The McCollumn - 12/31: "Actions, not resolutions"

Actions, not resolutions or "Put down the cheeseburger and pick up the celery"

New Year’s is the time of year we step back and reflect on the year that has passed us by.
What do we want to change about ourselves?
What brought us sadness?
What brought us joy?
What can we do to achieve inner peace, lose that extra weight or find that perfect someone we know is waiting out there for us.
In order to answer this myriad of questions, we make resolutions for this year, plans for how we’re going to change, improve and grow as people.
These resolutions end up working about as well as the radiation safety measures at Chernobyl: designed with good intent but horrible in application.
Don’t make resolutions, dear readers. Take action.
Resolutions are vague, shadowy ideals; actions are swift, decisive solutions.
It’s all well and good to say you’ll do something in the new year, but you have to take the plan and bring it forward with action.
If you want to lose weight, join the Sportsplex and literally work that butt off.
If you want inner peace, join a church and commune and grow with fellow believers.
If you want an end to being alone, sitting around on the couch, moping and eating ice cream while watching romantic comedies isn’t going to get the job done. Go out there and meet people.
Don’t be afraid of failure. Not every action will have a positive result, but there is joy to be found even in defeat.
You pick yourself back up, brush off the dirt and keep right on trying, remembering the lessons that led to your fall.
Put down the cheeseburger and pick up the celery.
Put down the bottle and pick up the Bible.
And for God’s sake, take a chance and tell him or her how you feel about them. You never know; they just might feel the same way, too.
We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. The deaths of dear friends Zona Johnson and John Vance taught me that this year.
“Hold each moment fast, and live and love as hard as you know how. Make each moment last because the best of times is now.”
Go out and live this year, Opelika.
I know I will.

Staff Editorial: What is a community newspaper?

This editorial ran in this week's Observer and was the product of our five person Editorial Board.

We’re blessed in this area to be able to have multiple news sources at our disposal.
We live within the coverage radius of three local TV stations with news programs, so Lee County issues can and do get covered.
We also enjoy an area filled with many news publications, some weeklies like us and even a daily paper that bills itself as one of the most award-winning community newspapers in the state.
While we don’t wish to criticize or cavel with that paper’s claim to their well-deserved awards, we do take issue with one mantle they seem to claim: community newspaper.
By simply declaring yourself to be a community newspaper because of your location within a particular locale, you somewhat miss some of the tenets that make up a true community newspaper.
When you are more likely to find national news stories than local ones on the front page, perhaps the paper is not a community newspaper.
If your readership has to fight and clamor to get the paper to take notice of their story or issue, that paper might not be a true community newspaper.
If you are more likely to see photos of folks from halfway across the country instead of right here in the Opelika area, you aren’t dealing with a community newspaper.
If local news is buried deep within the paper to make room for wire service stories and advertorials, that paper might not be able to claim the title of community newspaper.
The Opelika Observer, this paper, is your community newspaper.
Within our pages, you’ll find predominantly local coverage and issues written by local writers that know and love this place.
We’re your hometown paper, owned by hometown people who want to see this community thrive and grow in the best way it can.
We’re committed to providing the best local coverage we can to you, our readers, so that you can be fully aware of what’s going on in our area.
Our paper was established because a group of Opelika citizens were concerned that local news was not being published. So that’s our reason for being. (We have, however, observed that the “other paper” has carried more community articles since we began publication.)
The only way the President of the Unites States will be on the front page of the Observer is if he comes to visit us here in Opelika. We will only focus on and cover local news and issues.
We realize we don’t have the resources and money that a paper owned by a national media conglomerate does, but we assure you that every chance we get, we will strive to provide the best coverage we can with the resources we have available.
In our paper, we’ll run pictures of your kids’ school projects and interesting activities.
In our paper, we highlight the actions and deeds of great Opelikians, people we should all admire and emulate.
In other words, Opelika, we renew our commitment with you to be your local paper, the paper that truly cares and focuses on the issues and stories about our town and area.
If you have a story idea, e-mail it in, call us, or even come by our office.
If you have a complaint, please let us know. It’s the only way we’ll know what we can do better to serve you, our readers.
Get involved and let us know what we can do to make this paper a better paper for you and the rest of our community.
The Opelika Observer enters this new year with an even firmer commitment to being the best community newspaper we can be for you.
We’re going to do everything we can, everything within our limited powers that we can do.
We just ask your help in doing it.

The McCollumn - 12/24

'Have Christmas' from Opelika's Scrooge

Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of Christmas.

Call me a Grinch, Scrooge, or whatever Christmasesque villain you like, but it’s still not my favorite holiday.

Christmas, more so than most other holidays, is one that often reminds me of who isn’t there rather than who is.

