Randi Kreiss

Good news week? Bad news week? Your choice.

Posted

I’m seeing good news on all fronts this week, primarily because I choose to. This is a quest: I am seeking the comfort of upbeat stories. It’s summer. Cherries are in the market, cicadas are singing, soft-shell crabs are in season and my daylilies are gorgeous. Maybe you want to come along for the brief ride. For one week (let’s not push it), we can boost our morale by finding the golden nuggets of news among the dross.

As I scanned the Herald last week and perused the front pages of The New York Times day to day, I found plenty to cheer. On the local front, it seems that the wheels that turn our local economy are clicking back into gear. Progress is measured, but businesses set back by Hurricane Sandy are rebounding slowly but surely. New businesses are opening, as entrepreneurs feel encouraged to ride the economic tide.

A small but happy local story: a 23-pound male lobster, caught in the Bay of Fundy and sent to Jordan’s Lobster Farm in Island Park, will not be heading for the lobster pot. The giant critter, about 100 years old, will enjoy something like assisted living for lobsters as he moves into his dotage. Sometimes folks can really surprise you with their kindness toward strangers, even strange lobsters.

That was a good minor bit of news. A good major story was the decision by the Boy Scouts of America to welcome all leaders, including gay leaders, into the organization. Good one, boys. Now the group has to figure out how to include transgender children, just as the Girl Scouts have done.

On the world stage, President Obama was in top form last week as he toured Africa, one of his end-of-term, do-it-now-or-never initiatives. He visited Kenya and Ethiopia, where he urged increased push-back against terrorism and support for the countries’ emerging economies. He visited distant family members in Kenya, an acknowledgment of his diverse background and a reminder of how stunning and brilliant his election was in the first place.

Liberated by not having to run for office again, the president has been buoyant and forceful in his push to accomplish more of his agenda. With a recalcitrant Congress, he is using executive powers to effect change, like the rapprochement with Cuba.

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