Wading In

Thursday, November 29, 2012 Don’t be a Scrooge this Christmas By Kelvin Wade From page A9 | November 29, 2012 | Leave Comment We lived through another embarrassing Black Friday. Only in America would we pair a day of national thanks with a day of wanton greed, violence and commercialism. Perhaps Feb. 15 should be National Breakup Day. Dec. 30 can be National Sobriety Day. It makes as much sense. In Tallahassee, Fla., two people were at a Walmart and fought over a parking space. At a Sears in San Antonio, a man pulled a gun to discourage line jumping, while angry shoppers used their fists to beat a line jumper at a Bowling Green, Ky., Target. Several videos of a massive brawl at the Walmart in Moultrie, Ga., went viral as customers treated the big box store like a mosh pit at a speed-metal concert. The fight apparently was over cellphones. The violence was closer to home as well. A brawl erupted over a pair of panties outside Victoria’s Secret in Westfield Galleria in Roseville, while...

Thursday, November 22, 2012 This is how I do Thanksgiving By Kelvin Wade From page A13 | November 22, 2012 | 2 Comments This is a stream of consciousness about a truly great American holiday, Thanksgiving. If you can’t think of anything to be thankful for, let’s start with the fact that there’s air in your lungs and you’re not 6 feet under. Too often, especially in today’s shaky economy, we focus on what we don’t have instead of valuing what we do have. So if you go around your table this Thanksgiving, asking each person to mention something they’re thankful for and someone hesitates, smack him or her upside the head because there are lots of folks who’d love to be sitting at that dinner table in their place. I caught myself once thinking about what a hassle cooking dinner was going to be. It’s hard preparing so many dishes and having them all hot and ready at the same time. But then I had to smack myself upside the head. That’s a First World problem if there ever was one: How am I ...

Thursday, November 15, 2012 ICU clarifies what’s important By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | November 15, 2012 |  Last month, my gastroenterologist persuaded me to undergo a colonoscopy and upper GI endoscopy to try to find an answer to my anemia. He’d been trying to get to the bottom of it for weeks with various tests. I had the procedures done and felt fine the rest of the day. That night I started having chills and pain in my leg. I have a chronic incurable medical condition that makes me prone to frequent infections. If I catch them early and I have the right medications in my medicine cabinet, I can usually treat it at home. If I don’t have antibiotics or it’s a particularly severe attack, I find myself in the hospital. I’ve been hospitalized more than a half-dozen times. The next morning, a Saturday, while Cathi made breakfast, I was huddled under a blanket in my recliner. When she brought me a plate and I fell asleep rather than eat, she started to worry. She woke me, pulled ...

Thursday, November 1, 2012 Brace for the coming storm By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | November 01, 2012 | 7 Comments Many news organizations ran a photo of 72-year-old Elaine Belviso being rescued by Suffolk County police via boat from her home in New York, where Hurricane Sandy trapped her overnight. First-responders going into harm’s way to help folks is a reminder that we Americans are at our best in a crisis. More than 300 blood drives were canceled because of the hurricane so the Red Cross is urging people to donate blood. Also, to make cash donations, visit www.redcross.org, call 800-RED-CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. I have no doubt Americans will rise to the need and provide help for their fellow citizens. This week, we’ve seen the spirit of bipartisanship embodied by New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie and our Democratic President Barack Obama. Christie told NBC, “The president has been outstanding in this and so have the folks at FEM...