WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER The Only Constant Is Change By LARRY BENNETT • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Once we are born, every moment of every day brings change. We are born biologically complete, yet with little else to our beings. We can’t speak, walk, or talk. As a baby, then in our youth, in our teens, maybe even through our twenties, we live through endless and often tumultuous changes. Every day offers fresh knowledge and new experiences. Our parents first…
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The Christmas Message Gospel of St. Luke And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.…
YES, VIRGINIA… There IS A Santa Claus, Editor Wrote 8-Year-Old Editor’s Note: The New York Sun’s Francis Pharcellus Church penned this famous response to 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon in 1897. We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If…
MANAGING EDITOR MARKS 10TH Libby Found Love, Work, Heartbreak — And Home Editor’s Note: What a decade! Her friends and colleagues celebrated Manager Editor Libby Cudmore’s 10th anniversary among us on production day, Tuesday, Dec. 10, and agreed to write this memoir. By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special To www.AllOTSEGO.com There’s a lot for Ian and I to celebrate in December. Our families do Christmas, Yule and Hanukkah, our original anniversary, the New Year’s Eve to cap it all off. But…
VIEW FROM WEST DAVENPORT Democratic Intrigues Weave Tangled Web By MIKE ZAGATA • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Speaker Pelosi proudly informed us that she is a Catholic and thus doesn’t hate the President, but she conveniently ignored her pro-choice voting record – even defending the taking of a life about to be born. I think I’d be happier, as a fellow Catholic, if she admitted she hated the President but defended the lives of the unborn. I’d also have more respect…
INTRODUCING ERNA ‘Be Afraid, But Do It Anyway’ By ERNA MORGAN McREYNOLDS • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com One day a woman who had sat next to me at a fundraising dinner called me. She wanted me to be the speaker at an event for women alumnae from NYU. How could I resist? She titled it, “An Interview with a Financial Superstar”. She asked about my growing up outside a little village in Upstate New York. How did you go from no…
Albany Perspective Reforms May Be Costly, Dangerous Editor’s Note: State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, has represented Otsego County in Albany since 1986. As we approach the start of 2020, there are a number of new laws that will take effect in New York State. Among them are provisions I am deeply concerned about that will put public safety at risk. The measures include: • Bail changes that will allow 90 percent of individuals arrested to walk free without posting bail;…
MATHISEN: Memoir Takes Us To 911 Bombing Editor’s Note: Don Mathisen, retired to Oneonta after a career as a reporter for WNYC, New York City’s NPR station and other outlets, published “A Broadcaster’s Life” last month, primarily for his children and grandchildren, but a few copies are available at The Green Toad Bookstore, 198 Main St. I ran for my life as the South Tower fell. I was just a few hundred feet away, standing in a crowd of people,…
Front Porch Perspective On Thanksgiving, Remembering Blue Four years ago on a snowy winter day, Dr. Fran Fassett came to our house and released our good old Blue from his failed body. It was amazingly peaceful, even blessed time. Anne and I had had Blue for about 10 years. He was a rescue dog who’d been picked up along Route 88 near Oneonta. Thank God, he was brought to our own animal shelter. A friend on staff there contacted Anne;…
COLUMN FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE Angst At Age 15 By JIM ATWELL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com Last time we talked, I described the start of a major teenage crisis: when I knocked a nun flat on on her face, and then sat on her. To summarize: During halftime of our high school’s basketball team, I was selling candy and gum in the hallway just outside the gym to raise money for new uniforms. I was sitting on the edge of rickety…