At Home: Do You Support Public Broadcasting?

I always love it when I'm reading blogs and someone says they have been watching a show on PBS that I have been enjoying too. I even get a kick out of it when someone speaks of something on the network that might not be my favorite but that matters to them. Now is the time you might want to share that same thought with your US Representatives and Senators.

You  may have seen the article in the April 14 New York Times headed "White House Asks Congress to Claw Back Funding from NPR and PBS." Longtime Gypsy readers know that for 32 years I worked for our local public broadcasting stations, first for television only, then also TV and radio. It was truly a privilege to go to work each day for an organization that I was happy to support, whose services I personally used and valued. I am still a PBS/NPR supporter, viewer and listener. 

The early days of my public broadcasting life! Pledge breaks.

Two Things I Love

As most of you probably know, I work for a public television/radio station. And, if you follow the news, you may well have heard of Congressional action to completely eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting. They expect a vote this week.

What you may or may not know is that of those funding dollars, the vast majority goes directly to public television and radio stations, assisting them with their broadcasting operations and programming. Another portion goes to some national program producers who create content. Only a portion goes to PBS or NPR.

Regardless how you feel about public funding for public television, it is important to let your Congressional representatives know those feelings. We are told that the signing of petitions online is not nearly so effective as a phone call, email or fax. You can find more information on the website 170millionamericans.org. Time is of the essence; the vote is expected this week.

I think you know how I stand, but what matters is how you feel. Please let them know. And thank so much.

Superheroes. In recent days, we've seen how everyday people can be superheroes, just by caring enough and expressing their opinion to the right people, making their thoughts known.

Please, let your voice be heard.

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Someone asked me how my Valentine's poetry book for Rick was coming along. I do this every year -- a book that includes poems related to events in our year. I've done everything from pop-up books to envelope books to scrap books.

This year I copped out. I discovered Shutterfly.

I wrote my poems, used the easy program and lots of wonderful photos and was thrilled with the result. When I arrived, I just grinned!

Lots of the photos of the year in wonderful quality on beautiful paper. (I have done these books before and I know there are a lot of similar services. Since I switched to digital, most of my photos stayed on the computer. This gets them out where I can see them. Now I do a year book each year, and sometimes special books for certain occasions. If you haven't tried it, do -- they always have sales and coupons!)

Well, after that, I felt guilty -- after all, he has this collection of unique handmade books. This seemed so -- commercial.

So, I did another, with the poems, simply bound. I didn't take pix of the inside, but basically, I just used red ribbons affixed with the Xyron sticker maker adhesive on each page for color to highlight the poems.

I have to say, Rick gives as good as he gets! He made an amazing dinner -- the best pork I had ever had with roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts and fabulous wine. I made chocolate cookie-peppermint stick ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

And he gave me the wonderful Stephen Sondheim book of lyrics and stories. Sondheim is a favorite and I loved it!

Rick and public broadcasting. Two things I love.