Tag Archives: AGN Media

business news, local news

No longer working for a living … but still in the game

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This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

It has been four years and nearly six months since I quit my job at the Amarillo Globe-News.

I didn’t expect to resign when I did. Circumstances forced me to walk away from a career — and a craft — I had enjoyed to the fullest for nearly 37 years.

As sad as I was at the moment, I am spending far less time looking back and more time looking forward. The next big adventure awaits my wife and me as we continue this transition toward another full-time gig: retirement.

However, I want to share a gratifying experience that keeps repeating itself as I continue to work part-time as a customer concierge at Street Toyota in Amarillo.

I wear a name badge at work. I greet customers when they come into our service waiting area. I ask them if there’s anything I can do for them to make them comfortable: Do they need a ride somewhere while their vehicle is being serviced? Do they want something to drink while they wait? Those kinds of things.

Then I get one of those glances from customers who look at my name, look me in the eye and they might say something like: “John Kanelis … where do I know that name? Your name and face look familiar. Where did you retire from?”

I tell them I worked for nearly 18 years at the G-N. I wrote a column each week for the Opinion page and I edited the page and wrote editorials.

“Oh yeah! Now I remember!” comes the response.

“Are you still writing?” the customer might ask. “Oh yes, absolutely,” I tell them.

I told someone today that I intend to write for as long as I am able. Some folks actually ask me why. Why do you keep writing? My stock answer: It’s what I do.

I suppose this is my way of telling readers of this blog that I’ll keep pounding away for as long as I have most of my marbles and as long as I can instruct my fingers to write the sentences that pop into my noggin.

Plenty of you are kind enough to read and to respond. I don’t expect to please everyone who reads my musings. That’s all right, too. I got into the business of print journalism understanding that everyone’s values differ and they inform their own world view — just as my values have informed my own.

No sweat. Just keep bearing with me as we all march on down the road together.

Once I become a full-time retiree, I do not expect to suspend my desire to keep sharing my thoughts with you here. I will be retired, but I don’t intend to check out anytime soon.

local news, political news

Councilman thrusts himself into spotlight yet again

Amarillo has a City Council member who appears to enjoy thrusting himself into the spotlight.

Randy Burkett, though, finds curious methods of doing so. He uses social media to sound off on this or that issue. Then, when he takes some heat from residents and even from local media, he tends to lash back at the critics.

I’ll stipulate that I do not know Burkett personally. I have ready plenty about him since he ran for the City Council in 2015 and have been following him at times during his occasionally tumultuous tenure on the council.

He has battled with other council members, namely Mayor Paul Harpole. He has been accused of leaking confidential information from executive council sessions. He has popped off in public.

This latest social media incident, though, seems a bit different. He got into a public fight on Facebook by criticizing a Muslim woman who was wearing a red-white-and-blue head band. Now he’s gone quiet and isn’t speaking to the media.

A silly aspect of this latest dust-up is the criticism leveled at Burkett by the Amarillo Globe-News, which endorsed him for election to the council in 2015. I am beginning to think the G-N might regret its decision to back the councilman’s candidacy.

The Globe-News editorialized today about Burkett’s latest social media tempest. It has scolded him for failing to provide proof that “‘law enforcement authorities’ are investigating threats related to the aforementioned social media exchange.”

I just want to offer this admonishment to Councilman Burkett.

Don’t use social media to spout off in this manner. It is unbecoming of an elected municipal official, someone who represents an entire city of nearly 200,000 residents. All five of these council members serve as de facto ambassadors for the city. Thus, the things they post on social media outlets carries a certain imprimatur that other folks — like, say, yours truly — don’t have.

I realize in this peculiar political climate — exemplified by the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States — has emboldened politicians at all levels to “tell it like it is” using social media. The president himself has used Twitter with devastating — and sometimes embarrassing — effect.

Just because POTUS can act like a buffoon at times on social media doesn’t give other politicians license to do the same thing.

local news

RIP, Myrna Raffkind

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My heart is broken at this very moment.

I have just learned that one of the dearest, sweetest, loveliest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing has left this world.

Myrna Raffkind was — oh my, how does one describe this individual? — the embodiment of goodness.

The Amarillo Globe-News honored her with its coveted Woman of the Year award for 2010. Interestingly, she earned that honor the year the newspaper honored the late Eddie Melin as its Man of the Year. Collectively, these two folks elevated the kindness quotient to stratospheric heights.

Myrna was a bit of anomaly in this part of the world.

She was an unabashed political liberal in a region dominated at almost every level of life by political conservatives. She and I had a thing or two in common in that regard. We knew that about each other. We would chuckle among ourselves at that reality.