My grandmother loved Christmas. It was probably her favorite holiday, and every Christmas Eve, we’d all gather together at McCollum Cottage and celebrate together.

We’d eat a huge meal, play the occasional game of Bingo and then exchange gifts, all heading home to wait for Santa by 10 p.m. at the latest.

Since she passed away in 2007, those traditions have fallen by the wayside a bit, as they naturally do.

It’s no one’s fault and it isn’t, I suppose, a bad thing.

It isn’t good or bad. It’s just different.

This year’s Christmas morning proves to be an interesting experience as well.

Normally, McCollum family Christmas is wrapped up quickly enough to give way to our annual Christmas brunch.

Normally, we’d know to expect a visitor shortly before eating: dear and recently deceased family friend John Vance.

John won’t be coming this year. There’ll be no Tiger Transit stories or funny jokes.

He won’t be coming ever again.

Even Uncle Tank and Aunt Sherri will be out of the mix this year, as they jet off to Honduras to help bring Christmas to the children of the orphanage they visit frequently.

I should be able to pull myself out of this depressing mood.

Know that it’s not my desire to be this way.

I’m just not a person who shakes off bad moods easily.

But, I think there may be a glimmer of hope for me and any of the rest of you that might be down and out this holiday, courtesy of some words from Robbi Beauchamp.

Start a new tradition, one that reminds you of the joys of the past without reminding you greatly of the sadness caused by loss.

Make a favorite dish or dessert that your lost loved one enjoyed and use it as a part of your holiday spread.

Find some piece of clothing or item that reminds you of them and wear it, keeping a little bit of them with you at all times.

If you feel up to it, include a small remembrance of them in with your festivities, as a clear reminder of what their life and friendship meant to you.

Christmas should be and generally is a time of joy.

Even in the face of sorrow and loss, we have to find ways to cope and deal in order to survive and move forward.

We’ll miss the folks we’ve lost along the way, but if we do our best to remember them, even in the smallest of ways, they are never truly gone.

Be merry.

Be happy and healthy.

Be well.

But, most of all, be willing to remember, even if it may cause you some pain and sorrow.

I close by simply saying “Have Christmas.”

No adjectives there, dear readers.

Make of the holiday what you will. Adjectivize as you see fit.

The McCollumn - 12/17

A salute to Dr. Hannah

I was blessed throughout my time in the Opelika school system to have a number of great teachers.
Thankfully, most of them are still teaching, bringing their infectious knowledge and wisdom to a new generation of students.
Many of these educators stand out in my mind, but, truthfully, only one of them got me started on the career path I find myself slouching toward today: Dr. Charlie Hannah.
Dr. Hannah, the august senior honors English teacher at OHS, is certainly an Opelika legend at this point.
The “Hannah Paper” has become a rite of passage for Opelika seniors. Students who had him decades ago cannot only tell you their word, but what sources they used and how they attempted to tie their argument together.
Don’t believe me? Ask any former student.
Each year, the incoming seniors wait nervously for their first “Hannah” class, the class that will prepare them for college.
He’s one of the most unassuming and egoless people you’ll meet.
In a room filled with chairs, Charlie Hannah will always sit on the floor, just to make sure everyone has a seat.
He’s a peacemaker, trying to find a pragmatic way to get people to come together and work through their differences without backstabbing and in-fighting. He’s like Henry Kissenger without the frog voice and the war atrocities.
I go to him for life and career advice constantly, and he’s never turned me away.
He might have occasionally said things like “Cliff, I’m grading things. Go away,” but I seldom listen, so he lets me keep talking.
He tells me the truth, especially when I need to hear it, and his voice is usually the voice of reason that keeps me from making stupid and impetuous decisions.
He’s the sort of teacher that inspires his students to want to become teachers.
I’m in English Education largely because I want to be Charlie Hannah.
He knows this, and it’s apparently a Hannah family inside joke that I’m going to kill him to make this dream happen.
Crazy though I may be, I don’t think I could ever turn against the man who’s been my mentor and friend for almost 10 years now, even if it meant taking his job.
Cliché tells us that behind every great man is a great woman. I can state without fear of contradiction that Barbara Hannah, or Mrs. Dr. Hannah (as I like to call her), is no cliché. She’s the one who makes the trains run on time and she also makes a magical Kahlua Chocolate Pie.
When I take stock of a year that hasn’t lived up to the expectations I had for it, I take solace and comfort in knowing that good people like the Hannahs are a part of my life.
As surely as there will always be an England, Charlie Hannah will be a person I continue to seek advice and counsel from, whether he likes it or not.
Dr. Hannah, thank you for your continued help and support.
If I end up being half the teacher and person you are, I’ll consider my life one that was well-spent.
Thank you for your tutelage in the classroom and in life.
I don’t know what I’d do without you, sir.

