By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 9, 2021 | Georgians are now learning what it means for your sports team to gain national honor, like the Braves winning a World Series. Your local newspapers are flooded with offers for you to buy memorabilia of the occasion.
Newspapers had several advertisements from The Bradford Exchange of Niles, Ill. for a replica of the World Series trophy, and commemorative watches, bracelets, and other trinkets, with the Braves’ logo somewhere on it. Recognize that these mementos were priced so your pocketbook would certainly feel it.
Not to be outdone, we soon found that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution got into the act by offering 15 different framed pages of its newspaper with recent photos of the World Series victory. They, too, were handsomely priced, from $84.50 to $144.50. We bet there’s also a shipping and handling charge. ‘Course, you could save money by framing your own newspaper page. We have a framed “It’s Atlanta” page from the Olympics time on our wall.
The new E-Scooters seem to draw fire wherever they crop up. The Jekyll Island Authority Board recently voted to prohibit the rental of E-Scooters on the island. If you already own an E-Scooter, you can use it on the island. What the Authority was banning was their rental of the scooters, citing safety and traffic management concerns on the island’s many trails.
Top wine-producing states: What is the third largest wine producing state in the nation? It might surprise you.
California, of course, tops the winemaking list, with 686 million gallons, followed by the State of Washington. Washington recently outranked Oregon, which is now fifth, after Pennsylvania.
But then the third largest producer of wine? Believe it or not, New York State? They produce a lot of wine up there, 27.9 million gallons.
Georgia ranks 27th, producing 276,144 gallons. (That level of production in Georgia somewhat surprised me.) All these figures from the source Wine of the United States as of 2020.
The author Judy Budnitz was born in Atlanta on April 24,1973. Her 1998 debut book, Flying Leap, was published when she was only 24. Budnitz’s stories have been described as “modern fables or fairy tales” in the vein of Franz Kafka. Her characters are ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances that stretch the bounds of reality. Her most recent collection is Nice Big American Baby, published in 2005.
Classical music lovers know that Ludwig Beethoven composed nine symphonies, and we like every one of them. The conductor Hans von Bülow was moved in 1877 to call the Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 “Beethoven’s Tenth” (composed in 1876) because he perceived similarities between the work and various compositions of Beethoven. We happened to hear that Brahms Symphony the other day, and yes, it sounded very much like music Beethoven would have composed. Not that I am an expert; I just love that full-orchestra classical sound. What’s your favorite classical piece or conductor?
Sports writing can, at times, be very good and descriptive, but there can be an alternative. A football player’s quote this Monday: “When you find a way to get the job done, you’re a team that finds ways to get the job done.” Why newspaperman Steve Hummer used this quote is over our head.
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