None of that ever got her down. Indeed, I never heard a single soul in Amarillo ever saying a negative word about Myrna. No one!

Myrna was a prolific writer of essays she would submit to the newspaper. I published them gladly — and not because I endorsed her point of view. I did so to honor her kindness and wisdom that transcended partisan labels. Myrna’s enormous heart would reveal itself in her essays.

Years ago I was visiting with her nephew, George Raffkind — the clothier and owner of the store that carries his name — about his Aunt Myrna. I told him how much I “love and adore your aunt.”

“Yes,” George Raffkind respond, “she’s a bit more liberal than most of us around here.” I replied to Myrna’s nephew, “As I was saying, I love and adore her.”

I would see Myrna occasionally at the grocery store on Saturday. She always took the time to visit and we shared a political view on an issue of the day. This observant Jewish lady would send my wife and me holiday cards every Christmas, which always would include a lovely personal note wishing us a happy holiday and new year.

Amarillo has lost a towering figure contained in a diminutive form.

I will miss her terribly.

local news

Troubled times — and thunder — recall memory of old friends

My mind has this way of wandering vast distances at the strangest times.

Today it did that. I thought of two old friends as I was pondering the state of political play in this country, and the presidential transition we’re all about to witness.

Their names are Buddy Seewald and Virgil Van Camp. They died within days of each other in September 2013 here in the Texas Panhandle. They came to my mind for two vastly different reasons.

One of them is the hostility that exists between individuals and groups of opposing points of view. I’ll get to the second reason momentarily.

Buddy and Virgil were total opposites politically. Buddy was a flaming liberal political activist; Virgil was a staunch conservative who wasn’t politically active, but who had strong views on the world … as did Buddy.

They were partners in a feature we used to publish at the Amarillo Globe-News. We called it Point/Counterpoint. They would argue opposing points of view on subjects we would select in advance.

They also were friends. They harbored no ill will toward each other. We’d meet for lunch every few weeks to discuss upcoming topics. They got along famously.

I think of them as I compare that relationship with the non-relationships that exist these days between liberals and conservatives. I think of them when I hear politicians on one side refer to those on the side as the “enemy.”

Buddy and Virgil would rise up out of their respective graves — if only they could.

I wrote about them in an earlier blog post, paying tribute to their civility and their collegiality. I wish they were around today to share that sense of decency with you all.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2013/09/there-goes-another-good-man/

Near the end of that earlier blog post, I mentioned something else that makes me think of them today.

We heard lots of thunder around here over the weekend. My thought in this Sept 17, 2013 post was that I would think of Buddy and Virgil the next time I heard a clap of thunder, as it likely signaled an argument between them from on high.

I recalled that earlier observation as I listened to the thunder roll across the High Plains.

That had to be Buddy and Virgil arguing — without a doubt — about the pros and cons of the upcoming presidential administration.

I am absolutely certain they threw their arms around each other when the storm passed.

I still miss these two friends terribly.

local news, media news, national news, political news

Criticism should keep us all humble … not make us angry

This is going to sound presumptuous and for that I apologize up front.

Donald J. Trump’s knee-jerk reaction to criticism via Twitter got me thinking about how most folks who say or write provocative statements react to comments from those who disagree with them.

I want to count myself in that category. I write this blog and it draws its share of negative reaction. I take all of it seriously. I choose not to respond to all of it directly.

If only the president-elect would show just a little more reticence when someone delivers a barb. I mean, c’mon! You’re about to become president of the United States of America, dude!

I pulled a blog post I wrote nearly seven years ago, back when I was working for a living at the Amarillo Globe-News. Here it is:

https://highplainsblogger.com/2010/01/damnation-to-the-max/

I used to keep a “Praise and Damnation” file full of notes that, um, praised and damned me. I regret that I have destroyed that file. I did so when I got into a file-cleaning frenzy about a year or so ago. My thought was, “What’s the point?” The bulging folder was taking up room in my filing cabinet and I rarely, if ever, looked at the submissions in it.

I recall what I said in 2010 about that folder and about a particular letter that caught my attention back then. Now, as it was then, I believe criticism keeps me humble. It kept me grounded while I was writing opinion pieces for newspapers and it does so today now that I am writing strictly for myself.

I was unaware of Twitter seven years ago, if memory serves. Heck, I don’t know if it even existed then.

The world is full of know-it-all smart alecks like me who think they know better than those in the public eye. However, we smart alecks have something in common with celebrities such as, oh, the president-elect: We get our share of criticism in return for our comments.

The difference, though, lies in our reaction to that criticism. Grown-ups just let it ride and not fire back angrily. The more childish response is to do what Donald J. Trump has been doing.

