Cellphone puzzle not limited to new iPhone

April 10, 2022

I got a new iPhone last week. I was pretty excited for about a minute. Then I remembered I’m not a millennial. What’s worse, I’m a Generation X-er who’s not tech savvy but thinks she is. I thought I had the setup all under control. I downloaded all my photos from the iCloud. I transferred all my apps. I entered all my passwords into the new device. I scanned my face for facial recognition. (And before you even say it, yes, I know, I shouldn’t have done that. As my husband quickly pointed out, now all the hackers know what I look like.) I rolled my eyes. He’s the last ...

After missteps, we must remember to forgive

April 3, 2022

If it isn’t a Nashville awards show touting top country music performers and incredible songwriters, odds are I’m not settled in on the living room couch, tuned in with my feet propped up. My husband and I typically see only a few new movies a year at the theater. And our home streaming services are limited to HBO Max and Netflix, so these days there are few motion pictures that I am familiar with or, at least, was rooting for to win this year’s best motion picture Oscar. Sure, like most everyone, I enjoy a good show. But when I tuned in briefly before the Oscars began last ...

Bonds like this don’t come along often

March 27, 2022

It’s never good when the telephone rings at 4 a.m. My mother reminded me of that fact when she called me later on Monday morning to tell me that she and Dad had received a dreaded 4 a.m. telephone call informing them that my uncle had passed away. My dad’s older brother, Stanley — affectionately known as “Stush” — would have turned 84 next month. The news truly was startling to me. Yes, he was getting up in age and, frankly, he was not well. Still, none of us believed his death was imminent. And then came that phone call. Three days later, my husband and I were on ...

No argument here on permanently saving daylight

March 20, 2022

Hopefully, by now, your body’s internal clock has gotten acclimated to rising an hour earlier each day after “springing forward” last weekend. That one measly hour sure seems to require many hours of readjustment. When my boys were babies, the beginning and end to daylight saving time was always a struggle. Just when you’d get them into a good sleep routine, along would come the time change, and suddenly they were not wanting to go to sleep at bedtime — or worse, they were waking up at 5 a.m. Nowadays, the family member who most misunderstands the time change is my ...

New, more despicable meaning of ‘fake news’

March 13, 2022

“Fake news!” is the frequent frustrating chant we, in my business, hear too often. Often, the allegation comes from people who disagree with or choose not to believe verified news reports. Sometimes, cries of “fake news” come from people actually in the news story who, for obvious reasons, might be attempting to discredit news reports about them. Other times, journalists are accused of fake news because we’ve made honest mistakes that could be construed as “fake” because, well, it is. That is, incorrect information has been reported unintentionally. When that happens ...

Almanac returns to Vindicator this month

March 6, 2022

For the third year now, Vindicator readers soon will enjoy what is one of our largest special sections of the year, a two-part series that we call “Almanac.” The product isn’t so new to our newsroom, though. In fact, we’ve been producing the section for our Tribune Chronicle readers for about a decade now. The publication evolved from earlier special sections that pre-date my employment here, but that I know focused on our region’s rich history in industry and business. Just like our Valley has evolved from fully integrated steelmaking, stamping auto parts and ...