Baltimore Raven’s win Superbowl 47: Honest observations by a Baby Boomer Lady

Baltimore Ravens (Photo credit: Keith Allison)

 

In the pre-game show Jennifer Hudson is singing with children from Sandy Hook Elementary.These are kids who lost their classmates because of violence. At least nobody is shooting semi-automatic weapons on the field. But would it really surprise anyone? Alicia Keys does her own slow version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” I liked it, but a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook were critical.

 

I occasionally watch Ohio State football games. These pro guys are like animals. They are faster, stronger, and bigger. It is faster to watch. Why do all take this game so seriously? I am not invested in this game because I don’t have many feelings about the teams. I’m interested in this game because both coaches are brothers. They look-alike too. Can you imagine the rivalry between them?

 

I feel conflicted about the Baltimore Ravens. I’m originally from Cleveland, and the old “Cleveland Browns” were sold by Art Model years ago to Baltimore. A lot of fans were really angry. At the point I’m writing this, it looks like the Ravens are going to win. After seeing them tackle each other, no wonder they all get concussions.

 

I’m liking the commercials. I usually just DVR favorite shows, and don’t watch commercials. Physical fighting between the teams. San Francisco quarterback intercepted. Raven got first down. You can almost hear them saying,” fight, fight, fight.” Ravens are smoking the 49’s. The whole thing is making me feel nervous, and I don’t care about the football game. Maybe violence makes me nervous.

 

I should’ve auditioned for the Taco Bell commercial about old people escaping from the nursing home. Bad taste!

 

Twenty- one to six at halftime. Ravens are smoking hot!

 

Half-time show

 

Why does Beyonce wear hardly any clothes. but, she has a terrific act. Is she supposed to look like a hooker? We’ve come a long way baby? At least she looks curvy. And all the girls with her are curvy too? And also looking like hookers! I feel the generation gap. I’m wondering if that was” Destiny’s Child” joining her.

 

Second Half

 

At the beginning of the second half the Baltimore Ravens make a touchdown right off the bat. It’s starting to get boring. Not boring now! Power goes off in the stadium. I’m thinking, something is going to happen that’s disastrous. So what do you think? Maybe they better do a prayer service. I’m sure the higher power, whoever or whatever it is, really cares about the outcome. The power goes back on one-half hour later Now San Francisco is only one score below in 2 minutes. I guess they needed a rest to get their act together. Is that fair?

 

Fumble by the Ravens, and recovered by the 49’s. Now the 49’s are smoking hot! Seventeen points in a four-minute 17 second stretch. Now the Baltimore Ravens are running a lot. Getting knocked down. Ouch! Pierce is leaving the field. That hurt! Now it’s getting excited. I am rooting for SF. They are cooler! And I like their uniforms better. As soon as I do, the Ravens gain momentum. Am I responsible for this?

 

Inside the two yard line, no goal. Field goal coming instead of a touchdown. They’ve got it! It’s still anyone’s game? This is the longest football game in history. (Not faster, as I originally thought when I started this post! )

 

Waiting for the end already 12 minutes and 22 seconds left! San Francisco! Touchdown! They tried a 2 point conversion, to tie the game. Failed! Baltimore Ravens get a field goal! Up by 5. San Francisco has the momentum at the two-minute warning! Time out. Lost a chance to get a touchdown. Ravens kept them away! Only 1 minute and 42 seconds left

 

 It’s finally over!! Baltimore Ravens 34-31

 

Related articles

• Ravens lead 49ers 21-6 at halftime of Super Bowl (cnsnews.com)
• Halftime: Baltimore Ravens 21, San Francisco 49ers 6 (breitbart.com)

 

Enough is Enough: Shooting in Newtown Connecticut: We should ALL take responsibility for this!

A shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and the TV commentators are asking why? Maybe he might have to do with accessibility to guns and the media? This is not something that’s hard to figure out. Please!

I am tired of all these fools saying we don’t need to restrict guns. They say things like:

1.If they didn’t have a gun, they’d use a knife.
2, If they didn’t have a gun, they use a bomb.
3. If you don’t have a gun, you can’t shoot the shooter.
4, You can’t take guns away from people. It’s their right to shoot each other.
5. You can’t control crazy people, they’re going to do it anyway!  Where there’s a will there’s a way.

