Leslie Boyd's Blog

Where to find me

I've moved my blog to http://www.dalaimama-boyd.blogspot.com/. Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on August 5, 2009 at 9:43pm — No Comments

Things here have been pretty bleak. We had layoffs yesterday. Rob and I escaped, but we had friends who worked here a long time who got cut. I feel like I'm watching the demise of an entire industry. But it's more than just an industry, and being a reporter is more than just a job. We felt like we had a higher calling: to be watchdogs of government and big business, to dig out the truth and to inform the public. We have been the children of the First Amendment. Now most papers have too few peopl… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on July 10, 2009 at 2:44pm — 1 Comment

A good day for health care advocacy in Asheville

WNC for Change had a health care rally in Asheville this morning and 300 people came out. That's almost twice as many as came out last fall. People are getting worried that this won't get fixed after all, and they want to tell Congress that's not acceptable. I was the keynote speaker, telling Mike's story and noting that he was one of about 30,000 who died last year. Rep. Heath Shuler met with about 50 of us this afternoon and assured us he wants to fix it too, but the law says it has to be defe… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 27, 2009 at 8:16pm — No Comments

Talking in the rain

I was walking back from an assignment this afternoon and chatting with an older man when it started to rain. I said something about being drip-dry and he laughed and said he's lived life drip-dry all spring. Turns out he's homeless and his camp was ransacked recently. He doesn't know who did it, but whoever did won't be punished, even if he or she is discovered, so he shrugged it off. I wished him luck as I crossed the street and he called after me. "Nobody's wished me luck and meant it before,"… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 22, 2009 at 5:09pm — No Comments

Courage in Iran

I've been marveling at the courage of the people in Iran, protesting in the streets a million at a time.

Unfortunately, the presence of a million people in the streets hasn't changed the Supreme Leader's mind about the recent election.

Things could turn very ugly there. All of the protesters are risking arrest or worse.

The cool thing is how nonviolent the protests have been so far. People are resolute but not threatening.

This was the very basis of protests during

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 19, 2009 at 2:36pm — No Comments

Scary storms

We had some pretty serious thunder storms this afternoon. The trees downtown were bent over, and limbs were down all over West Asheville.

I'm not scared of many things, but I will not go out in a thunderstorm.

The worst thing was that it canceled the baseball game, so my friend Liz and I didn't get to take in a game.

And I didn't get to work on the patio. If it doesn't stop raining every evening I'm never going to get it done.

Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 18, 2009 at 11:29pm — No Comments

Mmmmmmmmmm, cupcakes. Mmmmmmmmmm

Tomorrow is my friend, Nanci's birthday, so I made cupcakes. Chocolate with buttercream frosting. I licked the bowl, which is something I didn't get to do when the kids were little. Last time I made cupcakes, Trey was here, so he and I licked the bowl together.

I've always loved to bake -- I made my first cake when I was 9. My father joked he was going to use it as an anchor on his little fishing boat. I wasn't offended, though, because he ate a lot of it.

When the kids were gro

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 16, 2009 at 11:06pm — No Comments

Women like us

"Women like us."

That's how Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, described women of a certain age at a luncheon I attended today.

"We all shop at the same places and we all wear black pants," she said.

She always feels certain that if she forgets her glasses -- and she forgets a lot these days -- that someone else will have a pair she can borrow.

When she and I were growing up, girls weren't supposed to be athletic, so there were few chances for us to

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 11, 2009 at 5:42pm — No Comments

112 letters for health care reform

I'm pretty exhausted after a long weekend. We had a board meeting for Life o' Mike Saturday, so I had a house full. Then I baked four dozen cupcakes for the letter-writing party at the church yesterday.

We had more than 40 people stop by to write letters and most of them wrote three -- one to Rep. Health Shuler, one to Sen. Kay Hagen and one to Sen. Richard Burr -- to ask them to do the right thing with health care reform.

We got 112 letters, and more are promised.

Now I

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 8, 2009 at 11:11am — No Comments

The hate machine

Evangelical Christian Frank Schaeffer has apologized for his part in the hate-mongering of the far right. He rightfully acknowledged that demonizing people like Dr. George Tiller leads to violence.

I'm no fan of abortion -- I refused to have one in 1974 when I contracted a virus that could cause birth defects. I've never regretted that decision. But it was my decision to make. My son Mike's life was a blessing to me from the moment I knew I was pregnant until he died.

Dr. Tiller

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on June 3, 2009 at 5:25pm — No Comments

Loving the bike

I'm up to about eight miles on the bike now, determined to get back into shape. I'm actually enjoying it. The course I've been riding has some hills, but nothing huge. I do go off the trail at one or two places to go uphill, and my goal is to make it up to the Blue Ridge Parkway from Bent Creek. It's about two miles uphill. It's not going to happen in the next week or two, but I'm up to over a quarter mile and working on it. It's much harder on a bike than it is on foot.

In fact, I've

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on May 29, 2009 at 11:13pm — No Comments

Wading in cold water

I went along mountains streams yesterday, searching for rocks to build a fireplace. I didn't get a whole lot of rocks, but I did get to wade in the cold water.

This was the time of year that drove my mother nuts when we were kids because we loved to go wading in the brook behind our house, and we didn't necessarily take off our sneakers.

So we'd report home with our shoes making a schlooook schloook noise, and my mother would lose it.

"What did I tell you?!?" she would de

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on May 29, 2009 at 11:06pm — No Comments

Star Trek

I have to say, I love the new movie.

Now, anyonewho knows me knows I love Star Trek. I loved it when it first came out in 1966, and William Shatner is still my hero.

I wasn't sure because the movie got good reviews from almost everyone (The snobs at The New Yorker didn't think it was highbrow enough, I guess). It's Star Trek for non-Trekkies. Robbo and I were wary.

I didn't go on opening night because Mike and I went to all the Star Trek movies on opening day, and I didn'

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on May 22, 2009 at 10:20pm — No Comments

Biking Bent Creek

I chose it because it's mostly flat, but there are a couple of small hills.

I got on a bike for the first time in eight years (except for the mile or so I rode the first day I had the bike). The weather was good for the first day in almost a week, so I threw the bike in the back of the car and went out to Bent Creek. I rode down the first hill hoping I'd have the strength to get back up, did a couple miles to the parking lot at the Arboretum, rode a little ways uphill and turned around

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on May 6, 2009 at 12:07am — No Comments

Laurey inspred me

My friend Laurey Masterton finished her cross-country bike trip today. She set out to raise awareness of an money for ovarian cancer. She's a longtime survivor and it seemed important to her to do something meaningful during her "golden" year (she was born in 1954 and she turned 54 last year).

She has done more than raise awareness -- she has inspired all who have followed her on the trip (search laurey bikes for the Web site).

I have followed her all the way on Facebook, all th

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on May 1, 2009 at 12:04am — No Comments

I'll be Denny Crane

My friend Laura has a new office downtown and it has a balcony with a spectacular view of downtown and the mountains. What a great place to relax.

We're planning to spend some evenings out there like William Shatner and James Spader did at the end of every episode of "Boston Legal." I get to be Denny Crane (the Shatner character) because I'm older and fatter and I'm a Boston Red Sox fan.

I've been reconnecting with friends lately, and Laura is one I haven't seen in awhile. I sor

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on April 29, 2009 at 2:55pm — No Comments

How scary is it, really?

Swine flu isn't like the flu we see every winter. It's a different strain, and it can be deadly. So, yes, we should be concerned. But this post on the Consumer Reports blog has some good advice.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/swine-flu/

It's not time to panic, but it is a good idea to wash hands thoroughly and often. According to public health experts, that's the most effective tool we have, and it works.

Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on April 28, 2009 at 10:46am — No Comments

Down a peg or two

Our health care rally in Raleigh was really strange.

Apparently, the state mixed up my permit somehow, but since all my papers were in order, they didn't throw me off the Capitol Building grounds. They did, however, allow the other group they permitted to go ahead too.

So, a little while into our rally, cops started showing up, followed by trucks with lots of orange cones and barricades.

The other group, it turns out, was the gay-hating folks from Westboro Baptist Church

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on April 22, 2009 at 2:21pm — No Comments

It's like working two jobs

I'm using the hour before I go into work in the morning to try and get publicity for our Health Care for All Rally in Raleigh next Sunday (2-4 p.m. on the grounds of the NC Capitol Building). Much of my evenings are spent sending out e-mails with press releases and photos of Mike.

In my fantasy world, 10,000 people show up. In reality, I'm told the 125 we had in Asheville was a good turnout. I want more than that. I want people to take to the streets and demand that our broken health c

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on April 10, 2009 at 9:50pm — No Comments

Among the wild blueberries

We scattered Mike's ashes Wednesday in a ceremony both moving and silly, which is just what he would have wanted.

He said before he died that he wanted us to toss his ashes at passers-by while chanting, "Body o' Mike, body o' Mike ..." We let him know then we weren't going to do that.

It took me a year to be able to scatter his ashes. I thought about scattering them on Mount Pisgah but somehow it didn't seem exactly right. It wasn't until the morning we were scheduled to scatter

… Continue

Added by Leslie Boyd on April 5, 2009 at 8:05pm — No Comments

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Leslie Boyd's Blog (221)

Where to find me

Tough week

A good day for health care advocacy in Asheville

Talking in the rain

Courage in Iran

Scary storms

Mmmmmmmmmm, cupcakes. Mmmmmmmmmm

Women like us

112 letters for health care reform

The hate machine

Loving the bike

Wading in cold water

Star Trek

Biking Bent Creek

Laurey inspred me

I'll be Denny Crane

How scary is it, really?

Down a peg or two

It's like working two jobs

Among the wild blueberries

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