Hanif on Media

News Media, New Media, Politics, Culture & Spiritual Perspectives from South Florida to Infinity.

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14th Annual Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival: Florida’s best for enjoying students — and reknown masters

January 5th · Music

 cutline here

meltonmustfa.com

This is what I call giving New Media a whole new swing: Day one, workshops during which students soak up skills from some of the greatest masters of jazz. The next evening, those high school and college jazz bands strut their stuff — capped by a swinging finale performed by the master musicians. Over the years those greats have ranged from Dr. Billy Taylor to Randy Brecker, from Patrice Rushen to the late Dr. Grover Washington, Jr.

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Missing former ace ombudsman Deborah Howell

January 4th · ONO, Organization of News Ombudsmen, Washington Post

Jeffrey Dvorkin, executive director of our international Organization of News Ombudsmen, alerted me to this Washington Post tribute to Deborah Howell. He called it “An elegant obit.” That’s well said of a tough journalist and elegant human being.

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Year later: Coastal Star/ArtsPaper holiday party

January 4th · Palm Beach Arts Paper, The Coastal Star

Mary Kate Leming, editor of The Coastal Star, sharing a chuckle with remarkable writer Ron Hayes.

Mary Kate Leming, editor of The Coastal Star, sharing a chuckle with remarkable journalist Ron Hayes.

Staffers marked a successful year for The Coastal Star, and its Palm Beach ArtsPaper insert, with Sunday’s gathering hosted by Coastal Star editor Mary Kate Leming and publisher Jerry Lower at their Ocean Ridge home. Longtime readers and friends may appreciate glimpses of my colleagues in these  photos, courtesy of Aneesha Hanif.

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Coastal Stars: The Women’s Circle rainmaking trio

January 4th · The Coastal Star

“The triumvirate,” is how an admiring colleague described them.
“They all work together so much that as far as the Women’s Circle is concerned, they’re kind of inseparable,” said fellow volunteer Mary Crawley.
That would be the Women’s Circle whose Circle of Hope dinner gala fundraiser, Feb. 8 at Benvenuto in Boynton Beach, will profit from the toil of many volunteers, not the least its co-hosting trio of Eileen Augustyn, Helen Babione and Peggy Martin.
The nonprofit organization provides educational and employment tools that let South County women break their cycle of poverty and help their families.
Board member and fundraiser Augustyn, of Gulf Stream, “puts a lot of hours into this,” said Crawley. “She’s always on the phone and doing a lot of face work. I don’t know how she has any free time to do any fun stuff.”
Though heavily invested in the Women’s Circle, Augustyn also has been a stalwart for the Bethesda Hospital Foundation and other efforts.
She served as a trustee during the not-for-profit hospital’s recent $100 million fundraising drive. The founder of the foundation’s Magnolia Society contributes countless hours each year for the Women of Grace committee. In October, in recognition of her work, she was named one of Bethesda’s Women of Grace.
Augustyn also worked closely with Caridad Ascensio in the 1990s as a board member in developing the Caridad Center health clinic for migrant farm workers and their families.
Her volunteerism dates even beyond her 1980s public service in Illinois.
“It was my parents, who by example, taught me the importance of giving voluntarily, sharing my time to help people,” Augustyn said.
Her gala co-chairs’ service is similar.
It was Babione, of Boca Raton, who introduced Augustyn to the Women’s Circle.
Martin, of Delray Dunes in Boynton, has worked with Augustyn on Caridad and Women of Grace, and for several years has co-chaired the circle’s fundraising event.
That’s significant because the Women’s Circle, founded in 1999 and co-coordinated by Sisters Joan Carusillo and Lorraine Ryan, is solely dependant on grants and donations. In September, with a $100,000 interest-free loan from the Boynton Beach CRA, it purchased a duplex that doubles the size of the current cramped space it shares. The duplex next needs renovation into offices and classrooms.
Enter the volunteering triumvirate. “I am always learning something new that enriches my life,” said Augustyn.
“And you meet the nicest people!”
Eileen Augustyn, Helen Babione and Peggy Martin were nominated to be Coastal Stars by a fellow volunteer, Mary Crawley.
For more information on the Circle of Hope fundraiser, contact 272-3965 or lcrcjam@aol.com.