 

Example of a color glitch from the video game Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am tired of people not doing anything about all the violence in the media

Have you ever watched  a video game? Guns and shooting. And they are becoming  more and more realistic. I saw some people playing these games,  and I was absolutely shocked on how gruesome, dark, and realistic it was.

Have you seen the junk on TV?

Have you watched the news? The news that is on 24/7?  We sit and watch violence for entertainment.

If they didn’t have easy access to guns, they wouldn’t do this!  If you have a gun available you’re more likely to use it! That’s a fact.

In England, this kind of thing doesn’t go on. Why? There’s gun control in England? Don’t you think they also have crazy people there?

I have been hearing about gun control since JFK was assassinated. When is this ever going to end?

 

Your comments?

 

Related articles

• Horror In Connecticut (badassdigest.com)
• Newtown shootings: if not now, when is the time to talk about gun control? | Gary Younge (guardian.co.uk)

Intervention: The TV Show: A Review

If you think you’re family is bad, watch the TV show “Intervention.”  It has to make you feel better about yourself and your family. Unless, of course, you have terrible parents, and because of them, you are a hopeless drug addict.

Tonight I watched an episode about “Meghan.” When the show opens, she is walking around in jail in a yellow  jump suit. Her straggly hair is pulled back in a wild hairstyle and she looks pathetic.

Why is she in jail?  It’s because this sweet looking 24-year old girl with manacles around her feet, and hands is a heroin addict.

The person who put her in jail is a family friend who she calls “Aunt” Jan. You can’t really blame “Aunt” Jan because Megan stole her jewelry worth $5,000.00. “Aunt”Jan, who is about as warm and cuddly as a Mac truck wants to teach Meghan a lesson.

Meghan’s been arrested 24 times in the last few years for stealing and drugs. You know she’s gotten on her friend’s and family’s  “Most Wanted  List.” Apparently, she’s not as innocent as she looks.

The judge decides to give her one more chance and suspends her sentence. (As long as she stays away from drugs.)  It takes Meghan about 2 days to meet up with her drug dealer. She talks about how excited she is about her “fresh veins” because she’s been in jail for a while.  She sounds like she’s auditioning for “The Twilight” series.

The most compelling part of “Intervention” is when they give each drug addict’s biography. We learn how Meghan went from a sweet little baby to a pathetic drug addict. Meghan’s mother was a good mom until Meghan was about 13. She got angry because her husband was working all the time, and made her raise 3 kids on her own.  In order to get even with him, she left home, and she left her kids with her unfeeling creepy husband .

“Aunt” Jan stepped into help. (We don’t find out why or where she came from.)  Meghan’s mom  figured it was time for her to “get a life.”That’s bad enough, but what comes next is even worse.

Meghan’s mom finally finds the man of her dreams, and comes back to town. Meghan starts visiting her and her boyfriend. By this time, she’s 15.  Her boyfriend gets very cozy with Megan. As a matter of fact, he rapes her, then has a sexual relationship with her for 4 or 5 months. Meghan’s mom finds out, decides it’s  all Meghan’s fault,  and skips town with her boyfriend.  (What a mom!)

Megan decides to cope, the good old American way. She gets into drugs, and eventually becomes a heroin addict.

So what does Megan’s Dad do? Nothing. He doesn’t even talk about it with Meghan. (What a dad!)

The Intervention
Finally, we have “The Intervention” All these self-involved people apologize to Meghan for being so mean to her. They tell her they love her, and want her to get help. Of course, the Interventionist had to tell them to say this. They are about as loving as sticks of furniture. (Except for one of Meghan’s brothers who seems really concerned, and puts his arm around her while they are all “acting”  human).

Meghan’s father blames his parents for his creepiness. He  says “ they weren’t very emotional.”  Meghan’s mother apologizes, but it doesn’t seem genuine. She still  seems irritated at her daughter for ruining her love life.

Meghan agrees to go to treatment. What other choice does she really have? Jail or a Rehab Center? ( I doubt that her parent’s professing their love to her made much of an impression.)
.
Poor Meghan only lasts in treatment for 9 days, goes home, moves in with her charming mother,  and gets in a methadone program. Now she is addicted to methadone instead of heroin.  At least it’s legal. .

I would think this is all made up except I worked  part-time in a drug and alcohol facility for several years. I know it’s real.

There really are misguided people out there who mess up their kids. Some people do get involved with the wrong crowd and it’s totally their fault. But I heard a lot of stories about unusual caregivers.  I’m convinced bad parenting can result in drug and alcohol addiction.

