Things in the Paper

Several times I have copied things from the paper to put on this blog and haven't had time to do it. Now I'm biting the bullet and actually posting them as a collage......which means a lot of frustration and irritation since Windows 7 has devised a mystifying method of doing that.  Every time I do it, it takes me about ten minutes to figure it out.  For some reason my "blog this" choice on Picasa has decided not to work and I don't know what went wrong.

In any case, the first picture is the ad that will be in the forthcoming edition of the Quoddy Tides."  The road to its publication has been a rough one for me.  Adding my work to Pierre's gallery was something I agreed to do a year ago, but we didn't get around to it until now.  The idea of putting me in the ad was something I hadn't anticipated, but I went along with it.  "Going along" with things is something that almost always gets me into trouble. I almost always agree to any suggestion, as the path of least resistance.  Promises that I wouldn't have any part in the enterprise made me feel confident enough.

Time passes.  I find out that my picture is going to be included in the ad.  I am skeptical, but I take the path of least resistance and meet with Pierre and the person who sets up the ads at the newspaper office.  It's not long before I see that things are getting out of control.  The ad gets bigger to accommodate both of us, wording is discussed and argued about, I protest for awhile, and then sit back to watch the ball roll down the hill.  The final ad is an embarrassment to me (as one who detests self-promotion).  Once I am out of the office, my objections rise to the top and crystallize..  After a tremendous struggle I decide to back out.  I screw up my courage and uncharacteristically make a move to assert myself.  I email Pierre and Robin (the one who made the ad), and tell them both I don't want to be included.  Pierre accepts my decision without argument.  Robin, who is coming to take my picture for the ad, doesn't get the email and shows up at my door with camera in hand.  I tell her I have changed my mind.  She pushes me to have the picture taken "just in case."  I acquiesce, of course, with my characteristic reluctance to say no, but tell her my decision stands.  She makes up the ad anyway and sends it to me.  I reply that I love it, which I do.  She takes this as an approval to put the ad in the paper.  THE END.

The second picture is an article I read written by a woman whose column I greatly admire.  She is an outdoor person and writes about places to hike in the area.  It is her relationship with her dog that I so enjoy.  My bubble burst when I saw this article about her hunting turkeys.  Sorry Aislinn.

The third group of pictures shows the athletic teams from local high schools.  Whenever I see pictures like this in the sports section, I am amazed that the school team members look almost indistinguishable from one another.  I've seen this over and over and contemplate the "sameness" of youth.  They strive to be different, but it is not individuality they look for, especially the girls.  They are as like one another as siblings, same long straight hair, same jeans too tight and bare midriffs, same foul language spewing from their mouths......different from the generation of their parents but certainly not from their contemporaries.  When I first noticed this, I found it amusing........until I thought about my own teenage years.  We all looked alike too, with our puffy teased hair and mini-skirts, our talk of how to "get" boys.

Well, these are the random thoughts that run through my head as I peruse the Bangor Daily News........not the only thoughts, but more benign than the ones inspired by politics and crime (same thing?).  So now I will be famous in Eastport, sort of like Thoreau travelling widely in Concord............ except the only readers of my musings are the few who read my blog.