The McCollumn - 12/10

Don't 'single' us out

The Year of Weddings.
That will always be one of the major facets of 2010.
Foggy though my mind may be at times, I shall always remember the year of the plethora of friends’ weddings.
I’ve been an usher, a reader, a groomsman and also an attendee at just the ceremony or just the reception.
I had to miss one. I regret that.
You, dear readers, were subjected to a series of wedding columns, me using my little space here as a bully pulpit.
You are kind to tolerate such things. I’m honestly amazed there weren’t letters.
Overall, the weddings themselves were a positive experience.
However, I would be remiss in not mentioning just one tiny thing to you all, a word of advice from a wedding pro such as myself.
Please don’t ask the single people at the wedding when they are going to get married.
I’m going to state that again for emphasis and drop the niceties: do not ask the single people at the wedding when they are going to get married.
I’m sure your interest in this topic is genuine and of the kindest of intents.
I do not dare question your motives, but your method is flawed.
I’ll answer your question with a smile and a dismissive joke or phrase. I have several to choose from. I’ve had ample time to come up with responses to such a question.
Know, however, that while I was giving one of these canned responses, I was trying to stop from saying what I actually wanted to say: What kind of question is this to ask someone?
It’s the de facto equivalent of saying “Aww. Look at how happy they are together. You’re alone. Why are you alone? Don’t you want to be with someone?”
Unless you’re me, you don’t get to ask those questions.
Not everyone who is single is single because they choose to be.
Some of us repeatedly get the crap kicked out of us in this department, trying in vain to scratch out the same happinesses we see in our married friends’ lives.
Maybe she’s out there. Maybe she’s not.
I don’t know.
What I do know is that being forced to think about all of this while watching the intense joy and happiness in coupledom that goes along with weddings is unkind.
So, if you would, refrain from asking the question you want to ask, even if it’s meant as a laugh or a non sequitur.
You could be doing more harm than good. In fact, I’ll say you are doing harm.
To the single readers out there, I say don’t tolerate this line of questioning any more.
Just get up and walk away.
I know I’m not the only one who feels this way on this one. I’ve talked with you and to you, and I know my cause is your cause.
Until we meet that person who will eventually lead to our own happy wedding day, we remain hopeful and vigilant.
I salute you, my single brethren and sistren.
It’s been a hell of a wedding season, and I salute your bravery.
Keep fighting through, dear friends. It gets better.

The McCollumn - 12/3/10

End the madness

I had intended this week to write about my trip to the Iron Bowl and the hilarity and fun that ensued.
Perhaps I shall next week, dated though it may be.
No, as I sat to write this column this week, it was Wednesday morning and I was checking Twitter, as I habitually do multiple times daily.
World Aids Day was Wednesday. It was amongst the sites worldwide trending topics, as thousands upon thousands of Twitter users from across the globe incorporated that phrase into their tweets.
You read through the tweets and you got statistics that give pause and break one’s heart.
430,000 children were born with HIV last year. Born with HIV. Could not help but contract the disease.
Most of these children are in Africa, and at least half of them will die before the age of two without medical intervention.
33.3 million people around the world are estimated to be living with HIV.
An estimated 2.6 million became newly infected last year.
If we are the America we are supposed to be, the great moral leader in this world, why aren’t we at the forefront on this issue?
Preventable deaths are happening every single day.
We can and we must do more.
Of course, we don’t do enough at home to help fight this disease either.
AIDS is one of the last great stigma diseases.
Have any other disease and your loved ones will flock to you to show their support.
Contract this disease and you generally become shunned and thought of as less than human.
We’ve all been inundated with safe sex rhetoric and have been taught through school to know enough not to share needles when we do our heroin.
Surely anyone who contracts the disease these days deserves it for engaging in risky behavior.
Wrong.
Dead wrong.
How they got the disease may have been a monumental mistake in their lives. I dare say it would probably rank as their life’s greatest regret.
But, having that disease does not make them less than human.
They deserve the same love and compassion we should show anyone who is facing a life- threatening disease.
We do not know each victim’s story.
We don’t know what paths took them to the place they are.
All we should know and all we should see is a person before us in need of comfort and care.
If we are the people we claim to be, we should all step up and do what’s right here.
Spend some time and volunteer with AIDS Outreach.
Write a check; their funding is always dependent upon such help.
Take some time and learn more about the disease. Awareness is a step to prevention; understanding is a step to compassion.
Write letters and e-mails to your political leaders and ask them what they’re doing to help solve this crisis.
Just do something.