(My feature article in The Coastal Star newspaper, January 2010.)

“The triumvirate,” is how an admiring colleague described them. “They all work together so much that as far as the Women’s Circle is concerned, they’re kind of inseparable,” said fellow volunteer Mary Crawley.

That would be the Women’s Circle whose Circle of Hope dinner gala fundraiser, Feb. 8 at Benvenuto in Boynton Beach, will profit from the toil of many volunteers, not the least its co-hosting trio of Eileen Augustyn, Helen Babione and Peggy Martin.

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Hear, hear…The fault, Dear America, is not in our president, but in ourselves (Steppenwolf c.1969)

December 31st · Music

watch?v=fpuyXdKx9Ws

Some of the instrumentalism and vocals are inspired. The lyrics, however, are what I found special when I stumbled upon this back in the early ’70s. The poetry never left me. And as a New Year’s resolution, the words, unfortunately, still apply. An internet search yielded this You Tube video. I agree with the poster that the song’s length (and I’ll add, its politics), help explain why it never got much play. But take 10 minutes to give a listen. And let us see whether in 2010 we can clean up our individual and collective act — and help our president better our nation, and world.

Here also is a live version:

watch?v=TosNp2EC8PA

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From the NYT: Pay to (news media) play?

December 28th · Newspapers

From the latest episode of The Business Model is Broken — and Credibility Already Was Hurtin’: “Conventional wisdom among media companies has swung hard from the belief that pay walls would only curb traffic and stifle ad revenue, to the view that media businesses need to try something new, because the current path appears to lead to extinction.”
Per this latest episode of The Business Model is Broken (and Credibility Already Was Hurtin’), it soon might cost to read online that: “Conventional wisdom among media companies has swung hard from the belief that pay walls would only curb traffic and stifle ad revenue, to the view that media businesses need to try something new, because the current path appears to lead to extinction.”

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Hear, hear…Top 10 Worst Things about the Bush Decade: Devastating analysis by Prof. Juan Cole

December 24th · George W. Bush

For those who may have missed it, at “Informed Comment.”

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Here’s comes the (Dunbar Village) judge…

December 9th · Dunbar Village

Also my apologies for that cliche on such a serious matter. When I was writing about the trials in the Dunbar Village tragedy, a lot of you were asking about the judge, Krista Marx. Here’s an excellent profile, by a good friend and one of the most erudite colleagues with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure to work, Palm Beach Post Books Editor Scott Eyman.
…Along with my apologies for that cliche on such a serious matter. When I was writing about the trials in the Dunbar Village tragedy for WAOD, a lot of you were asking about the judge. Here’s an excellent profile of Judge Krista Marx, written by not only a good friend but one of the most erudite colleagues with whom I’ve ever had the pleasure to work, Palm Beach Post Books Editor Scott Eyman.

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Shades of the old Suncoast Chamber of Commerce: Black Chamber of PBC’s 1st Ascension Awards

December 4th · African-American

DSCN0203

Great job today by the Black Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County in hosting their 1st Ascension Awards. I’m sure I wasn’t the only attendee for whom the awards luncheon brought back memories of the banquets hosted well over a decade ago by the previous Suncoast Chamber of Commerce.

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AP: Don’t bet newspapers get rich siding with Microsoft, shunning Google

December 1st · Newspapers

The news journalism struggle continues: “There’s an intriguing idea floating around the media: Microsoft Corp. wants to undercut Google so badly in Internet search that it might pay newspapers to withhold their content from Google. Just don’t count on that turning into a lucrative plan for newspapers.”

— By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press Technology Writer, in The Seattle Times.

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