Jay Paterno
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They’re Paving Paradise to Put Up a Parking Lot
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“They paved paradise, put up a parking lot. With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swingin’ hot spot.” –Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi.” In the late 1980s and early 1990s during Friday Happy Hour you could hear Randy Hughes sing this song at the Phyrst. Also during that happy hour, I was known to…
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The Beach Week
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The start of a beach week is always special. But as your week begins, someone else’s is ending. For those heading to a familiar place each year, the annual pictures taken in the same place create a collage of change, of times’ inevitable march forward. Perhaps nowhere else is this as noticeable as the inevitable…
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Front Porch Rantings
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“They say a kitchen is the heart of a house, but I believe the porch is its soul.” – Author Rick Bragg If that statement is true, this is the time of year when the porch of many homes is inhabited by slightly cranky old souls. Mine is no different. While society may define us…
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To Draw Closer to America’s Founding Ideals, We Need Leaders Who Seek Real Solutions
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On Monday night across the neighborhood, people were getting ready for the Fourth of July by shooting off fireworks. It sounded like a U.S. battleship bombarding enemy defensive positions before launching an amphibious assault. From the sounds of things, it appeared that the new fireworks store on College Avenue must have had a successful opening. As…
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Pride Month Is a Celebration of the Pursuit for Equality and Freedom
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In June, we see the blooming of Pride flags on homes, in yards, outside businesses and on various social media platforms. It is for people to celebrate not only who they are now, but to recall a difficult journey to arrive at this place in time. June also means a surge of resentment ranging from…
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Men’s Lacrosse Tournament Shows the Power of True Competition
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“If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!” –The final stanza of “If” by Rudyard Kipling. To paraphrase the stanza above, last weekend those of us in Annapolis to watch the NCAA men’s lacrosse…
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Memories of Long-Ago Summer Days
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In the moments before dawn fully broke on Sunday, I found myself awakening on a fine spring morning. Two rescue dogs were asleep on the foot of the bed. Through the slightly open windows the pleasant sounds of cardinals chirping, mourning doves cooing, and other songbirds were shattered by the shriek of blue jays. It…
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Impact Awards Showcase Penn State Alumni Athletes Making a Difference Off the Field
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Penn State is the world’s leading service -oriented University. It is most evident in THON, the world’s largest student-run philanthropy. But it is also evident in acts big and small, including community service projects of Penn State alumni chapters around the world. For decades, Penn State football and Penn State athletics have also championed service…
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Guns In America: The Status Quo Promises More of the Same
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Another school shooting in America, and rather than argue over politics in death’s aftermath, let’s for a few moments acknowledge what these shootings mean. More young children dead.More teachers and adults who cared for those children dead.More empty offers of thoughts and prayers. More candlelight vigils.More weeping families and parents.More promising lives cut short. More communities left…
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America: We and Us Prevails over I and Me
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For hundreds of years, people around the world have pointed to the United States as a land of opportunity. A land born with the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A land with the aspirational desire that began with the words that “all men are created equal.” The fuse that lit the…