Vendor Writing
Yellow Graphic reading: Vendor Writing

The Contributor More Than Just A Street Newspaper

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The Contributor is an award winning street newspaper, but that’s only part of the story. As a vendor and writer for this publication, when I look through its pages every two weeks I see so much more. There is a vast array of stories that can be used to teach people of ALL ages something new, much like the Weekly Reader did for me as a young child and as a teenager, really throughout my scholastic life. Every Friday like clockwork our classroom would receive the latest edition. I would immediately open it up.

Vendor Writing

Morning Coffee and a Thought

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My name is Daniel Holmes, and I grew up in a small town in Maryland. Now I live in Nashville, Tennessee. I was never a person who picked a political party. I generally went with who sounded the best. Recently, we were reminded that everybody has a voice by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of Washington, D.C. She reminded President Trump that what he does in office affects everyone equally.

Vendor Writing
Yellow Graphic reading: Vendor Writing

The Strength of a Smile

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When one greets another, a smile soothes apprehension but also shows power — the power to deal with just about any and all circumstances that life has thrown at that person. Passers-by may wonder: “Why and how is he still smiling?” From birth, he was and is the only male of that household. At the age of six, he experienced a lifechanging tragedy. He’d been hit by a drunk driver, which sent him as high as a telephone pole only to come back down and bust his head open on the windshield of the driver’s car.

Vendor Writing
Yellow Graphic reading: Vendor Writing

Global Warming is Changing Traditional Weather Lore

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As a second grader in 1970, I recall my teacher incorporating weather lore into our lessons. Some of the lore went back centuries. “When you see the first robin redbreast, it’s a sure sign of spring.” Not anymore! The winters are now warm enough for robins to find food year-round; they don’t migrate anymore. So, if you see a robin on January 4th, don’t be thinking it’s springtime.

Vendor Writing
Yellow Graphic reading: Vendor Writing

School Choice Is Beneficial For Some But Detrimental To Others

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It seems that school choice has become a hot topic nationwide, with 32 states and Washington, D.C., implementing it in various ways. Arizona has actively supported school choice from the beginning. Arizona resident Rebecca Eklund, an educator, parent and advocate for parents of children with special needs who has placed her children through public school, charter school, private school, home school and even the voucher program, said she, “returned to teaching in a traditional public school because [their] local districts still have the most comprehensive resources and the most experienced and educated teachers.” Other states have hit the brakes on funding such programs. Illinois stopped funding their voucher program in 2023, after only six years. It’s important to note that school choice can take many different forms: vouchers, education savings accounts and tax credit scholarships, to name a few.

Yellow Graphic reading: Vendor Writing
Vendor Writing

Feral: Three New Kittens, Muffin Says Goodbye

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Part 3 of 3 of the true story of a wild (feral) cat colony over a 3-year time period. My observations and involvement. Read Part One here and Part Two here. On April 26, 2024, Mama Pal brought three exactly eight-week-old kittens to the “Nursery” where she grew up as a kitten. All three were nearly twice the size of Muffin and Mini had been at that age!

Vendor Writing
Yellow Graphic reading: Vendor Writing

Good Friends

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To obtain a good grasp of “self-preservation,” the sincerity of self accountability and self responsibility are two essential factors required to have a somewhat healthy relationship with ourselves. Within the growth cycle of our youth ages where we began to overlook the severe facts that were being taught and accepted them as being pressured into doing the right things in the correct way the, “cleaning up of our rooms,” the “taking out the trash,” the “cutting yards,” the “washing of cars or trucks,” and even the “helping the elderly and or neighbors” without seeking some kind of remuneration for our services only because our consciousness veered into a state of curiosity. That’s exactly when our choices become determinations, and the determining factors of what? As we venture into the “what abouts” the storms of life raged and hit us with miraculous ideas and upon these ideas came acquaintances in which come with their ideology  that’s intriguing as well that leads us into becoming associates. Within the terrible terrains that all existence is playing on there are those that just can’t or won’t recall the teachings of “play nice” and “fair” only because whatever is nice and fair to one just might not be considered nice and fair to the next individual.