Friday, July 04, 2014

Happy Birthday America

I am not considered the stereotypical patriotic type, nor are any of my children, so far as I can tell, but in our own ways we are loyal Americans, holding the country to its first principles and ideals, especially Freedom of Speech.

The Fourth of July has never been for me a reason to celebrate my country, but it is a day off work. I cooked breakfast for two of my kids (a third being with friends up at Lake Tahoe) and then they went off for the day. I've settled in for a day of watching sports -- World Cup soccer matches and baseball games -- and some random writing.

It's a breezy, foggy day here in San Francisco. I do not know that folks will be able to see the fireworks very well tonight. But that is often a challenge here.

As a kid, I was almost always at our beloved Rolling Hills on this holiday weekend -- one of the big three each summer. Those were, in retrospect, the best Independence Days I ever had.

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Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Newsroom Gathering

Today at KQED a lot of us stopped doing our jobs at our desks, grabbed laptops, and gathered at the news table before some big-screen TV sets. We all watched, cheered and groaned together as the US soccer team fell just short of advancing in the World Cup, 1-2.

As I sat there with my colleagues, I thought about the many years I've spent on the sidelines, cheering my own children as they've played the "beautiful game." Like all things beautiful, it is also exquisitely painful.

Today was a day of pain.

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