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Month: October 2020

That pesky generation gap

October 30, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

A student sent me an email the day after she delivered a speech in one of my classes.She wanted to explain she had a better conclusion planned but there was a last-minute technical difficulty.Her speech was about how to teach… Continue Reading →

Clicking away

October 28, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I never used to hold the remote while watching TV. A lot of people I know use the remote to avoid commercials, but not me. Maybe it’s because my two kids work in advertising, or maybe because I don’t want… Continue Reading →

Par for the course a thing of the past

October 23, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I don’t golf. Never touched a club. But I love watching golf on TV.Especially The Masters.I get excited when I see the first promos for The Masters. Sometimes they come as early as during the Super Bowl. The Masters typically… Continue Reading →

Inspiration in purple fingers

October 21, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

In my early 20s I became too cool to vote and therefore not cool at all.Thank God that faze passed before my father, a Bronze Star winner in World War II with two brothers who were killed in the European… Continue Reading →

Not important enough to teach

October 16, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

How many young Americans have no idea where Afghanistan is?How many could not find Israel on a globe?Or Paris?Or even London?How many do not know England is an island?Or have at least a rough idea where the city of St.… Continue Reading →

Still crying over baseball

October 14, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

“There’s no crying in baseball,” Tom Hanks said as the character Jimmy Dugan in the movie “A League of Their Own.”But he was wrong.Or maybe he just forgot what it was like to be a kid.The first World Series I… Continue Reading →

The great pierogi controversy

October 9, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I’ve never been anything close to an investigative reporter. But if the situation called for it – as it did once, if memory serves – I was more than up to the journalistic task.My hour of glory came to mind… Continue Reading →

Wish I said that

October 7, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

I emailed feedback on a writing assignment my student Nicole Piccoletti submitted and told her I was going to borrow something she wrote and use it in a blog.I also told her I would give her credit. Which, if you… Continue Reading →

The morning paper

October 2, 2020Ed Ackerman Leave a Comment

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half.– Gore Vidal I know when it happened, when I became a newspaper junkie.My parents did not have a… Continue Reading →

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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