The Best of 2013...

Happy New Year, everyone! It's 2014 and I am glad to be writing again, after a long hibernation. A grizzly bear woke me up, so it's time to write again. Hope you are all fine. Here are the Sage Street blog recognition for 2013, as I provide my best and worst categories....

BEST TV SHOWS TO WATCH--"Castle," "Major Crimes," "Longmire," and (because it can get depressing, be sure to have a big bowl of ice cream afterward in order to upswing your mood) "The Walking Dead."

BEST TV NEWS SEGMENTS--CBS Sunday Morning feature stories, CBS "On the Road" segments with Steve Hartman, PBS NewsHour segments, PBS Frontline reports, PBS American Experience programs, Morgan Spurlock's CNN program about guns, and Sanjay Gupta's CNN program about marijuana called "Weed." Honorable mentions: Melissa Harris-Perry Show segments, Ed Schultz Show segments, Rachel Maddow Show segments, 60 Minutes segments particularly featuring Scott Pelley, Fareed Zaharia's GPS show, Anderson Cooper 360 program and later night group discussions, numerous other MSNBC programs, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, ABC Weekend News with David Muir, NBC Evening News with Lester Holt, and the McLaughlin Group.

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Reality shows (just a continuously awful TV genre), History Channel for too much reality stuff, chatty morning "news" shows that are really about pop culture, and Sunday morning news programs with dull talk by anchors, hacks and pundits, such as Meet the Press, (with the exception of CBS Sunday Morning show and the Melissa Harris-Perry Show). And please no more Wall Street movies with the usual greedy characters, the cynical anti-hero TV shows, anything Star Wars or Hobbit, Fox News, nutty gun culture, anything that has to be "set up" in order to be enjoyed (and that means technological stuff), the informational or promotional crap at the bottom of the TV screen that prevents viewers from seeing the entire picture of what's going on, inane social media, and any more girl singers who think they have to do a Madonna and draw attention through stunts rather than just rely on their talents.

BEST MOVIES: "42" about Jackie Robinson, "Lincoln," "The Impossible," "Jack the Giant Slayer," "World War Z," "Life of Pi," "Argo," and "The Way, Way Back."

ACTORS AND ACTRESSES TO WATCH--Sandra Bullock, Stana Katic, Nathan Fillion, Sam Rockwell, James Franco, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Claire Danes, Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride, and Garrett Hedlund.

BEST DOCUMENTARIES: "Blackfish," "Conscientious Objector," "My Flesh and Blood," "A Place at the Table," "The Power of Forgiveness; The Karla Tucker Story," Jeremy Scahill's "Dirty Wars" about use of drones, and "Bridegroom."

BEST BOOKS: Wyoming Almanac (sixth edition), "A Life of Barbara Stanwyck" by Victoria Wilson, "David and Goliath" by Malcolm Gladwell, "Dinner with the Smileys" by Sarah Smiley, "The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and "Defending Jacob" by William Landay.

PEOPLE TO REMEMBER (who died in 2013): Helen Thomas, Julie Harris, Jean Stapleton, Nelson Mandela, and Peter O'Toole (especially in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips").

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR nominees: Elizabeth Warren (for real progressive leadership), Robert Reich (for progressive insights), Bill de Blasio (for showing liberals how to win on issues), Michael Bloomberg (for his effort in organizing mayors against guns), Pope Francis (for showing churches and politicians that populism and caring about the poor garners popular support), Edward Snowden (for whistleblowing and showing the over-reach and waste of agencies like the NSA and CIA), Jeremy Scahill and Glen Greenwald (for their investigative journalism work), Barack Obama and Joe Biden (when they stay to the progressive left as their voters wanted), Malala Yousafzai (for her courage), Nelson Mandela (for showing leaders how to set "George Washington" leadership examples for democracies, a lesson that Morsi of Egypt failed to understand), Tina Fey (always clever and funny), Dolly Parton (for her gifts of books to children), Malcolm Gladwell (for his interesting insights), Mark Udall (for his progressive stances), and Ralph Nader (for his ongoing progressive stances).

"PERSON OF THE YEAR" winner for 2013: Elizabeth Warren, for giving hope to the middle class and poor with her populist, progressive leadership.

The Year 2011...

On the last day of 2011, here some notes about 2011 and then the annual Sage awards for the best and worst of the year...

