Huh? What's Up With That?

  it's concerning...   Environmentalists sounded the alarm years ago and there was some concern for a short time after the initial announcements concerning plastics getting into our water systems.  But, the awareness didn't last long and the alarm evidently wasn't loud enough.  Maybe the task of removing the debris from our waterways is too overwhelming.    It seems just as many restaurants use plastic straws, plastic bags can be found in most supermarkets, and we are still inundated with as many plastic toys as if there never was an alarm or call to action to do something about microbeads ending up in our oceans and Great Lakes.    HUH ?   What's up with that ?   This post is not a scientific endeavor or a pretense of knowledge I don't possess.  It is not meant to be a political statement or a call to arms.  It is simply a way to share with you a potential danger to our environment.     While on vacation in Florida a...

  e p 4...   This is the fourth post featuring interviews conducted with POS (people over 60) who have retired and started an Encore Performance .  These interviews were conducted last May.     For most of us, after a certain age, it is important to remain relevant and functional in an increasingly changing world.  As an example, it can be particularly difficult for POS to navigate the digital path set before us.  Nevertheless, most POS try to understand cell phones and computers, if for no other reason than to look good in the eyes of their grandchildren.  Some of us are more successful than others.       Like the previous interviews prior to Covid-19, this latest group of POS was consistent in attitude with their predecessors.  That is, they were upbeat, positive, and excited about their new significance.        Here are just three of this group's stories.   Linda Luck is married to Ray Clark.  T...

  tiny dancer...                            e. john and b. taupin   Erin Abell grew up in Campbellsville, Kentucky.  She started dancing when she was two years old when her mom put her in a local dance class for kids her age.    That was the beginning of a dance career that would last for many years and take Erin to some top-level competitions.   HUH ?   What's up with that ?    Erin is now married.  She and her husband, Joe, recently celebrated the arrival of Dean, their first born.  The three make their home in Louisville, Kentucky.   But, let's go back to the beginning.    My mom enrolled me in a local dance program that  practiced all types of dance, ballet, jazz, tap, she recalled.  I was two years old.     Apparently, you liked it because you stayed with it for over three decades.   I loved it , she confirmed.  ...

answer the call...      Ignoring someone we don't want to talk to has never been easier!    HUH ?   What's up with that ?    Back in the 50s , parents competed with television to get their teenager's attention.  Teens and adults were mesmerized by this relatively new innovation that had been first seen by the masses at the 1939 New York World's Fair.    The transistor radio was the most popular media device of the 50s and  60s  and millions of teens walked around with the first battery powered music maker in their hands.  The sound was loud enough to effectively block out any adult who tried to enter the teen's zone.     By 1979, Sony put an end to all two-way conversation between teens and parents when they introduced the Walkman with lightweight headphones.     Of course, any teen going to his or her bedroom and closing the door is an effective conversations stopper too.     But, it...

e p 3     It has become another Encore Performance for me to talk to other people to find out what keeps them interested in life after retirement and then document those findings. It doesn't get any better than compiling their stories and interviewing interesting people.   Encore Performance is   a term used by my former department chair to describe my leaving a broadcast career to begin anew as a teacher.      For most of us, it is a given that we must have outside interests to feel relevant, inspired and functional.     This is the third chapter in a series of stories about people who have put their career aside, or retired, and started their own  Encore Performance .     This time around, HUH ?  What's up with that ? talked with almost two dozen retirees and discovered most have adapted well to their new lifestyle.  All of their stories will be told in the coming weeks.     Like the previous inter...

 batter up ...   Louisville, Kentucky's Al Benninger retired as VP of Human Resources at Lincoln Income Life Insurance Company 39 years ago.    I wasn't really ready to call it quits, but we were bought out by a larger insurance company and my days were numbered , he said.     Almost four decades later, Al is still enjoying life. In that 39 year time span, he has retired two more times, each from a passion involving sports.  Al is 95 now.  But, that's just the beginning of his story.   HUH ?   What's up with that ?   After your first retirement, did you go to work somewhere else?   No, I just decided it was more time for me and my family.  Mary and I have been married 70 years.  We have one son, two granddaughters, and a two month old great grandson , he proudly exclaimed.     As an adult, you were always involved with athletics.   Yes, I have been.  I've actually had several retirements even tho...

pressing matters...    She was known as Rachel Gardner in high school.  She was smart, driven, loyal, reliable, liberal-minded,  aggressive, and frequently spoke her mind.     Rachel was a leader on Franklin Central High School's (Indianapolis, Indiana) speech team and served as program director on the high school radio station.  Her knowhow behind the camera while on the school's television school-news team was legendary and as a testament to her skillset, she would later work professionally in that field.     Rachel was involved in other school-related activities too numerous to mention, but you get the idea.     And, she was class salutatorian, barely missing the title, Class Valedictorian, by a numerical curiosity.     HUH ?   What's up with that ?            That was in 2007.  Today, Rachel Gardner is Rachel Hoffmeyer and she is Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb's press secretary. ...