Sam Pollak
- Sam Pollak
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- Sunday, September 11, 2011
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Twice-told tale resonates after all these years
You know how it is when you're telling folks a fascinating story and all you see are weak little smiles, glassed-over eyes and the slow-yet-impatient nodding of heads?
- Sunday, August 21, 2011
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I only made 5 bucks a week, but the benefits were incredible
You might be surprised at how often I'm asked about how I got into this newspaper racket.
- Saturday, July 30, 2011
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Critics caught way off base by decent act
So, I find myself driving in New York City earlier this month and listening to someone getting absolutely excoriated on sports talk radio.
- Saturday, July 9, 2011
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'Smart' technology doesn't make us any smarter
So I'm on my fancy-schmancy "smart phone" the other day, talking to my older brother, Michael.
- Saturday, June 18, 2011
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Memories of a stand-alone photographer
Photographs, quite naturally, are extremely important to Daily Star Chief Photographer Julie Lewis ... but so are words, as I found out in short order 13 years ago when I became her editor.
- Saturday, May 28, 2011
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It's OK to love an imperfect USA
I've been paying pretty close attention for more years than I'd like to admit, but I'd never heard anything quite like it.
- Sunday, May 8, 2011
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He didn't become 'The President' for all of us until Obama got Osama
Some idle musings while wondering how many months _ yes, only months _ it will be before we see the first TV movie about how the Navy SEALS offed Osama bin Laden ...
- Saturday, April 16, 2011
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It's a shame that some folks aren't ashamed
The question just begs to be asked.
- Saturday, March 26, 2011
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Politicians find jokes really are on them
"Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place." _ Mark Twain Fair enough. Still, one wonders whether Twain's (his actual name, of course, being Samuel Langhorne Clemens) wife, Olivia, found all his attempts at humor so amusing.
- Saturday, March 5, 2011
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Norma wasn't always a walk in the park
Lots of local folks knew Norma Hutman a lot better than I did before she died Saturday in a house fire. But I don't think I will ever forget her.
- Saturday, February 12, 2011
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'Modern' stuff not exactly music to my ears
I think Christina Aguilera can be forgiven for forgetting some of the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" in front of a stadium full of Super Bowl fans and the largest television audience in history. I just wish she had forgotten ALL of the lyrics.
- Saturday, January 22, 2011
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Recent epiphanies on scams, thugs and errors
The men in the Pollak family live their lives by this simple philosophy. “Why stand when you can sit? Why sit when you can lie down?” As you might imagine, this sort of lifestyle governance lends itself not only to the hardening of every artery in our bodies, but to time well-spent in profound thought.
- Saturday, January 1, 2011
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Sammies celebrate the odd and the inexplicable
It's got to be terribly annoying. It's the end of the old year and the beginning of another, and you've just been inundated with preposterous Top 10 lists, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Sooooo "¦ one more won't kill ya.
- Saturday, December 11, 2010
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Obama, Jeter strike out at ingratitude
President Barack Obama and the Yankees' Derek Jeter held news conferences Tuesday that reminded me _ like so many other things seem to do in my dotage _ of an old story.
- Saturday, November 20, 2010
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Street person’s image lingers long after encounter
Weeks have gone by, and still, I can’t get her out of my mind. Because I am invited to inflict my blatherings upon WAMC’s Northeast Public Radio listeners every few weeks, I was able to wangle seats for my wife and me on the station’s bus caravan to the big Jon Stewart- Stephen Colbert rally in Washington, D.C.
- Saturday, October 30, 2010
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A 'conversation' with a couple of Democrats
We are talking today with two 30-ish Democrats named Bobby and Bobbi who voted for Barack Obama in 2008. They will not be voting Tuesday.
- Saturday, October 9, 2010
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What I'd say if asked to speak to Tea Party
My friends in the local Tea Party _ yes, I actually do have a couple _ have been urging me to attend one of the group's rallies. This, I believe, would be a splendid idea, particularly if I were given the opportunity to address the multitude.
- Saturday, September 18, 2010
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TV networks should focus on hiring for substance, not looks
There's a lot to be said for most of those talking heads you see on television these days. What can be said is that a lot of those heads are attached to sleek bodies honed to speak volumes to the male viewing public.
- Saturday, August 28, 2010
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No matter what age or condition, guys just want to play ball
It was just the other night, and it was pouring rain in Laurens. Peering out from what passes as a dugout were a dozen or so morose softball players whose amateur careers possess far more yesterdays than tomorrows. As the field began to resemble Lake Michigan, their spirits dropped as the gentle rain from heaven.
They wanted to play. - Saturday, August 7, 2010
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American history shows we are far from infallible
As is so woefully frequent in columns that incorporate any number of quotations, one is reminded of what has been (probably erroneously) attributed to the oft-quoted Dr. Samuel Johnson. "Your manuscript," the renowned 18th century author, editor and critic is said to have opined to a writer, "is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."