If you’re immature and selfish, or are a drug or alcohol addict, do everyone a favor. Use birth control and don’t have kids.

Does this show exploit people or help them?  If somehow it reaches out to others, it’s not a total loss. It might also show a person, who is fooling themselves about their addiction,  how pathetic  they look to others.

Has this show helped you or anyone you know?

What do you think?  Do these shows have any value at all? Are they dragging down society instead of lifting it up?

Related articles

• How a drug-testing mom talks to her kids about addiction (portraitsofaddiction.com)
• Risk Factors for Drug Addiction and Alcoholism (everydayhealth.com)

Sometimes, Knowing I’m Just an Animal Creeps Me Out! How about you?

The Shaggy Dog (2006 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I sat in a restaurant happily chowing down on my tuna melt, I looked around. Everyone else in the restaurant was also chomping down on their food. Some were doing it more politely than others.  When you think about it, it’s really disgusting. We’re all put together the same way, need food to eat and that’s how we get energy. It goes through our digestive system the same way; and you know how that ends up.  Just like the other animals. Of course, we have a more sophisticated way of doing away with our waste.

Women get pregnant and have babies just like elephants, dogs, cats, cows, horses, and other mammals. Horses seem farther ahead. When they have a foal, it stands right up. No waiting for a year to a year-and-a-half.

Human beings are born with bigger heads. Their body has to catch up with their heads. That’s really weird. It’s like we’re the space aliens, when you think about it.

Sometimes, when I realize we are all just animals, I get creeped out. I know some of you may say, we’re spiritual, and that’s how we’re different. I say, ” how do you know animals don’t have their own way of being spiritual?” Maybe we’re not smart enough to see it.

They have families, just like us

Animals even form family groups, just like us. When we had birds, it was interesting to notice that both the mother and father bird were very attentive to the babies until they pushed them out on the perch. After they did that, they acted like they didn’t know them at all.

When I went whale watching in New England, it was interesting to learn that they form very strong family groups. They follow each other across the ocean. There’s real loyalty in that group, just like human beings.

The chimp family at The Columbus  Ohio Zoo has an established family group: mother, father, kids, grandparents and great grandparents. When one of the babies was sick and taken away, the grandma and mother were obviously depressed. They just laid around until the baby returned to the family group.

Watching little kids is like watching puppies or little monkeys. They play just like other animals. They like to explore and touch each other and innocently destroy anything in their path. Any eighteen-month kid will stick about anything in their mouth. Once they learn to walk, they are like little puppies that need to go to Obedience school.  It’s a good thing our little kids smile disarmingly at us; otherwise, we might throw up our hands and walk away.

Go to the zoo and watch the chimps. Better yet, watch the human animals watching the chimps. And why do we like to watch other animals in the first place? I get creeped out when I think about our DNA being 99% like the great apes. When you look into those zoo ape’s eyes, from a distance, they do look almost human.

What’s really strange is that human beings keep other animals for pets. They like the love they get from the creature. It’s less complicated than a human relationship. (Unfortunately, this human being sneezes their brains out and breaks out in hives from cats, dogs, etc;, or I’m sure I’d have one too.)

In the Animal Kingdom they destroy each other, just like us

Just watch the animal kingdom on TV. They are always going after each other, and protecting their territories. They tear each other to ribbons, just like human beings.

How are human beings different? They’re smart enough to have discovered weapons that will destroy the whole human race. That, terrifies me. So, I try not to think about it. We also fade away, just like other animals. The older I get, the more I really try not to think about that.

Movies about people turning into animals still scares me

When I was a little kid, my family went to the movie theater to watch the original Disney movie, “The Shaggy Dog.” It’s about a kid turning into a giant shaggy dog. Everyone else was enjoying the film and laughing. I burst out in very loud sobs, and my parents had to take me home.

A classic 1941 werewolf movie, “The Wolf Man,” that  I caught on TV at age 8, scared me to death for at least 2 years. If I see that movie is playing on TV, I won’t put it on. Even though it’s only a movie, I don’t want to revisit it.

Am I the only one that gets creeped out at the idea that we’re only animals?

What creeps you out? Care to share?

Related articles

• My big fat BIG dream (iamjustabee.wordpress.com)
• Pamela Chiesi Animal Rights Activist Now Proposes to Treat All Animals the Same as Humans (prweb.com)
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (mrmovietimes.com)

911: Should they stop reading all the names every year?

