Are you a Twitterer?

I ran across this blog today and I found it to be very interesting.

The author pointed that the use of Twitter has strayed away from its original purpose, and unlike other social media site, Twitter has failed to change its scope to fit its audience's needs.

Some of it I agreed with, other parts of it I didn't agree with. I think, if nothing more, it's thought-provoking.

Read it and let me know what you think. (P.S. Some of the language in the blog post is not intended for younger readers.)

You meet the nicest people...

The following was written by The View Staff Reporter Jerry LaVaute:

I meet the best people as I develop my stories. Interesting, engaged, committed and fun are just a few of the words that I’d use to describe them.

Bruce Patterson
I briefly met Bruce Patterson, outgoing Seventh District Michigan State Senator, as he made his farewell tour of the constituents he served for so many years.

Physically larger than life and possessed of an equally large, ebullient personality, it was fun to watch his charm and heartfelt sentiment toward those he served.

Cathy Horste
Cathy is the Van Buren Township historian and chaired the recent wildly successful fundraiser for the Belleville Area Museum, in which 990 of the 1,000 available raffle tickets were sold for the “Lucky Ducky Rubber Duck Race.”

In this economy, fundraisers are a hard sell, and she had a marketing campaign and energy and humor to overcome these obstacles. Suffice to say that I was impressed.

Cindy Hasselbring
I met Cindy about three weeks ago, in an interview at the Lighthouse Coffee Co. on Main Street in Milan.

The energy and passion she had describing her recent two-week trip to Costa Rica for the Toyota International Teacher Program was palpable.

But, despite the effusive outpouring of words as she described her trip, I never felt for a moment that it was about her. No, it was about an adventure that she wanted to share.

She’ll get a great opportunity to share her experiences as she returns to teaching advanced Math courses at Milan High School this September.

Patrick Burtch
Burtch has been the manager of the village of Dundee, a few miles south of Milan on U.S.-23, for over 20 years.

He described to me the stirring aftermath of a tornado that touched down in Dundee on June 6, causing over $15 million in property damage.

Local government officials and townspeople worked together to clean up the mess, Burtch said, proudly.

And, although Dundee’s budget is itself a bit of a disaster after paying for the cleanup, Burtch sounds as if he’ the same thing again, in a heartbeat – because it was the right thing to do.

"Get thee to a nunnery!"

The following was written by The View staff reporter Jerry LaVaute:

I went to Nashville, Tennessee this last weekend, for the first profession of vows for former Belleville resident Ashley Loyer to become a religious sister. She is known now as Sister Casey Marie Loyer.

Sister Casey Marie was a volunteer firefighter in the city of Belleville until two years ago, when she left home to become a religious sister. Her parents are Chris and Darwin Loyer, who is the chief of the Van Buren Township Fire Department.

It was one of those weekends that feel as if you spent a week away from home. It was transforming.

It was 10-hour trip to and from Nashville, which I’d just as soon forget – a lotta miles, although the mountainous terrain was interesting, and dramatically different from what we see each day in southeaster Michigan.

The ceremony in the church on Sunday, in fact the cathedral of the city of Nashville (from the Latin “cathedra,” or “chair,” the authority from which the bishop, who resides within, speaks) was beautiful, and caused me to reflect on the enduring importance of liturgical worship in my life.

There were several other bishops on the altar during the two-hour ceremony, and sisters galore. They filled the center of the church.

And now, after two years in the novitiate, Sister Casey Marie is one of their number.

The photos that my wife Jan took of the weekend show a radiant young lady. One look at her, and you are reminded that there is a God, and that Ashley has been blessed.

The phrase “Get thee to a nunnery” is ironic here. It’s a line from Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet,” and it refers actually to a house of ill repute.

But I didn’t visit a house of ill repute last weekend. In fact, I visited with very many holy, fine, good people, a visit and a weekend that I will remember for a long, long time.

My Great Kids

The following was submitted by The View Staff Reporter Jerry LaVaute:

I’m very proud of my children. When you raise children, the connection between parental effort toward ensuring exemplary behavior, and the child’s response, seems sometimes tenuous, and you wonder at times whether they’ll ever get it.

This is made more difficult as these fledgling adults begin to pull away from you as a parent and, God forbid, even challenge your thinking and judgment.

There are several years, particularly following high school and even more so following college, when you wonder whether the effort will pay off.

But slowly, gradually, the evidence begins appearing that you’ve raised a couple doozies for children, that you’ve hit it out of the park with both of them as adults.

I see consistently bad behavior among select young people and I think, this person will subtract from the world; he or she will get in the way of mankind’s progress. And I’m saddened, because some parents didn’t do their job.

You know, you’re never really sure about this. My son may be convicted as an axe murderer in a year; my daughter may become a crystal meth addict and leave for a beach in Mexico.

But this week, I received more solid evidence that my children Matthew and Kelly are indeed adding to the world, reflected recently in how they do their jobs at their employer, Quicken Loans.

Kelly is the manager of Social Media at Quicken. Owner Dan Gilbert received e-mail from someone who challenged Quicken’s effectiveness at social media.

The e-mail was forwarded to Kelly, whose very job, and job performance was being challenged.

Kelly, who is a very effective writer, dashed off e-mail to Gilbert in which she described Quicken’s depth and breadth in its use of social media, and specifics and data regarding its achievements and plans.

Now, I wouldn’t have known about this, except that older brother Matthew, who was proud of his sister, forwarded it to my wife Jan and me. Way to go, Kel. You indeed add to the world.

Speaking of Matthew, Kel sent us a brief video in which Matthew’s smiling face and native enthusiasm and confidence will be featured in upcoming TV spots for Quicken Loans.

Matthew is an executive mortgage banker with Quicken, and his enthusiasm for his job is evident in his TV pitch. Way to go, Bud.

Quicken must be proud of both my kids and, although I’m proud of them absent the recent accomplishments, it’s icing on the cake, and further proof that my wife’s effort and mine toward raising our children to be good people is paying dividends for the world at large. And it doesn’t get much better than that.