Mark’s Musings – June 6, 2018
Mark Fortune
The Cavs came up a bit short in game one of “round four” although they pushed the Warriors into overtime on their home court. You know that LeBron will give it everything he has but it will take a team effort to win another championship for Cleveland.
Several young men and women from Coshocton County competed at the state track and field meet held last week in Columbus and you can read about their achievements in this issue of The Beacon. It is an honor indeed to make it to the state level and we can all be proud of these young student athletes.
The 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland May 29 to 31 with 14 year old Karthik Nemmani of McKinney, Texas taking home the trophy. He correctly spelled the word “koinonia” which means “the Christian fellowship or body of believers”. The runner-up, Naysa Modi, a 12 year old from Frisco, Texas, misspelled the word “bewusstseinslage”. That is understandable even if you are one of the best spellers in the country.
Another word that Nemmani spelled correctly to win was, “ankyloglossia” which means “limited normal movement of the tongue chiefly due to an abnormally shortened frenulum”. Wow.
Maybe they should throw the word “Coshocton” out and see how they do with that. Just for fun.
The contest had the largest number of contestants ever with 515 participating this year. The media company E.W. Scripps has run the contest since 1941.
To reflect on how much things have changed while watching a segment of the Ken Burns World War II special it was mentioned that until Americans at home were shown a movie of the Marines fighting on Tarawa no one at home had seen American casualties on film since Pearl Harbor, 21 months previous. President Roosevelt ordered the film – in full color – to be shown at movie theaters. As many know during World War II, news reels of the war were shown to movie goers before the feature film. I thought this was an interesting take considering how much has changed across the media landscape.
In fact, it was a photo of three dead Americans on Buna Beach that was published in the September 1943 issue of LIFE magazine that changed things. The magazine had to get permission from the President himself to publish the photo. It was the first time that any photograph showing American dead was published – almost two full years since Pearl Harbor. The feeling was that Americans were getting complacent about a war that was far from over and a victory that was not yet assured.
We can all be proud of our youth from Coshocton County. Having the opportunity to watch the Coshocton Festival Choir sing the National Anthem at the Cleveland Indians game last week was a treat. These young people – from Coshocton Elementary School, Coshocton Junior High and Coshocton High School – all displayed respect, manners and were courteous to all. They did a magnificent job singing and several people stopped and told the kids how well they sang when they saw them in their seats watching the game.
Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion
