Comment Archives: Stories
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Results (Final 2 Revealed!)”
Absolutely! Angie is amazing and will soar even without this win. The final two i'm happy with and i hope they either which one has the spunk to continue in their career if they are not chosen.
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Results (Final 2 Revealed!)”
I disagree. I never liked Angie, because she doesn't seem genuine. This was touched on in the article, so interesting to also say Angie was the one the show wanted to win. That is ridiculous. Kree is the person I want to win and I suspect millions of others do to. She is genuine and a great singer. I'm not even a country fan and I love the girl! I hope Kree wins this thing, but even if she doesn't she will be a huge star. I am sure Candice will do well, but even with a win I think Kree will outshine her long term.
Re: “"RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 5 Reunion: The winner revealed!”
My faith in Ru is once again supported. Sharon Needles last year, Jinkx Monsoon this year. Ru know what best. The final decision is her's and she makes the right choice every time!!
Re: “Owners of Craft Company No. 6 speak out against University Ave. project”
This is a journalism ethics two-fer.
First, City is so interested in carrying water for GEH that they publish this form letter as original content from the Craft Co.
Second, unlike other letters to the editor in City, they put this opinion piece in the news section.
Coupled with the non-disclosure of contributions to GEH, as well as the non-disclosure that the Towlers own rental property in the neighborhood, one wonders if there are any ethical standards at City, other than whatever the Towlers feel is right, is right.
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Top 3 Perform”
My BF and I both wanted Amber Holcomb to win the entire show because she truly is the WHOLE idol package...pretty face, long legs that go on for days, and a Whitney Houston voice!! So, now that our favorite's gone, :-( we would be happiest if either Candice or Kree leaves as our next "American Idol!" We are way more connected (especially emotionally) with those two. Both home visit videos were SO touching; especially Kree's (what a tear jerker :-( and very sweet and genuine. Angie, throughout the competition, has come off a bit cheesy, over dramatic, and fake to us. She is an amazing vocalist, no doubt, but the connection is just not there. GO Candice and Kree!! They're in it to WIN it!!!! :-) p.s. Judges SUCK this year bigtime! It was the BEST with Steven Tyler and my celebrity girl crush, (lol) hot and sexy J Lo...please bring 'em back!!
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest”
-Thomas Paine
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Top 3 Perform”
I am really ready for this to all come to an end. I loved the home videos for Candice and Kree. They seemed so genuine and heartfelt and they didn't have to say how much they lvoed their home as it was obvious. I just dont; quite buy Angie and all the joyful clapping and references to "Boston Strong".
The songs. Far too many bad choices. I actually liked Angie this week for the first time ever as she was singing more so than shrieking and then she pulled out the piano. Now I do agree that she looks very comfortable on it and is an unsual formula for a woman etc but I truly find her just screeching and no musicality to it. She does look like Miley Cyrus before she got her gorgeous new do.
Kree...not good song choices at all but her voice generally sounded good. And. Her. Story. (sob) Love her in so many ways and I can see her getting lots of votes.
Candice: Absolutely phenomenal. Her voice, her background, her sincerity, her attitude. Loved tough old Nikki getting all worked up talking about her Candice is an inspiration as a woman.
I have no idea how this is going to play out. I am rooting for Candice.
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
I think steve has had the most accurate and nuanced view of this issue, so far.
Some of the earlier commenters who have decried teenage parenting also have some reasonable points, even if the hyperbole is occasionally masking their points.
The problem we're looking at here is a cyclical, self-perpetuating one that isn't "caused" by race, but has a strong racial component due to historical factors.
Poor, impoverished, barely literate high-school dropouts are more likely to raise the same, no matter what color their skin is. When people of this type are concentrated due to housing costs and/or inability to take advantage of opportunities due to ignorance or ignorance-based fear, they become a visible class, and if there's some way to distinguish them physically, that "reason" will be blamed as the cause.
It is absolutely true that people throughout history have raised themselves up by their bootstraps. It is equally true that those people are exceptional, and not the rule. (i.e. it's possible, but not probable.) Education is the most democratic method of helping the lower class rise from poverty, but education also requires certain skills and habits that may not be well-supported at home.
But... at the root of the issue is that even when someone gets an education, they need a job to be able to take advantage of that education. There is a decided lack of jobs available in the Rochester area for people who have graduated high school, but not been able to go to college. To wit: there is no reason for many young people to put forth the effort to get a diploma, when there's nothing to do with that diploma. Many of the service industry jobs they can get, they can get with a GED or less.
Rochester needs more lower-tech industrial-level jobs where people with only a high school diploma can make a living wage. As much as I, as an educator, want everyone to get the best and most education possible, I recognize that not everyone is college material. Those people deserve to be able to make a living as well. It should not require stitching together 3 jobs' worth of income to be able to make ends meet.
How do we get those lower tech, higher paying jobs (higher than Wegmans or Wal-mart, anyway) here? That's an answer I don't have.
Re: “Hemlock-Canadice plan not clear enough on drilling”
Over a century ago, in its wisdom and foresight the City of Rochester cleared the shorelines of Canadice and Hemlock Lakes to ensure a pristine and untainted source of drinking water for its residents. That tradition must now be defended to protect these lakes from unscrupulous exploitation by carpetbagger hydrofrackers that would use these lakes for their private sewer. Remember Love Canal? It is still leaching toxins into our Niagara River and Lake Ontario ‘drinking water’.
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
A mixture of racism and good ideas in these comments so far. I consider the issue one of economics as much as race. Someone like Obama or Janet Lomax or Bill Johnson or Wade Norwood or Adam McFadden are all college-educated, upper middle-class and upper-class professionals. With higher education comes access to professional jobs, which provide a higher level of income. A white student in a poor school district (Gates, Chili, Albion) without college-educated parents is more likely to work in a low-wage, low-skilled job than an African-American who goes to SOTA who's parents are a lawyer and a college professor. Why? Because the SOTA student has been raised in a culture of education and affluency, with clear role models to emulate. Institutional racism plays a role but not as much as certain activists and nay-sayers would like. Until we create easy access, high-paying jobs and give kids (white and black) good role models, this cycle will continue unabated and everyone will continue complaining unabated.
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
@Justice: LOL. Far from "ignoring the problem," we've dumped trillions upon trillions of taxpayer dollars into all kinds of schemes we were promised would eradicate the problem. We spend more now than in the Golden Age of the so-called War on Poverty. So enough already about taxpayer money. And nobody's placing "all the blame" on illegitimate parents. But moral revival is a necessary, even if not sufficient, part of the solution, and one that the original article ignored.
@MJN: You're darn right, we object to government schools — the same ones that produce the abysmal results this article describes — diverting scarce time and resources to ideological campaigns promoting sexual filth and immorality. But that's neither here nor there. Places where such policies have been in place for years have essentially the same or higher rates of illegitimacy.
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Top 3 Perform”
This article picked up on something about Angie that I have been noticing for a while. I think she is talented, but the video they showed of Angie illustrated it all the more. I found Candice's and Kree's home coming videos somewhat touching, but I sendsed a certain non-genuine nature of Angie's video. It seemed borderline forced. Something you might see from a beauty pageant contestant who is doing a mandatory video, while knowing full well that Kree's video was going to be really touching.
If I had to go with the final 2 solely on performances tonight, I would say it would be Candice and Angie. If I was going on who seemed genuine in the video packages, it would be Candice and Kree.
Lastly, it must be said that I was absolutely loving how emotional Nicki got following seeing the videos of Candice and Kree. Candice and Kree's videos were touching, but Nicki's emotional response to those videos really amplified the genuine nature of their videos. The same can be said of Keith's reaction there for a minute as well.
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Top 3 Perform”
Agree. Candice should be in the final. Her voice is like honey. Flawless.
