Here’s a partial list of the publications Sarah Palin reads regularly: The Sand Mountain Reporter, Alexander City Outlook, Andalusia Star-News, The Anniston Star, Arab Today, Athens News Courier, Atmore Advance, Alabama Messenger, Birmingham Business Journal, Centre Cherokee County Herald, Citronelle Call News, Eufaula Tribune, Choctaw Sun, Luverne Journal, Trussville News, Wetumpka Herald, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Sacramento Bee, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Laramie Boomerang, Wyoming Livestock Roundup, Highlights for Children, Asbury Park Press, Enumclaw Courier-Herald, Wyalusing Rocket-Courier, Pocono Record, Buffalo Beast, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Miami Herald, Cincinnati Enquirer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Anchorage Daily News, Bush Blade, The Anchor Point, Capital City Weekly, Chilkat Valley News, Chugiak-Eagle River Alaska Star, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Frontiersman, Homer News, Homer Tribune, Juneau Empire, Ketchikan Daily News, Kodiak Daily Mirror, Nome Nugget, Peninsula Clarion Kenai and Petersburg Pilot.
I noticed that Matt uploaded some pix from his August trip to Maine. Every year, he goes with Jon and company to Cushing, Maine, to spend a couple of weeks with Jon’s grandparents to hang out at the shore and boil lobsters and all the other things New Englanders do for a good time. He took some lovely photos — I’ll post a couple here. It’s nice to get to swim in a lake compared to wading around in the shallow part of the icy Pacific Ocean, where it’s still not really safe.
My mother was mugged today. I should say there was an attempt to mug her but she fought back. In El friggin’ Cerrito. She spent most of her life in New York City and was never mugged – go figure. The Albany side of El Cerrito is a quiet area with nice houses but subject to criminals commuting in on BART. The BART stations here are a mixed blessing, not only because they provide easy access to all comers, but because of the paths under the tracks, which provide a sheltered area for criminals to strike at individuals enjoying a walk or trying to get someplace efficiently. Such was the case here, with my mom entering the BART path off of Fairmount, when two young men — one about 15, one about 18 — ultimately knocked her down and tried to take her bag. She screamed bloody murder and held onto the bag. One of the two ran off and the other continued with the struggle. He finally ran off, as well, when he saw she was not going to give in. She was injured by the assault, but I am very glad they did not do her grave injury. In any event, I’m sure you know what I’d like to do to the bastards. Imagine choosing to prey on productive people — let alone those most vulnerable! — rather than making an honorable life for yourself and getting a job.
My Mom working at the Flushing, NY Horn & Hardart in about 1965
We all get older – it’s a fact, and it’s scary to see hip pictures of ourselves from days gone by. Check out this shot of my mom from around 1965. This was taken at the Horn & Hardart restaurant in Flushing, where she worked as a server – though she gets mad about that term, asking what might be wrong with “waitress,” which is what she says she was. Horn & Hardart, or “H&H,” as the employees called it, started out as a chain of East Coast automats that later included sit-down restaurants, like the one in Flushing, once the automats started closing. My mom worked at the automats in Manhattan first, starting in about 1954. She was a busser, where she met fellow-busser Frank, whom she married in 1958. She moved up the ranks and spent the next couple of years filling up the coin-operated food dispensers from the back, with things like beans and franks and cup custards. Soon she started waitressing (she’d like that). Cut to the early 1960’s, when she was transferred to Flushing. I loved the Flushing store and spent time there after school, meeting all the local characters. The employees all had fun and doted on me, giving me my favorite mashed potatoes and gravy. I think my love of the restaurant business started there.