911 was very frightening to me.   I was teaching in a school, and the parents, teachers and kids were petrified. They let the kids watch what was going on all day, and I didn’t think that was necessary. I figured it would scare them even more.

People were rushing to the school to take their kids home. A lot of the people in the district were in the armed services, and this effected them even more.

I seriously was not sure about The World Trade Center. I did know that someone else had bombed it. I had no idea about how many people worked there. Two of my children had toured the place earlier in the year. What if they’d picked September 11?

After I heard the Pentagon got bombed, I really wondered if this was it. Was the world going to come to an end? Weren’t we all wondering that?

Every September 11 they read the big list of all the victims

Should they read every single name aloud at the ceremonies?
One of my friends on Facebook  ( Lisa)  brought up a good point.  Why should the families have to hear every single name? Doesn’t that make it even harder on them every year?

If I’d lost anyone, I’d think I’d want their name to be called every year. I think their families would find it comforting to listen to their names called on the anniversary. (Even if they have to wait to hear it.)

What do you think?

Thank you Lisa for the idea for this post.

English: World Trade Center, New York, aerial view March 2001. Français : Le World Trade Center à New York. Vue aérienne datant de mars 2001. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Where were you on 911? How did it impact you?

Why Gabrielle Giffords is my hero!

September 7, 2012

Maybe if you’re a Republican, or not interested in politics, you missed this. It was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords leading the Democratic Convention in the “Pledge of Allegiance.”  What courage it must have taken for her to cross that stage at the Democratic convention.

Talk about someone who came back from adversity, and isn’t done yet. If you want to read an inspiring story, read the book her husband, Mark Kelly wrote, entitled Gabby. It talks about her fight back after a gunman shot her outside the supermarket in Tuscon, Arizona. It gives you insight into why she had the courage to lead the crowd in the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

Gabrielle and Mark just set up a super- pac that will take money to support congress people dedicated to bi-partisanship, and standing for the issues that they think are important. It would be wonderful if Congress would start working together again!

You have to admire a woman who can struggle back from a devastating injury, and still put a smile on her face. You can’t squelch a person with spirit and determination.  Now, she’s supporting people that she think will make a difference. That’s why she is my hero!

TV Reaches a new low: Nancy Grace Weighs in on Honey Boo Boo

Nancy Grace’s Objection! — How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You want evidence our society is in trouble? What Toddlers and Tiaras. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. The show where the wannabe mothers doll their kids up, put on make up, and sexualize them with strange costumes.

There is a new offshoot starring Honey Boo Boo, one of the little beauty queens.

I really cannot take the lawyer Nancy Grace, but I stumbled upon her show while surfing the television. Nancy Grace seems just plain mean and nasty. (Her voice modulates between nasty and overly  sweet which just seems dishonest to me.)  She claims to want to help innocent victims of crime. The former prosecutor is pretty brutal to some of her guests. I think she drove one of them to suicide.

Every once in a while she’ll be talking about a controversial subject that interests me, so I’ll watch her show. Sometimes I find her extreme behavior slightly entertaining.

She was talking about “Honey Boo Boo”, a star from Toddlers and Tiaras.  Her mother is obviously starved for attention and is using Honey Boo Boo to make a name for herself.  She is succeeding.

One of Nancy’s guests was Mike Walker from the National Enquirer, the best trashy newspaper rag out there. Why Walker was offended by Honey Boo Boo makes no sense. He makes a living digging up dirt.  He should love watching Honey Boo Boo dress up in her Dolly Parton outfit, and wiggle her little behind.

Nancy Grace  on a campaign to stop Honey Boo Boo and her mother. (You may remember Nancy on Dancing with the Stars. She wasn’t afraid to wear provocative costumes on her overweight body.)

Nancy feels that sexual pedophiles are loving this show, and might go and try to hunt these little girls down. She contends that is probably what happened to Jon Benet Ramsey, the little beauty pageant winner who was murdered. They never found her killer.

Nancy  showed a video of Honey Boo Boo dancing at a college bar on top of the bar.   She also showed her pulling up her little shirt, rubbing her  already fat naked tummy, and drinking Go Go juice, a combination of Red Bull and Mountain Dew.  Honey Boo Boo  said, “it makes me laugh, and pull mommy’s hair.” She only uses it before a performance.

