A Few Things That Got My Attention Recently

A wonderful passage from a lovely writer, Jeff Hess, and his equally lovely (caffeinated) blog:

Have Coffee Will Write is dinner-time conversation. When I was growing up in rural Southeastern Ohio we had dinner seven days a week. Not the meal, the experience. I sat down every evening with my father, brother, grandmother and grandfather at the dinning table. We ate, of course, but more importantly, we talked. I think that a great deal of how I think was shaped by those conversations. If it shows up here in my daily musings, that is a good thing. Pass the potatoes, please.

And this, from the outgoing head of the Cleveland Museum of Art, in an interview yesterday on WCPN: Quoting her counterpart from Houston, on a visit to CMA, where he marveled at the collection: "This could be Paris, this could be Rome. No, this is heaven."

And from my favorite radio jokesters, the impossibly joyous, ebullient car guys on Car Talk Saturday morning: "...our new spring break video: Mechanics Gone Wild."

And finally, as I begin going through painful withdrawal from St. Ignatius hoops until next fall, I found this passage about Iggy to be quite interesting. It's from Sun Newspapers sports reporter Jim Isabella's High School sports blog on Cleveland.com, written back in January:

TIRED OF IGGY?
During the summer months, I ran into a coach that I've known for a few years. We started talking about his sport and teams that had a shot at the state championship. Suddenly the coach became upset when I mentioned St. Ignatius was pretty good. "You know how I feel about those Catholic schools," he said, "They shouldn't compete with us public schools. Let 'em get their own league." OK, we've heard that argument more than a few times. But for this space, let's ask the big question - Why do so many people hate St. Ignatius? Why are the comments so full of malicious feeling and vile remarks toward the school? Jealousy plays into it. It is a complete school, with top flight teachers and sports programs to die for. The coaches are good teacher, even trainer Hank Gaughan is one of the best. Fans think it is all about money. No, it is all about organization. St. I's strength is it's togetherness of administration and staff. Dale Gabor is a long-time athletic director, respected to the point of being involved with the OHSAA. Chuck Kyle is an English teacher who doesn't buy into jockracy. If one is looking to understand the wildcats, then look at Pat Massey. The St. Iggy grad was on the dais Monday night at the Cleveland Touchdown Club awards banquet. Though physically an imposing looking figure, no one hesitated to talk to the big defensive lineman because of his public demeanor. I can't hate a place that produces a good guy like Pat Massey, even if he is at that school up north (Michigan for you younger kids).