers, Gorillas, Groundhogs, Moccasins, Naturals, Pine Cones, Red Dragons, Red Hawks, Red Runners, Red Wolves, Reds, Redwings, Ricemen, Silverbacks, Stallions, Tomahawks, Tornadoes, Zebras.

There's a lot of good options there. Here at The Talker, we're kind of fond of "Boll Weevils," "Zebras" and, best of all, "Big Red Rhinos." A nickname's got to have character, after all.

The university expects to pick a new nickname by next spring. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.