Honey Boo Boo’s father, a convicted felon, is trying to take custody of her. Like Nancy Grace, he feels this is child abuse. God knows what he’s planning to do with Honey Boo Boo once he gets custody.

But as much as Nancy Grace annoys me, I have to agree with her.

If those mothers want to be glamorous strippers, they ought to lose weight, get themselves in shape and live out their dreams. There is nothing more abusive than a parent who lives out their fantasies and dreams through their children.

What they’re doing to their kids is child abuse.

What is even sadder is that Toddlers and Tiaras is TLC’s—The Learning Channels—#1 show. Honey Boo Boo is an instant hit.

One of my friends suggested that people watch those shows to make themselves feel superior. (I may be a lousy mom, but at least I don’t dress up my child, and allow them to dance on top of a bar, or walk in a sexual way.)

Do you think there is a place for kiddie beauty pageants? Do you think Honey Boo Boo’s mom loves her child more than she loves herself? Convince me I’m wrong.

Fallen Hero JFK: “Once Upon a Secret” by Mimi Alford: Review

John F. Kennedy thanking Marilyn Monroe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just completed a book written by yet another one of the late John F. Kennedy’s  alleged mistresses, Once Upon A Secret by Mimi Alford.

Her involvement with Kennedy became public knowledge in 2003 with an article by a Kennedy biographer.  He mentioned Alford by name, and pretty soon the reporters were on her trail. She decided to come out with the information on her own.

Alford had been living with the “secret” for 41 years and wanted to give her side of the story. She was especially interested in letting her two daughters know what happened and why.

Alford’s White House Internship
Ironically, Alford won an internship to the White House by writing an article about Jackie Kennedy for her school newspaper, “ Salmugundy”. Since Jackie  was an alumnus of the school, Miss Porter’s“ a boarding school in Farmington, Connecticut, Jackie’s private secretary, Miss Baldridge, granted her an interview at the White House. Baldridge told her all about Jackie for the article.

Alford assumes the article won her an unsolicited offer to work in The White House.  (She didn’t apply for it.) She took it although her father wasn’t happy about it. He’d already gotten her a job with a fancy law firm. Her family was well-connected and wealthy.

Kennedy was a Womanizer
There are too many women who profess to being his mistresses:Jackie’s press secretary, two white house secretaries nicknamed Fiddle and Faddle, Judith Exner, and Marilyn Monroe.

Alford Was Part of a Team
After you get into this book, you learn there were several graduates of Jackie’s previous alma mater, entertaining JFK throughout the day.  According to Alford, these young women were a tension relievers for the embattled president. On one occasion, JFK suggested she help out his closest aide, Dave Powers relieve his tension too. She complied. But she drew the line at helping out Teddy.

Aftermath of Alford’s affair with Kennedy
After the day of his assassination she confessed the sin to her fiance whom she was later married to for 26 years.  He made her promise to never speak of it again, and she didn’t. She even got rid of the few mementoes JFK  bought her. One was a signed picture, he’d autographed in front of her.
Alford doesn’t regret her affair with Kennedy. Maybe she loved him in her own way.  I think she regretted the fact that she had to hide it, and that it affected her life.

After 26 years, she and her husband got divorced. She does contend that for 13 years they could put the past aside, and were happy. But the last years of their marriage were extremely unhappy. She blames part of it on ” the secret.”

A Happy Ending
One of the reasons Alford doesn’t regret being exposed is because she met her present husband after she became a little famous. She figures if it hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have ever gotten involved.

Who is Really at Fault?

It seems like the power brokers like Kennedy and more recently Clinton, are too selfish to think about lives they may be corrupting. especially young women.

The book is more well-written that you would expect. It’s an easy read, but it is disturbing. It is a look into the life of President Kennedy from his young mistress’s point of view.

Related articles

• The Role of Admiration in Affairs With the Rich and Famous (my.psychologytoday.com)
• How to Date a Kennedy (thedailybeast.com)

What does it take to get gun control?

Hill Staffer Pens Get Well Wish To Giffords (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service)

English: Dr. Martin Luther King giving his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on 28 August 1963. Español: Dr. Martin Luther King dando su discurso “Yo tengo un sueño” durante la Marcha sobre Washington por el trabajo y la libertad en Washington, D.C., 28 de agosto de 1963. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remember back when Kennedy was assassinated : that’s when I first heard about gun control. That was when I was 13.

