• Data magnifying glass

    A parliament of Jades

    September 9, 2018 / 1 Comment

    As a journalist and obituary writer, I am huge fan of searching. I can search a database like nobody’s business and do so, without exaggeration, about a hundred times a day.

    Google is often a first stop, but rarely is it my last. No, if there’s a search box on a website, I’ll likely use it to learn more about a wide variety of subjects. I search for recipes, books, articles, facts, quizzes, definitions, obits, ideas, photos, synonyms, art, jobs, poetry and more.

    Recently, I searched for my own name on the HowManyOfMe website, and this is what I learned:

    HowManyOfMe.com
    Logo There are
    24
    people with my name in the U.S.A.

    How many have your name?

    Of these two-dozen Jade Walkers, here are a few of note:

    Jade Walker is an Austin artist who uses textiles, fabric, fake fur and ordinary crafting materials to make her creations. She’s also the gallery director of the University of Texas’ Visual Arts Center.

    Jade Walker is a professional basketball player who signed a contract last year with Faros Keratsiniou in Greece. The Maplewood, N.J., native landed on both the All-BIG EAST and All-Met first teams and was the 23rd player in St. John’s history to score 1,000 points.

    Jade Walker, her husband Dan and two friends recently purchased their local ice cream shop in Littleton, N.H. Bishop’s Homemade Ice Cream, which has been in business for 43 years, was Jade’s first job. She still lives within walking distance of the place and hopes it will become a family business for her young children to join one day.

    Dr. Jade Walker is the chief optometrist at the Greenville VA Health Care Center in Greenville, N.C., and a specialist in ocular disease and low vision rehabilitation. For the past two years, she’s conducted clinics for the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.

    Google’s news alert system also let me know that the world lost a Jade Walker last month. Jade was driving through Houston when someone fired 40 bullets into her car. One struck her in the head and claimed her life. Jade was just 25 years old and she had a 4-year-old daughter. So far, her killer is still on the loose. If you have any information about this case, please call the Houston Police Department Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

  • Grief is the price we pay for love

    August 19, 2018 / No Comments

    I once lost a job because my grandmother was hospitalized with congestive heart failure. The doctors said she wouldn’t make it through the weekend and since I was within driving distance (about 250 miles away), I knew I had to make the trip.

    When I told my boss I needed to take a few days off and why, he said: “Then don’t come back.” He wouldn’t let me use vacation days either because “such absences must be pre-approved.”

    Needless to say, I quit the job, hopped in my car and drove to the hospital to be with her — a decision I’ve never regretted. However, the whole experience made me mindful of the fact that flexibility in the workplace is not guaranteed.

    Lawmakers in New York are now considering a bill that would give every worker in the state three paid months of bereavement leave to mourn the death of a loved one. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Richard Funke of upstate Batavia, whose son died.

    “I’ve experienced the pain of losing a child. The grief can be unpredictable and overwhelming,” Funke said in a statement. “No employee should have to fear losing their job in order to take the time they need to mourn.”

    Some small business owners oppose the legislation, saying it would cause economic hardship and create staffing issues.

    “Our business and any other small business it would be catastrophic. Twelve weeks paid leave. We need all the staff that we have,” Greg Greenwood, owner of Bleeker Street Pizza, said.

    If the bill passes and the governor signs it into law, New York would become the third state -– after Oregon and Illinois -– to offer a bereavement benefit and the second to provide paid leave. What do you think?

    [socialpoll id=”2516261″]

    –Quote is from Queen Elizabeth II

  • womens protest

    Quote of the week

    July 21, 2018 / No Comments

    “I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower

    –Photo by Renaschild

  • old typewriter

    Mark my words v.2

    July 19, 2018 / No Comments

    As I’ve mentioned before, I’m drawn to certain words. The attraction is often a word’s meaning or spelling, but sometimes I just like the way a word rolls off my tongue. Here are more of my favorites:

    Moonstruck

    Codswallop

    Doozy

    Philatelist

    Rigamarole

    Selkie

    Egads

    Sassafras

    Gallipoli

    Shenanigans

    Ephemeral

    Sesquipedalian

    Triskelion

    Pamplemousse

    Ganache

    Spellbound

    Gadzooks

    Finagle

    Adagio

    Tchotchke

    Debauchery

    Haboob

    Skedaddle

    Thunderstruck

    Lycanthrope

    Archipelago

    Hullabaloo

    Virtuoso

    Cattywampus

    Discombobulate

    Hoodwink

    Malarky

    Balderdash

    What are some of yours?

    –Photo by dubassy