When Black is Good
For the past couple of weeks, the media and retailers have been promoting "Black Friday." This is the day after Thanksgiving when stores supposedly slash their prices to give customers great deals leading into Christmas.What I find interesting is that the word "black" is used. Now I understand black is used to indicate financial profits while red reflects financial losses but how many people know that "Black Friday" started out as a negative?Originally, September 24, 1869 was deemed Black Friday; a day of stock market catastrophe. In the 1960's, the Philadelphia Police Dept. used the term "Black Friday" to refer to the massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewal

School Fundraising Project Comes Under Fire
A donation of $20 could raise a student's grade at one North Carolina Middle Schhol. It was supposed to be a fundraiser to help the school generate some much needed money for supplies:Rosewood Middle School price list♦A $20 donation buys 10-point credits to be used on two tests of the student's choice.♦A $30 donation buys the test points and admission to a 5th-period dance.♦A $60 donation buys students test points, the dance invitation, and a "special 30-minute lunch period with pizza, drink and the choice to invite one friend to join them."♦Photo ops with Rosewood principal Susie Shepherd, the vice principal, and a home r

Sad Ending to the Shaniya Davis Story
I, like many others in North Carolina, am shocked, saddened and even outraged over the death of little Shaniya Davis. This is the five-year-old who was being used as a sex slave by her mother, 25-year-old Antoinette Davis. Shaniya's body was discovered Monday in a rural area---several days after her mother reported her missing from their mobile home. Here's the timeline according to Fayetteville Police:Davis called police at 6:53 a.m. one week ago today to report that her daughter was missing.Davis told police the last time she saw the child was at 5:30 a.m. inside their mobile home.At 6:11 a.m. that day, a surveillance camera at a Sanford h

Your First Job
Viewers of WFAA-TV in Dallas got a real treat today when they got to see the Queen of Daytime TV on their TV screen. Instead of doing her daily show, Oprah co-anchored the 5pm news. This was all a part of her "Celebrities Go Back to their First Jobs" segment.Actually, being a TV anchor wasn't Oprah's first job. According to her website,her first job was really in Nashville where she worked at the corner grocery store next to her father's barber shop. I guess the grocery store isn't there anymore.It got me to thinking about my very first job. It was for a marketing company who sent out advertising ma

The Road Map of Life for College Students
Ever since my daughter was little, I always wanted her to see the best that America has to offer. That's why we traveled a lot. As a baby boomer mom and journalist who's been there and done that, I figured if she is going to be one of the future leaders of our great nation, it would be in her best interest to learn more than what she reads in a text book. Even now that she's in college I tell her not keep herself couped up in her dorm room--get out and explore the new town she's living in. It's not only an adventure, but you never know when you just might have an emergency that will call for you to respond and react in a hurry.Case in point: A few weeks back whe