Before that time, life didn’t seem to be as violent. Maybe it was, and I just didn’t know it because I lived a sheltered life in the suburbs.

Then Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were killed. I was 17, and in my senior year of high school.

The next assassination attempt was Ronald Reagan, and Brady was injured. I was 31 and pregnant with my last child who is now 30 years old.

And so it goes. The Columbine teenagers, Gifford shooting, and on and on. I just read the book “Gabby” that her husband wrote. She’s gone through Hell and back to get back some semblance of functioning. You know, she’s never going to be the same.

Now, all those innocent people killed by a 24-year-old guy who is apparently mentally ill. He’ll probably live because he’s deranged. Who else would commit such a horrendous act. It’s a good thing his apartment didn’t explode.

He meets the classic profile: quiet and keeping to himself. This one is even a brilliant student, (a PhD candidate who recently left the university),  but he used his brilliance for evil purposes. You have to know something happened to him. But it doesn’t matter now because he’s committed unpardonable acts.

Once a gun goes off, there’s nothing you can do to stop the bullet.

One argument is we need guns to protect us against the government taking over. The opposing argument is that guns can’t compete against nuclear

English: Attorney General Kennedy and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 22 June 1963, Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

weapons and chemical weapons. Look at what Syria is doing to their citizens?

What do you think? Convince me gun control isn’t a good idea.

Book Review: Ted Williams A Golden Voice

c A pile of crack cocaine ‘rocks  These rocks ruin lives.

If you want an eyewitness account of life on the streets, read A Golden Voice by Ted Williams.

Williams was a successful radio DJ in Columbus on several reputable  stations for about 10 years.  He knew he had a “golden voice” when he was a youngster, and he worked at perfecting his voice, and thinking of ways to be on the radio.

It paid off when he got an opportunity to be on one of the big stations in Columbus, and shot to the top. (twice).

He threw it all away when he got hooked on crack.

He managed to get clean for short periods a couple of times, but whenever things got rough, he’d relapse.  Like many crack addicts, he spent time chasing that first high. In his case, he chased it for more than 20 years. Like others,  he never found it. What he found was poverty, depression, humiliation, homelessness and lots of jail time. He hurt some people along the way. Some have forgiven him, others are still working on it. At least his mother— at 90—finally can feel hopeful.

Williams was adopted by people who really wanted him. His mother, in particular, made sure he had a lot of opportunities in life. His relationship with his  late father was much rockier. It was no accident that his dad named him after the famous baseball player, Ted Williams. However, he never lived up to his famous name.

He was already an alcoholic when he joined the army.  He parted ways with the US army for working some scams and drinking too much. He got a dishonorable discharge.

He gets more than once chance to get away from crack, but every time he manages some sobriety, he ends up relapsing. His nickname was “relapse Ted.”  As most of us know by now, crack is very addictive.

He is co-dependent with a woman who prostitutes herself so they can smoke crack together. Her story is included. She tells it like it is.  It’s not a pretty picture.

After years of being homeless, and doing whatever he could think of to make money for crack, he finally starts begging an hour a day on the street corner where he was videotaped by a Columbus Dispatch reporter. He was whisked to California after the YouTube video went viral.

I saw him at person at Barnes and Noble in Columbus where he was promoting his book.   Some people were there because they were related to someone who is addicted to a drug, and were looking for hope. Some were there because they’ve lived his story. Others, were just curious.

He spent time talking to anyone who wanted to speak to him. He seemed sincere about wanting to help others.

He was doing a quite a bit of preaching in between talking about his book. His faith is a big part of his recovery.  When you do read the book, you get 90% story, and 10% talk about faith.

Dr. Phil did give him another chance at rehab when he decided he was serious. He financed another stint in rehab.  He’s been clean for 14 months

This should be required reading for social workers, or anyone working with drug addicts. It is honest.

I sincerely hope he makes it this time.

Even though this book is not for the squeamish or judgmental,  it is inspirational in its own way.

Any opinions about Mr. Williams?  I would be interested to find out what you think?

Related articles

• WATCH: TIME Talks to Ted Williams, The Man with the Golden Voice (newsfeed.time.com)
• ‘Golden Voiced’ Ted Williams Goes From Homelessness To Prominence (cleveland.cbslocal.com)
• Golden-voiced Ted Williams celebrates one year clean and sober, has new book (offthebench.nbcsports.com)