We were invited to attend last week?s piano recital put on by the Tabor College preparatory school at the Wohlgemuth Center. I was very impressed with the talent on display.
What was amazing to me was that none of the students appeared to be nervous. If they were, it sure didn?t show.
The youngest players performed first and on up the line to the oldest. The talent escalated as they went.
I wish now I had stayed with the piano when I was a kid. My brother Mark, who plays in two bands in Tulsa, says the same thing. My sister, Elaine, did stick with it and is an accomplished pianist and organist today. She has given lessons in the Minnea?polis, Minn., area for about 20 years.
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I think it?s important for every kid to be good at something. It might be playing the piano, it might be fishing, it could be a sport?no matter what. It keeps kids out of some mischief and is great training for life.
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At the recent conference I attended in Denver for the free-paper industry the question kept surfacing: Is print still relevant? The answer is yes, in my opinion and for many others as well.
What makes it relevant is the content, and not necessarily how it is delivered. A publisher friend from Des Moines gave this illustration of relevant content. He asked his teenage daughter if she had seen the article in his publication about Justin Bieber. She literally tore the paper out of his hand to find it.
We as community newspapers have content that no one else can provide. Although we deliver it both in print and digitally, print is the best read by far.
Our most recent audit shows that more than 86 percent read our printed newspaper on a regular basis. Nothing else even comes close.
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I exhibited my book printing at the Kansas Scholastic Press Association conference in Lawrence this past Saturday.
I usually place assorted candies on my table for the kids to munch on as they walk by or stop to visit. After a survey at the local high school, the bite-size candy bars were high on the list, so I thought I would go out to Vogt?s and get some.
Since I never buy candy, I couldn?t find the candy aisle. All of the checkers were busy, so I couldn?t ask them. A nice lady I know told me she thought it was in the middle someplace.
I still couldn?t find it, so I asked a little kid where the candy was, since most kids would know. I followed him and he took me directly to his mom.
He is well-trained.
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I recently had my somewhat annual treadmill checkup at the Heart Hospital. I really like the cool feeling when the thallium shoots into your veins.
It is a three-step process: They shoot pictures of your heart at rest, then you get on the treadmill with a bunch of electrodes glued to your chest, and then another set of pictures.
They told me afterward that they would be taking some more pictures and would be leaving a few of the electrodes fastened to my body.
In what has become my fashion I said, ?If I knew you would be taking pictures, I would have gotten a haircut.? I am sure they hear smart-alec statements like that all of the time. It doesn?t even phase them.
If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@hillsborofreepress.com.
