I want to send a message to every physician and general staff member of Midwest Regional Medical Center that is thinking about hanging up their hat here in Midwest City for good.
Please keep up the good work. The turmoil that is currently going on at the hospital is not your fault, so chins up and ride it out for as long as you can. I sincerely hope your futures at the hospital are brighter than they are right now and one day, the hospital returns to its former glory at the top.
I hate hearing about all of the doctors and staff that have left the hospital over the past five years; all that talent and expertise that has gone other places for various reasons.
No, I’m not in anyone’s pocket when I say these things, like someone has previously implied. I’m speaking of the facts, which overwhelmingly point out that MRMC is not performing like it should. Yes, not everyone that goes there has a bad experience. I’ve spoken to a few people who declare this, but I’ve spoken to a lot more with plenty to say about the medical care they received there.
I’m a fan of all sorts of music, but one genre I absolutely despise is rap, although I have friends who sometimes subject me to the foul language and fast, confusing lyrics by playing it during social gatherings.
One word – perhaps the most controversial word ever - is often heard in rap music. I will not include this word to not offend anyone, but I’m sure we all know what it is. If not, you will by the end of this column.
So, this past week this specific word took the national stage when one of America’s favorite chefs, Paula Deen, admitted to using racial terms during court testimony after a former worker accused Deen’s brother of violent, sexist and racist behavior and that Deen did nothing to stop it.
Like many Americans my age, I was born in a time of great uncertainty and upheaval. It was January of 1979. Jimmy Carter was President, unemployment was high, we were quickly losing the Cold War and America was gripped by a feeling that her best days were behind her. Luckily for me and this country, a former actor and former California Governor was soon elected President. It would be too cliché of me to write an opinion detailing Ronald Reagan’s contributions to America and his greatness as a world leader. Instead, I would like to write a little about my life and the country that existed as I was coming of age.
I was born in Evansville, Indiana in a place called Park Side Terrace Apartments. It was a place riddled with drugs, crime and abject poverty. My mother, two older sisters and I struggled to survive after my father abandoned the family. Like many children of my era, a step-parent would later step in as a father figure. I cannot remember much from these early years except that there was not always enough food to go around and we weren’t really able to play outside because the neighborhood was too fraught with danger. It was, in retrospect, a microcosm of American society in the late 1970’s.
I’m a firm believer that anytime the government wants to conduct an across-the-board power grab, it need only declare war on something. There are three such "wars" being waged in my lifetime. These wars are being waged at an incredible cost with few if any noticeable benefits and all three show no sign of ever ending.
Today, we fight a war on terror began under George W. Bush. We fight a war on drugs began under Richard Nixon and we fight a war on poverty began under Lyndon B. Johnson.
Since the war on terror is in the headlines, we should begin there. Like most Americans living in a post 9/11 world, I believed that the war on terrorism was going to be a war on terrorists. A war on terrorists I can understand. There are known terrorists in the world and we should go out of our way to hunt them down.
On Tuesday, June 4, The Oklahoman published an editorial with the headline "Transparency increases public trust."
The editorial talked about the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals declaration that city police dashboard camera videos are subject to release under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act – a move The Oklahoman marked as a "good day for government transparency."
The editorial also included this quote: "If there’s nothing to hide, there’s nothing to hide," a statement by the director of the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police, who supported the release of the videos.
With summer's arrival comes a journalistic convention that seems more and more dated. It is the "summer reading list" of books, often beside a graphic showing a bathing suit and sunglasses.
Sure, I'd like to check out Douglas Brinkley's biography of Walter Cronkite and Hilary Mantel's sequel to "Wolf Hall." Heck, I'd love to read Joan Rivers' funny and shorter book, "I Hate Everyone ... Starting With Me."
Problem is, few of us worker bees will be packing a steamer trunk of volumes to while away the lazy afternoons. Average working Joes now put in a month more of labor a year than they did 25 years earlier, and much of that time comes out of summer vacation's hide.
Whenever an overly generous soul praises me for my alleged "success," I thank them and gently remind her (and myself) of the unearned luck of my life.
Consider the following: I was born during the Great Depression, after the nation's birthrate had reached a new low, and I was one of approximately 11 people born that same year. This meant that when I graduated from high school, college admissions offices - desperate to fill empty dorms and classrooms - were eagerly recruiting almost anyone who wasn't under indictment or detox, and maybe some who were.
This also meant that when I got out of college and the Marine Corps, and sought to enter the revered "private sector," it was the decade of the 1960s, during which the gross national product of the United States was actually doubling - and because there were so few people in my generational cohort, for us lucky ones there were almost more jobs than there were young people to fill them.
Last week, I wrote about our expanded news staff and the freelance writers who continue to contribute to the quality of our newspaper.
Much to my chagrin, I failed to mention one of the most important people on the staff. She's not a reporter or photographer, but she certainly keeps the wheels of business and commerce going for EastWord News. Her name is Kristina Boehlke and she's our operations director.
