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Continuing to smile … the mask we all wear

It’s Sunday morning. The coffee is brewing. The newspaper is spread out on the kitchen table. And maybe, just maybe, you have somehow found a way to manage a moment of peace before the week’s anxieties begin. But in this one, single moment … let us be honest. How many of you reading this right now, are sitting there knowing how tomorrow you will once again be forced to wear the disguise of a smile on your face? Because just beneath the surface, your entire world feels as if it is a house of cards ready to crumble at any moment? For those of you who understand, I want ...

A stocking filled with old-fashioned penny candy

The wonderful Nutcracker Village in downtown Steubenville continues to evoke a feeling of joy, goodwill and generosity experienced during this holiday season, like Christmastime, which is part of the festive traditions, Tchaikovsky’s dance of the sugar plum fairy, a kindness, and spending time with loved ones. This cavalier Toy Soldier world of the Mouse king is cultivated by decorating, listening to Dean Martin sing “White Christmas” and a Sunday School Choral performing, baking fresh ginger bread cookies, and general positive cinnamon in the air feelings, giving a new ...

Remembering where the buck stops

I was very pleased last Monday to hear Gov. Patrick Morrisey say that the decision to leave behind a volunteer contingent of West Virginia National Guard members was his. “I made the decision to have the word come down that we would ask the people if they wanted to volunteer,” Morrisey said during his first press conference with West Virginia media since the shooting on Nov. 26 of two Guard members during their Washington, D.C., deployment by an Afghan national, one of whom died. I was pleased because the weekend after the shooting, a number of social media posts were made on the ...

Journalism can also be like a box of chocolates

I had an entirely different thought for this column leading in the end of the week, and then Friday happened. That’s not to say that Friday was a disaster of a day necessarily, but it was a reminder of just how a typical day in this business can be anything but typical by most standards. Sure, there are some routine meetings. I know when school board and council meetings are, and can put them on my schedule, but, most of the time, we never really know what’s going to happen at any given point. I got into the office at around my usual time, having taken a few extra minutes to ...

I remember a time, not so long ago …

I remember a time, not so long ago , when the church pews didn’t just hold people — they overflowed with them. It was a specific kind of closeness unique to Christmas Eve. Families were pressed shoulder-to-shoulder with coats piled high. Voices rose in unison to the holiday favorites we all knew by heart. I remember a time, not so long ago … The way the candlelight flickered across the faces throughout the congregation. The profound hush that fell across the church just before the first notes of “Silent Night” were sung without hymnals. Those lyrics carried a ...

History in the Hills: Snow day at home

This past Tuesday was a snow day for my kids. It was fun for them to be home on a regular day when we didn’t have to run out for a game, doctor appointment or meeting. In a day and age where one is constantly running from thing to thing, a quiet day is a wonderful thing. And what better way to make a kid happy than a snow day. Today, kids find out about a snow day because we get a recorded call from the school. Ours came at 6 a.m. Tuesday. When I was in school, I would wait in front of the TV with the WTOV-TV morning news hoping that Hancock County schools would flash canceled on the ...