Interesting Travel for 2011: I traveled to Turkey, with my brothers and sister-in-law, in July, with first-time stops also for me in Germany, Canada (in Vancouver), and Seattle, Washington. In Turkey, we visited Istanbul, Izmir, and Yenipazar. And back in Wyoming, I was able to visit my aunts and uncle, all whom are in their 90s. For the college in April, I traveled with other faculty members by train to Chicago for the Higher Learning Commission conference. With the Delta newspaper students at the college, I also traveled in April to Springfield, Mo., for the MCMA convention. During the Springfield trip, we enjoyed a national performance called "The Aluminum Show." All were great trips!

Most Interesting Project at the College: Working in the summer with an amazing student named Amit Jain who designed and created the Delta Online newspaper website, the first for Mass Communication at the college.

Another Digital Book: With my other digital e-books on Amazon.com of "Sage Street" and "The Wolves and Short Stories," I added just this month "News At 10," a compliation of "This Just In" columns from this blog.

Most Interesting Professional Moment: I was pleasantly surprised to receive the John McCallum Excellence in Teaching Award at the college. It is voted upon by administration, deans, and past recipients, with nominations from fellow faculty. With it in May came months of drafting my speech for the Convocation ceremony in September. It went well and people said they liked it.

O.K., now for the Sage citations of best and worst....

Best World Historical Moment: The "Arab Spring" uprising that started with Tunisia and continued to Egypt and Libya, as people cast off dictators and claimed their right to democracy. It is still a work in progress, but it is a hopeful sign for a better world for all.

Best U.S. Historical Moment: The homecoming of the American troops out of Iraq for the end of the Iraq War this month. Finally!

Worst National Problem: Unemployment. It is still too high. People need good jobs. Other nominee: The Afghanistan War, another quagmire. (An awful national event was the Joplin, Missouri, tornado.)

Terrible World Disaster: An awful world event was the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, followed by the nuclear plant leaks. (I don't think I had ever seen such devastation in a string of ongoing horrors.)

Worst Scandal: The Penn State University football program's child sex abuse scandal, said to be the worst in U.S. sports history. Terrible problems were exposed by the so-called "Paterno culture" concerning college sports.

Most Irritating Line: "To take America back," uttered mainly by Tea Party people. Backward would be the correct definition of it.

Best Books read in 2011: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass, read for yet another time and "American Massacre" by Sally Denton about the Mountain Meadows massacre, the worst civilian massacre in the 19th century. (I enjoyed reading both books as a class book club reading with students in the Basic News Reporting class.) Other nominees: "The Amateur Emigrant" by Robert Louis Stevenson (read on a plane to Turkey), "The Colonel and Little Missie" by Larry McMurtry (read on a train to Chicago), "Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution" by John A. Garraty, "Polio, An American Story" by David Oshinsky, and "Moments, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs" by Hal Buell.

Most Amazing TV moment: When Anderson Cooper of CNN and his camera crew had to run from thugs who were unhappy about coverage of the Egyptian protestors in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

Most Amazing TV Feature moment: The "60 Minutes" segment by Lara Logan about the mountain climber Alex Honnold who doesn't use safety ropes and scales cliffs with just chalk-covered fingers and strength. Amazing!

Most Awkward TV moment: When Texas Gov. Rick Perry forgot his campaign rhetoric and then just made it worse by trying, unsuccessfully, to remember. I was embarrassed for him, but glad to see his campaign sink like a rock because of his poor debate performances.

Most Entertaining TV Reporters to Watch: TV reporters who were drenched by hurricanes. Always entertaining to see wet and wind-shoved TV reporters.

Best TV program: "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC. I watched it regularly throughout the year and was greatly informed. Other nominees: "Nightline" for interesting news segments on ABC; "Saturday Night Live," though some shows were better than others; "Hell on Wheels" on AMC; "Haven" on the SyFy channel; "Prime Suspect" on NBC because actress Maria Bello is great and provided an interesting character; "Merlin" on the SyFy channel; "Glee" for the musical performances on Fox; "Teen Wolf" on MTV which I stumbled upon while channel-surfing in the summer and was pleasantly surprised by the scary elements with a good ensemble of characters; "60 Minutes" for continued reliability; "CBS Sunday Morning" for interesting feature stories; "The Ed Show" on MSNBC, "the McLaughlin Group" on PBS; "Anderson Cooper 360" on CNN; and "Wipeout" for being so strange as a contest with witty banter; and many programs, such as Frontline and musical performances on PBS.

Best TV Actress and Actor: Maria Bello (Prime Suspect) and Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels).

Best Network: PBS. Other nominees: MSNBC, History channel, Animal Planet channel, SyFy channel.

Worst TV programs: The many reality TV shows. When will that trend end?

