Lessenberry Ink

Last year, I finished a book called Reason vs Racism, which is a look at how one newspaper family covered race and race relations in cities all across the country from 1900 to 2018, and also on how they integrated their own staffs.  They still own newspapers in Pittsburgh and Toledo and broadcast properties in other states. It is scheduled to be available soon.  Last week, however, the wife of the current CEO of that company, Block. Communications, Inc., posted something on Facebook saying she would never accept the results of the election, and most dismayingly, calling the Vice-President-elect a whore. While she has nothing to do with the management of the company, this is beyond horrible and there aren’t words strong enough to condemn it. Obviously, it casts a shadow over my book, which, while written in I hope is a compelling style, will...

I was mesmerized by a death notice my eyes fell on in the Detroit Free Press. Jean Marie O’Brien had lived a life out of the media spotlight for 101 years, till COVID-19 came.           Then, she caught the virus in a nursing home in Livonia, and seven of her eight surviving children drove from states across the country, from as far as Seattle and New York, to be with their Mom.  The Washington Post noticed, as did several TV stations.           She hung in there and beat the virus -- but it took its toll, and on June 26, she finally died.  The media was struck by her family’s devotion – but they missed the story of this incredible woman’s life.           Not only did she die during one pandemic – she was born in Pittsburgh during...