Rob's funny

Anyone who knows me probably knows Rob too. And you would be familiar with his very bizarre sense of humour. Right now it cracks me up when he is 3 floors up on the scaffolding outside our house, knocking on windows as though he were on the ground knocking on the door. "Oh hello," he'll say when I finally get to the window. "Could I please have a..." oh he makes me laugh!! goofball.

Dear USA

So, I have often felt a lot of things that I would never post on the internet, but mostly I wasn't fond of living in the USA. Something didn't feel right. I didn't belong here. Tonight, as I cried about the changes that are possible now, I realized that what has been happening since I arrived here ten years ago for love has been a complete pile of shit, politically speaking. The last time I was in North America for an election Bill Clinton was nominated while I was at a U2/Sugarcubes concert in Vancouver, long before Bono was a figure in international politics (No - the Northern Ireland conflict was not International in the sense I'm referring to - it was a repressive colonialist regime in the only third world country in the West, but I digress). Then I moved overseas, where most of what happened here was like watching a farce played out in the pages of the WIDELY READ newspapers. Then I ended up "immigrating" home to Canada and finally to WNY, during a political campaign where "That's a Pataki" (with Pataki being synonymous with mistake/gaff/idiotic move) was the leading smear slogan - I still reference this but no one gets what I'm saying...

Anyway, while I cried a bit tonight, overwhelmed by seeing the people finally vote without corruption for something I could agree with, I realized that I never had any faith here. Clinton was demonized at the end, and then Bush cheated his way through two elections... how was I to have any faith?

As they said on Democracy Now tonight (and I paraphrase, for I've been celebrating), we'll celebrate with Barack and the others tonight, and then we'll reassume our critical stance, as journalists and citizens are meant to do in a democracy. But let's celebrate this for what it is -- it is a HUGE fork in the eye of racism and racists politics. It is a huge step forward for the voiceless, who might have a voice for the next four years. It is a signal that change is possible, even in the face of corruption. And to jump on the bandwagon, I will join the Obama Camp and suggest that this is an opportunity for hope. Certainly, it is a change from the regime we were forced to live under for far too long.

corporate media is lazy!!

I am writing to express my deep concern over the quality of the written component of your 'news' website. This evening I went to the WKBW site to see the coverage of the presidential election, and was intruiged by a "Top Story" posted on the main page of the site. When I read the copy below the story headline, I was disappointed to find no less than TWENTY basic spelling, grammar, sentence structure and punctuation errors in a "news" story that was less than 350 words long. This is appalling, and undermines any faith I have in the quality of "news" that you're putting forward. Although the story entitled "Lost Little Girl Goes Home" might be part of "You News," there is NO excuse for this kind of garbage being put forward as a news story, indistinguishable from the content generated by credentialed journalists. I am an unabated supporter of the freedom of the media, and the burgeoning citizen journalist trades, but there is no reason that the public should be subjected to content that hasn't been passed across the desk of an editor who will craft the story for public consumption. Citizen journalism exploited for corporate media purposes (and to support the job cuts of larger corporations) should become part of a collaborative project in order to protect the integrity of the professional journalism it stands alongside.

I can no longer send my school-aged children to your site for news, since I cannot be assured that what they access will not be checked for basic grammar and punctuation. As this is the case, can anyone be assured that the stories have been fact checked?

I stand in solidarity with the remaining employees who try to fill the news hole, but I insist upon a higher standard of professionalism in the content you produce or air. I only hope that the "multi-media journalist" job opening you currently post is filled by someone who can write a proper sentence.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.