Watched with Mixed Emotions: I watched all of the Republican presidential debates, because I thought I should, being in journalism and as they were part of history. But, wow, it was difficult and aggravating at times, leading to believe that this crop of Republican candidates (with a bunch of Tea Party types) is the worst selection I have ever seen.

One Appreciated Moment from Republican Candidate Mitt Romney: When he said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer just today that he watched and enjoyed Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges.

What I Didn't Watch (historical moment or other): Not one minute of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Not one minute of "American Idol" (in fact, I never have seen it).

Most Under-Reported Subject: The military's drone program, wherein apparently drones are killing more civilians than terrorists.

Most Used Website: The Delta Online. For a national one: Probably Facebook. Other nominees: Highereducationjobs. com, Journalismjobs.com, Mandy.com, Amazon.com.

Best Song discovered in 2011: "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" by Richard Hawley. Other nominee: "Ah Leah" by Donnie Iris.

Best Movie seen in 2011: "My Boy Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son and WWI. Other nominees (seen through Netflix DVDs): "Howl" about Allen Ginsberg's controversial poem with drama and illustrative art mixed interestingly; "Get Low" with performances by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; "Devil" which was scary; "Monsters" for the way the couple's relationship developed as they traveled space alien-infested territory; "Triage" with Colin Farrell; "Prayers for Bobby" "Skyline," "Clash of the Titans (2010 version); "Vanishing on 7th Street," "A Shine of Rainbows (with might have been an Irish movie)," and "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" for twists and turns.

Best Foreign Movie seen in 2011: "Fateless" with memorable scenes in a story about a Polish Jewish boy during the Holocaust. Other nominees (also seen through Netflix): "Even the Rain" about a film in Bolivia about Christopher Columbus while residents fought for water rights; "The Devil's Backbone," "Kisses," "El Bola," and "Swimming Upstream" about Australian Olympic swimmer Tony Fingleton.

Best Documentary seen in 2011: "A Day in the Life" about clips from videos taken on one day July 24, 2010 around the world. Other nominee: "Exit Through the Gift Shop" about a graffiti artist. (Previous great documentaries in this category have been "The Tank Man" which is probably the best I have seen; "Two Days in October" based upon the book "They Marched Into Sunlight;" "Born into Brothels," "The Conscientious Objector;" "Pete Seeger, the Power of Song;" and "McLibel.")

Best Magazine: History magazine. Other nominees: Mother Jones, Country, Intelligence Report (of the Southern Poverty Law Center), the Amnesty International magazine, and Mules and More.

Other Sage nominees for Person of the Year: Elizabeth Warren, candidate for U.S. senator from Massachusetts who speaks so eloquently for the middle class and poor; Ralph Nader, consumer advocate who continues to be correct on the issues, most recently about the problems of money and college athletics; Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Congresswoman who survived a terrible assassination attempt; mountain climber Alex Honnold for his amazing skill and fearlessness; and Barack Obama, U.S. president for ending the Iraq War and sounding more like the candidate with the liberal ideas that most of us voted for.

Sage Award Person of the Year: This year, Sage Street agrees with the choice of Time magazine's person of the year, which was the "protestor." The Sage Street blog editor proudly accepts the award, in being a long-time protestor on many issues and levels over the years. But the award actually goes to all of the freedom and rights protestors of 2011, especially those in the "Occupy" movement and the "Arab Spring" democracy protests.

The second annual Sages, for 2010...

This is the second annual presentation of the Sages, the end-of-the-year awards from the Sage Street blog. Congratulations to the winners, as well as the nominees!

BIGGEST POLITICAL WINNER--This category was painfully empty this year, as more people, including good politicians, actually lost. The nominees included Jerry Brown, a Democrat who won the California gubernatorial race for a second time; Scott Brown, a moderate Republican who used a pickup to pick up middle class support to win a Senate seat in Massachusetts; and both Democratic senators named Udall (cousins Mark Udall in Colorado and Tom Udall in New Mexico). But the winner is Lisa Murkowski, the former Republican and newly Independent senator from Alaska, who ran a long-shot write-in campaign and won. What Murkowski actually did was defeat the Tea Party, who had put up an extremely conservative candidate as the Republican nominee. Even better, Murkowski "defeated" Sarah Palin, who had backed the Republican candidate. It has been downhill in popularity and seriousness for Palin ever since.

