David Clyburn reads in the Nicetown Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia as he waits for a computer to use in his search for a job. (Photo by BONNIE WELLER / Staff Photographer)
At more than 300 computers, graphic designers work on new projects, musicians record and bloggers and authors write and research, using the quiet of old and the wireless of new. Arching skylights vault over glass walkways, and plate–glass windows open an 8,500–square–foot foyer to light and weather patterns. A Visual and Performing Arts Department lets visitors focus on music instead of books. A Teen Center brings resources to school–aged kids courtesy of tattooed librarians, while the Entrepreneurium offers those who dream of starting a business the tools to make it happen. It’s all designed by internationally acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie, and it’s called Parkway Central—one of the premiere libraries in the nation.
If I keep my hand steady long enough, I just might get a photograph of me racing down the steepest hill in Zürich on a bicycle. But I’ll have to settle for the shot of me standing on a dock on Lake Zurich, shadowed by the yellow sun, framed in crystal blue skies, as I peer at the Swiss Alps, not 20 miles away. Read the rest here.
See related video, another photograph and read some details on the story below.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell will be named Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate, a high-ranking source in the administration told the Patriot-News.
That was my lede after being tricked into believing Rendell was Obama’s No. 2 man by a famed newsroom of top-flight state government correspondents in the Harrisburg state capital.
This isn’t the story of the Pennsylvania governor being named Obama’s running mate. This is the story of how the economy is in free fall, newspapers are on life-support, and yet they still can’t get rid of me. Read the rest here.
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Military personnel act as stand-ins for President-elect Barack Obama and family on the West Front of the Capitol during a rehearsal for the Inauguration Ceremony in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
At least one student doesn’t have very far to go to see a seminal moment in American history. To see Barack Obama inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States of America next week, Jonathan Cohn, a Georgetown University junior, can walk. Cohn lives in Washington, D.C., and will be among the millions who are expected to crowd the nation’s capital for Obama’s historic oath. Cohn will be part of what may be the largest contingent of college students at a presidential inauguration in the event’s 220-year history. Read the rest here.
See some extras that didn’t make it into the story below.
My first story for the Society of Human Resource Management magazine appeared online yesterday. It focuses on the dangers that face mobile employees who use unsecured wireless networks and what human resource professionals need to know about the trends.
You can’t read it because it’s by subscription. Instead, I’ll give you my lede and what I cut from my first clip in a trade publication.
That means I have a steady alternative revenue stream – for the time being. It isn’t full-time, so no health insurance, but for a freelance journalist, it’s a golden gig to get some steady money (more tips like that in a future post).
My story on Philadelphia priest John McNamee in the Irish Echo on Oct. 8, 2008.
This story appeared in the Oct. 8, 2008 edition of the Irish Echo, the country’s oldest Irish American newspaper.
PHILADELPHIA – One of the most celebrated Irish Catholic priests in the country has returned home.
After nearly 30 years serving his native Philadelphia archdiocese, author and poet John McNamee retired in June and retreated for six weeks to a friend’s house in Ireland. He returned home last week [Aug 30] and now is ready to decide what will be the next stage of his storied life. What that will entail even he doesn’t yet know.
“I am not going to put an agenda on myself,” McNamee, 75, said. After a lifetime wearing a priest’s collar, he walks a decidedly more secular path than the religious one he has come to know.
“I am anxious to breach those two worlds as best as I can,” he told the Irish Echo in a phone interview.
If the success of his writing career is any indication, he will.
Pennsylvania’s Jack Wagner wants registered sex offenders to wear GPS monitors. In recent weeks, a handful of lawmakers have announced plans to introduce legislation at Wagner’s behest.
“For all the right reasons, the Pennsylvania state government should be utilizing this technology to protect our most vulnerable citizens,” Wagner says.
His late July announcement came not long after his office reported that of the state’s 9,800 registered sex offenders, the Commonwealth had lost track of 923—nearly 10 percent. More than one-third of them had last-known addresses in southeastern Pennsylvania, including 261 in Philadelphia.
Calling those numbers “very disturbing” and “unacceptable,” Wagner, who’s seeking reelection in November, recommended the use of ankle-worn devices with a global positioning system—technology currently in use by 33 states… More.