Re: “The Hemlock-Canadice balancing act”
Another odd statement from an elected official. OK, so it is nice Mayor Richards beleive no fracking should take place in the Hemlock-Canadice State Forest, but what is up with the idea that high levels of protection could interfere with with routine maintenance?
I just do not trust Mayor Richards or anyone else who wants to leave some loose ends in the management plan to allow for maintenance. It sounds to me many people want some doors (loopholes) left open for something (development??) to happen in the future.
Everyone who attended the Springwater public meeting was fully aware of the need for maintencance and things like erosion protection, but all this can be put in writing....JUST PUT IT IN WRITING right along side all the very clear and specific protections the public is demanding. It is really simple, but pliticians do not like simple.
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
The findings in this article are nothing new. However, I want to express an opinion about the continuous misinterpretation of statistical data as representing the cause of the problem at hand - poverty. I quote the superintendant of the city school district that states:
"African American students are not meeting any of the state standards in the areas of English, math, science or social studies." Neither, in fact, are Hispanic children. Only white children are.
this gap in academic achievement is strongly associated with race, ethnicity, social-economic background, and family and neighborhood stability," which are having a major, negative effect on children's achievement in school.
In statistical analysis - correlation of variables does not prove causation. In other words, just because there are a number of factors that are all associated with a certain outcome - poverty or poor academic performance, does not imply that the outcome is caused by all of those factors. So, for those that look at the implications that this is a racial or ethnicity driven problem, may be wrong. All of the factors indicated - "race, ethnicity, social-economic background, and family and neighborhood stability" are (I suspect) correlated with each other. They don't all help explain the cause.
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
Why do I suspect that those who are crying the loudest about the problem of out-of-wedlock children and the number of young parents who are unable to support children of their own are also the ones who were first in line to whine that the city schools’ plan to address the problem in part by handing out condoms was immoral and would only promote sexual congress and excess?
Re: “Blacks, poverty, and the future of Rochester”
Putting all the blame on blacks and Hispanics for immorality and the continuing cycle of poverty rather than on our society for ignoring the problem while wasting our money to address theproblem on corporate welfare, senseless wars of choice, and tax breaks for the wealthy is both racist and classist.
Re: “Wages only part of 'frackonomics' picture”
Oh, okay. The point is that it's a big economic boost in regions that need it, and the only reasons to procrastinate any longer are superstition, hysteria, and mindless ideology.
Re: “School board and Vargas have last-minute budget fight”
The situation that happened at last night's meeting is why I call for a budget that outlines EVERY DOLLAR SPENT BY RCSD. I call for a community effort that will help develop and manager the districts budget. It's not enough for the Board members to question it now (especially in the heat of a democratic endorsement process). These questions should have been raised and reviewed all along with the help of a Community Budget Review Committee; a year-round effort by Board, community members and RCSD staff to find the best programs and best budget possible to give our children the best chance at a quality education in Rochester.
It's implausible that data is not available- it is there but you have not looked at it or recorded it because the Board has never before pressed for you to actually account for the money that is spent. "Small" contracts (under $35K) that are unregulated, and go unaccounted for, yet continue to take dollars away from the classrooms are unnecessary. How can we continue to allow money to be spent money without Board approval, yet there are cuts to programs that are deemed important like summer reading. (Center for Youth budget was slashed over $750K in the proposed budget- yet will still work without the district's support to help prevent "summer slide".)
Our Board members talk about not having "three to four years to turn the corner"... we have given you over 12 years Ms. Powell, and suddenly you're unsatisfied now?! I don't have one more MINUTE to see another dollar wasted on failing students, and failing programs.
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Results (Final 2 Revealed!)”
I'm thrilled. I think Candice & Kree were the strongest. (Other than my beloved Amber .....but that wasn't to be). I would be happy if either won.
Judges: I was surprised by them this year and liked them much more than I was expecting to. I think generally they were honest and offered good coaching advice.