In the words of Vice President Biden: “Grow up, Donald. Grow up.”

education news, legal news

Teachers are a cut above many of the rest of us

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

I made a confession today to someone I didn’t know before we met at Street Toyota, where I work part-time as a service department concierge.

This woman is a retired public school teacher and counselor. She served as a counselor in Spearman and Borger, Texas. We exchanged pleasantries and then I told her: “I am not wired to be a teacher.” I then saluted her for her years of service in public education and told her that I remain convinced now more than ever that teachers have a special wiring that enables them to do what they do.

I doffed my imaginary cap to her and we continued chatting about this and that while she waited for her car to be serviced.

Since I stopped working full-time for a living — in daily print journalism — more than four years ago, I have tried my hand at a number of gigs. Some of those gigs involved journalism: blogging for Panhandle PBS and for KFDA NewsChannel 10 and helping produce a weekly newspaper, the Quay County Sun in Tucumcari, N.M.

One gig involved working for about six months as a juvenile supervision officer for the Randall County Youth Center of the High Plains.

Still another was as a substitute teacher in the Amarillo Independent School District. I learned right away about one of my many shortcomings as I entered a classroom full of students who began sizing me up right away.

That shortcoming is this: My DNA does not allow me cope well with students who know how to play substitute teachers like fiddles; it becomes something of an art form with these individuals

The Amarillo school system would send me to one of its four public high schools fairly regularly; I will not disclose which one. I did not do well dealing with the youngsters with attitudes, man. It was particularly stark right after lunch. The students would come back from their lunch hour after having consumed — more than likely — copious amounts of sugar and caffeinated drinks (such as, oh, Red Bull). They had difficulty settling down.

Some of the little darlin’s thought they’d test me. They wouldn’t do as I asked. They would mouth off. They would disrespect the ol’ man — yours truly.

I was empowered, of course, to summon help from The Office if I needed it. I chose not to exercise that power. I just didn’t want to admit to the administration at this high school that I couldn’t handle the little pukes, I mean students.

So, I let ’em trample all over me.

After a while, I came to this realization: The Amarillo ISD didn’t pay me enough to put up with the snark infestation.

I quit accepting assignments at that high school, which apparently was where the need was greatest. The rest of the school district didn’t need my services regularly.

I walked away from that gig.

Which brings me back to my point. I salute teachers the way I salute first responders — such as firefighters, police officers, EMTs and paramedics.

They all do things I am incapable of doing.

I’ll stick with what I know, which at the moment continues to be writing about politics, public policy and life experience on this blog and greeting customers at the auto dealership.

I will cede the hard work gladly to public school educators.

local news

Go ahead, City Council, and pick a city manager

The question has been raised publicly in Amarillo: Should the current City Council select the next city manager or should it hold off until after the May 2017 municipal election?

The city’s daily newspaper, the Globe-News, editorialized today that the council needs to wait for the election and let the next council make the call. Its reason is that the council has dragged its feet for more than a year in finding a permanent successor to Jarrett Atkinson, who resigned and who since has been hired as city manager in Lubbock. So what’s the rush now?

http://amarillo.com/editorial/2016-12-21/editorial-new-council-should-select-city-manager

I’ll take issue with my former employer on this one.

The current council has the authority to act under the city charter. Why not, then, go ahead and make the call?

The council recently announced plans to cull the list of applicants down to 10 or so semi-finalists. From that shortened list, it will select a crop of finalists and then present them to the public. Then it will make the only direct hiring decision the charter allows the council to deliver.

Look at it this way: The council’s authority to make the decision doesn’t diminish just because an election is just six months away. The council’s power to select a city manager is as valid as, say, the power vested in the president of the United States to make an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Recall that Barack Obama recommended Merrick Garland to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put the brakes on that process by declaring the president is a “lame duck” and that the next president needs to make the appointment. McConnell played pure partisan politics by stonewalling this appointment process.

A City Council delay in naming a city manager could smell just as rank.

The city needs a permanent hand at the municipal till. Yes, the city has a competent interim manager in Bob Cowell, who well might be among the finalists selected by the council when it makes that critical decision.

If the city was to wait until after the May election, then it would just be another two years before the next election, in 2019. One might argue that a two-year window between elections is too brief as it is.

The current council well might face a stout challenge at the ballot box this spring. There are rumblings all over the city that Mayor Paul Harpole is going to step aside. What about the rest of them?

So, my own feeling is that the current council ought to proceed and do what it should have done months ago. It should pick a competent, strong and fair-minded chief city administrator who exhibits the potential to work well with whomever takes office after the next municipal election.

There is no compelling reason to wait. The city charter gives the current council the authority to act.

