We’ve posted here before about our pal Kevin, who is Special Assistant to the General Manager for the World Series Champion Houston Astros. (Can I drop names, or what?)

Shedd Aquarium staff were on hand to explain why plastic straws are a threat to marine life.

Well, though he was on the road scouting and unable to attend the game himself, he was generous enough to offer me and Beth seats to yesterday’s White Sox-Astros game. And, it was sunny. And not cold.

There was bratwurst for Beth and me. And beer. For others, there was soda. And popcorn, peanuts, ice cream, polish sausage, nachos, Italian beef…well, any ballpark food you’d want.

But not drinking straws.

Sunday was Earth Day, and the White Sox and Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium (just the best place, get there if you’re from out of town and are visiting) used the occasion to promote a program called Shedd the Straw, whereby participating organizations, including the Chicago White Sox, will not hand out drinking straws unless a customer requests one.

May not sound like a big deal, but it is. Shedd had exhibits in two locations to let people know just how big a deal plastic straws are when it comes to our oceans and waterways. Plastic drinking straws do not decompose and they are virtually impossible to recycle. That means that every plastic straw ever made is still on earth. Or worse, in oceans, lakes, and rivers. And they kill aquatic creatures.

Thanks to Kevin, we had some sweet seats. We bought our own brats.

I’ve never been fond of them, regardless of their environmental impact. Maybe for a milk shake, but that’s about it.

When Beth was invited to sit on a panel at the Shedd about accessibility issues, she learned how dedicated the Shedd is to both the environment and to people with disabilities. Turns out a few people who’d attended Jazzin’ at the Shedd (during the summer the Shedd opens its deck for patrons to enjoy live jazz) had disabilities that required them to use a straw to drink, and the Shedd was happy to provide them. of the curve.

You can’t find a plastic straw at the Shedd. They do have paper ones  on hand and offer those to the anyone who needs one.

But, if you can, I recommend getting crazy—go strawless.

Hello from Champaign, Illinois! Whitney and I are doing our annual presentation for an animal sciences class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign today, but this time, we’re adding a special video. From an email I sent to the teacher:

Mike put a Hero GoPro (is that what they’re called?) on Whitney to videotape her leading me around our urban neighborhood for a few blocks. He added written captions to explain to viewers where we’re at — in the end, it’s a city walk from a Seeing Eye dog’s point of view. Just dawned on me that maybe, just maybe you’d think this video Mike took of Whit and me working the streets of Chicago together might be good for your students to see? The link is here, you could edit it or just show a minute of it during our presentation if you think the kids would find it interesting:
http://bethfinke.com/blog/2018/01/01/mondays-mike-walk-mile-paws/

Whitney has been guiding me for six years now, and I think the video might show how confident and comfortable she seems with her work. After that I’ll go over some of the qualifications necessary to become a guide dog instructor and take some questions. The hour will be up before we know it!

Beth’s been listening to a book called “The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism.” Which means, because I’m interested in the subject, I’ve been listening to it, too. And it’s been enlightening, heartening, and disheartening all at once. Not to mention, entertaining.

Worth the read.

I’ve always understood Edward R. Murrow as a broadcast journalism legend, but what I knew of him had mostly to do with his “See It Now” television news program. I somehow remained ignorant of “Murrow’s boys,” a team of news people who more or less created broadcast journalism with their coverage of the lead up and conduct of World War II. (A shout out is owed here. We wrote about visiting our friends Henry and Benita Black during a snow storm in New York City. It was during our lovely time together that Dr. Black, an avid history buff, recommended the book.)

“The Murrow Boys” is rife with names of broadcast news names I grew up with—Eric Sevareid and Howard K. Smith to name two. But more than that, these people all lived like “The Most Interesting Man in the World” of Dos Equus fame. Jumping out of planes just before they crash, evading cannibals (yes, really), surviving the London Blitz, more jumping out of planes. Waiting on a raft in the English Channel amongst U.S. forces and on land with British soldiers, waiting for D-Day to commence. At one point Eric Sevareid, who had been stationed in Paris (before Nazi occupation) was called to London on assignment. This, while his wife was on bed rest in the hospital waiting to deliver twins. While Sevareid was in London, his children were born. Shortly thereafter, the Nazis arrived. The hospital his wife and children were in lost power.

Sevareid managed to return to Paris and make his way down dark hospital hallways, until he found his wife holding their newborns, crying.

The bravery of the journalists, as well as their perspective in understanding that their plight was not nearly as arduous as the fighting forces they covered, was inspiring. As was the quality of their broadcasts. They grew up in print and knew how to write. And their dispatches were brilliant and gripping. Heartbreakingly, some of their best work was never heard because of how nascent the technology was.

All at a time when broadcast was treated as inherently inferior to conventional print journalism. And when the technology was new. Threatening. Unsettling.

Which reminded me once again of my favorite college class of all time. “The History of Communications” taught me that pretty much every communications technology advance has been treated as threatening—to order, to culture, to society. The printing press. Telegraph. The telephone was treated by many as a threat—a Boston newspaper lamented “the awful and irresponsible power it will give to the average mother-in-law who will be able to send her voice around the habitual world.”

Whew. There’s too much in that one to unpack. But, it does sound familiar, doesn’t it? Remember when we wrung our hands over the World Wide Web? That was quaint. Now it’s social media.

And I’m reminded that as tumultuous as these times are, it’s become clearer and clearer with age that really, the times that are not tumultuous are the exception. That we never get there, wherever “there” is or how you define it. And that, in a real way, we humans are in a constant struggle to understand what’s good and to make sure it wins.

The technology doesn’t matter. The character—the good faith, courage, and values of the people who use the technology—does. Same as it ever was.