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Month: July 2015

Talkin’ Brooks at the Bean

July 31, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

It’s official title is Cloud Gate but everyone calls it The Bean. That’s because Anish Kapoor’s sculpture in Millennium Park in Chicago looks like, well, a bean. A giant, shiny bean. My son has lived in Chicago for more than… Continue Reading →

Baltimore Orioles, Brooks Robinson, Cloud Gate, The Bean

Those Midwesterners

July 29, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

“Is this a Chicago thing?” I asked the bartender as he popped open a tiny bottle of beer and placed it in front of me. “More of a Midwestern thing,” he said. I’m just glad it’s a thing. See, it… Continue Reading →

Bloody Mary, Chicago, Midwest tradition, Side kick, sidecar, The Farmhouse Chicago, The Publican Chicago

Eat ’em if you got ’em

July 24, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Peaches. I love peaches. Maybe that’s why my little girl said what she said when she was about three. Greta, now 32, was riding with me, all harnessed into her car seat (we put them in the front in those… Continue Reading →

Brace's Orchard, Peaches, Pittston Farmers' Market, The Peach State

In the cool, cool, cool

July 22, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

The air conditioning’s been on the fritz at our church. Since early summer, wide open doors, front and back, on Sunday mornings have been the the telltale sign that it had yet to be fixed. Wide open doors followed by… Continue Reading →

air conditioned churches, Summer mass

A golf joke that’s true

July 17, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I’ll leave the names out to protect the not-so-innocent, but I know a true golf story that, if you ask me, trumps all the lame golf jokes I’ve heard throughout the years. “Hit the ball, drag Jack,” comes to mind.… Continue Reading →

Fore, Golf, Golf Jokes

Lucky Us

July 15, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

It’s rare to discover a baseball fan in one of my college classes. They’re all into the NFL, save for a few who don’t care about sports at all. But baseball? Eh. So I rejoice at finding a student who’s… Continue Reading →

Home run Derby, Lucky's Sporthouse, Marlana VanHoose, National Anthem

The song that never ends

July 9, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I was just finishing up mowing the lawn when I spotted the ice cream truck a block or two up the street. There was a time when that would have sent me scurrying into the house. It was either make… Continue Reading →

Song stuck in your head?

Own Goal

July 8, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

If you are a soccer fan you know the meaning of the term “own goal.” You also know why I am writing about it today. If not, allow me to explain. Occasionally in a soccer match a player will inadvertently… Continue Reading →

Chris Police, Own goal, soccer

The Bob Cicon Rule

July 3, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I don’t see my old friend Bob Cicon much these days, so it was interesting that I ran into him the very day after mentioning his name at the Luzerne County Community College commencement. I had told a colleague about… Continue Reading →

Bob Cicon, running, Steve Housenick

Slow down on side streets

July 1, 2015Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

It’s like a cold glass of water in the face that sign in the yard on Foote Avenue, Duryea, right where it becomes Parsonage Street, Pittston. “Drive like your child lives here,” it reads. If that does not make a… Continue Reading →

children, driving, Speeding

About the Optimist

Ed Ackerman Ed Ackerman, a consulting editor and columnist for the Greater Pittston Progress, has served the people of Greater Pittston for 48 years, starting in the newspaper field at age 17. The Pittston resident will share his thoughts in this blog and in a weekly column published in the Progress. greaterpittstonprogress.com

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