And it should.

local news

No longer out of sorts during the day

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

I was walking down the street this afternoon toward the cluster of mailboxes in our neighborhood when the thought occurred to me: No longer do I feel strange puttering around the house at mid-day during the middle of a work week.

I think I’ve turned yet another corner. Actually, I likely turned that corner some time ago, but the thought came to mind consciously this afternoon.

It wasn’t always the case.

I worked for a living until I was 63 years of age. Then it ended. Quickly, although not without some warning. I smelled something fishy when my boss announced in the summer of 2012 a “company reorganization” at the Amarillo Globe-News. The smell grew more pungent when, after applying to keep doing the job I had held at the paper for nearly 18 years, a former colleague and I were called back for a “second interview.”

Then the news came from the guy who held a newly created title at the paper: the vice president for audience. “There’s no easy way to say this, but we’ve offered your job to someone else. He accepted,” this VP for audience told me one morning.

I walked out of the building, bid goodbye to a couple of friends, came back the next day, cleared out my office … and resigned.

For some time after that — even as my wife and I departed for a vacation on the East Coast and then returned home — I would feel a strange sense of disorientation. Suddenly, I wasn’t busy during the work week. I was free to come and go pretty much as I pleased. It felt strange.

I got over it fairly soon after the end of my working life.

Since then I’ve learned there truly is life after full-time work.

I have just turned 67. Full-time retirement is still a ways off. It’s coming on, though. I’m quite prepared emotionally for the moment it arrives.

I know this because my disorientation has vanished.

media news

Fake news infects the real thing

fake-news

We’re witnessing one of the more hideous and frightening aspects of the social media craze.

Fake news, man.

It’s this phenomenon we used to call “propaganda.” Internet trolls sit around the house and ponder ways to put out patently false stories — often involving celebrities/public figures/elected officials — and then watch the world react accordingly.

I’m not entirely certain if it’s a right-wing craze or a left-wing craze. I guess I’ll settle on the righty angle, given that’s what we hear about mostly.

Whatever the tilt of those who put this crap out there, it’s driving me to the brink of insanity.

Texas Tribune recently did a study of an elected official, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, and discovered that he’s become a big purveyor of fake news. He and/or his campaign staff puts these lies out there and, I reckon, laugh until their guts hurt as people react to it.

The Republican official’s response is equally “hilarious.” He says he’s not a “news source.” No s***, Sid! Still, someone is sending this crap into cyberspace and the worst of it is that people are buying it!

Didn’t someone recently put out a lie about Hillary Clinton being involved in a child porn ring or some such horse crap? And didn’t that provoke a violent reaction?

I used to tell people who would submit letters to the Amarillo Globe-News, where I worked for nearly 18 years until 2012, that they need to take care about what they read on the Internet. They would insist their information was “true, because I read it on the Internet.” My response usually was that they should believe only about 1 percent of what they read on the ‘Net and then check out the source of the information before passing it on.

Now, with this epidemic of “fake news,” I reckon the reliability percentage has plummeted even farther.

It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.

I’m longing for a simpler time when we recognized fake news when it appeared on those supermarket tabloid headlines — my all-time favorite of which was, “Chocoholic Mom Gives Birth to Super-Coated Baby!”

Ah … those were the days.

business news, media news

Words ‘I am retired’ flowing more easily

retirement.pic_

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

You might not think this is a big deal, but it is to me.

The words “I am retired” are flowing more easily out of my pie hole these days.

I get asked frequently by customers at the auto dealership where I work: “Do you do this full time, part time or what? Are you retired?”

My answer: “Oh I’m retired now.”

Actually, my presence at the auto dealership reveals that I am not yet fully retired. I’m getting there, slowly but inexorably.

I’ll admit to being a bit uncomfortable saying “I am retired” when I first started collecting my Social Security income. My discomfort wasn’t anything that I can identify. I didn’t have pangs in my gut. I didn’t stutter when I said it. I didn’t flinch, wince or grimace at the sound of the words.

It was just a strange set of words coming from me, of all people, a guy who had worked pretty damn hard for nearly 40 years in daily journalism. Then it ended. I was sent out to pasture, along with a number of other, um, more mature fellow practitioners of this noble craft.

I have admitted already that I wasn’t ready for the day I tendered my resignation after being told someone else would be doing the job I had been doing at my last newspaper stop here in Amarillo. Instead of seeking another job at the Globe-News, I decided to quit.

Boom, just like that, my career was over.

The onset of retirement is sounding more comfortable to me these days. I’ve still got a couple of part-time jobs that keep me busy. There’s the Street Toyota auto dealership customer service gig; there’s also my freelance writing gig at KFDA NewsChannel 10.

However, I am feeling more retired these days than not.

What’s more, I am quite comfortable saying it out loud.

Ain’t it cool?