BIGGEST POLITICAL LOSER--Wow, a filled category. The nominees included President Obama, who went to the aggravating center, compromised on important principles, and pretty much lost his progressive way, probably ending his chances for re-election as his enthusiastic majority faded slowly away. The young voters, who had supported his ideals, didn't like his need to rack up compromised achievements of lackluster legislation and so they didn't vote in the 2010 mid-term election and thus the Democrats lost the House and probably the future. Obama's concept of "change" seems to be replacing one Clinton Administration person with another Clinton Administration person. Doesn't he himself know anyone worthy of political thought outside of Clintonville and Chicago?! Other nominees included David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, who showed the UK why conservatives don't lead to progress; the Democratic Party, who lost Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House and three great progressive politicians Russ Feingold, Joe Sestak, and Alan Grayson, all who lost their elections; the Tea Party who put up crazy candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angle, and other backward-thinkers who lost their elections; the Republican Party which is burdened by the likes of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner; and John McCain, whose flip-flopping stance on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy just made him look like an "old fool." But the winner or, in essence, loser in this category is the American people, because of all of the previous reasons.

MOST AGGRAVATING--The nominees included the Republican zeal for rich people as indicated by their demand for the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy despite what it will add to a budget deficit; British Petroleum with its leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico which created the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history; the lack of jobs desperately needed by the unemployed; the failure of President Obama and the Democrats to promote a public option for health care; and the Republican denial of global warming despite the weather extremes and records. Many years ago, when I lived in Wyoming, I think my newspaper was the first in the state to recommend that Wyoming adopt the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The governor at the time, though a Democrat--which often doesn't mean much in Wyoming--dragged his feet and waited and stalled, but finally approved the adoption. But by the time it was done, its passage seemed more embarrassing, for being slow, than triumphant, for being bold. Such was also the case for the December repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy concerning gay soldiers in the military. It was with a yawn, an "About time!" and finally joining the rest of the world democracies that the repeal got through Congress and to the president. But the winner for most aggravating and generally horrible is the continuation of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the loss of lives and the huge cost. The war in Afghanistan goes into its 10th year, the longest in U.S. history.

BEST PEOPLE MOMENTS--The nominees included Shirley Sherrod, the woman who was unfairly removed from her job at the USDA, who showed why the rant and the sloppiness of the right-wing media is destructive; Velma Hart, the woman who spoke her mind to President Obama at a CNBC town meeting concerning the economy and expressed what most of us in the middle class were thinking; when the former insurance executive apologized and described to filmmaker Michael Moore the effort by Cigna and the insurance industry generally to undermine his documentary "Sicko" because the insurance industry didn't want Americans to start a populist movement for universal health care; Anderson Cooper, for an amazing moment after the Haiti earthquake when he came to the rescue of an injury boy; and the inspirational views of Elizabeth Edwards on the Larry King Live show, not long before her death. The winner is Jon Stewart whose speech at his D.C. rally noted the concept of respect and community by using the analogy of drivers taking their turns in traffic: "You go, then you go, then you go." And everyone gets to where they are going on the American highway of opportunity, freedom, and care.

BEST TV NEWS SHOW GUESTS--Howard Dean, Anthony Weiner, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Edwards, and Joe Biden who is probably the best member of the Obama Administration for, as vice president, being able to speak to truth while the president speaks to politics. The winner is Ralph Nader, who showed up on the Lawrence O'Donnell news show. Wow, he had been missed!

THE QUOTE OF THE YEAR--The nominees included the response by President Obama in the Jon Stewart interview of "Yes, we can, but..." It was a "but" that just confirmed why Obama is seen in disappointing ways. Another nominee is the recent "tweet" by Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker that noted "I just doug out your car," a reference to his good work in helping to clear streets of snow but which also shows why politicians shouldn't use Twitter if they can't spell. ("Dug" not "doug" unless it is a play-on-words for a guy named Doug who had a snowed-in car and, in that case, might be clever. Twitter language is supposed to reduce letters to irritating spellings of "u" for you, not increase letter amounts.) And who could ever forget--even if you want to--the quote from a young man's airport security experience, "Don't touch my junk." It was aimed at Pat Down, the ubiquitous airport security person. But the quote of the year is "I am not a witch," spoken by Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, conjuring up ghostly images of Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook." And when O'Donnell uttered the words, she was wearing a black blouse with a black background. All that was missing was a black, pointy witch's hat. Couldn't her PR people have at least suggested the colors of green or pink or blue as the color companion if she were going to go there?

A TIP OF THE HAT TO...All are winners here: Salvatore Giunta, Medal of Honor winner for heroic service as an American soldier in Afghanistan; Larry King, who retired from his interview show on CNN; Andy Griffith, who became a spokesman for TV public announcements about health care reform; and Leslie Nielsen, who died in December, leaving a movie legacy of deadpan humor and entertaining comedies.

BEST TV ENTERTAINMENT MOMENTS--The nominees included Andy Samberg's songs, often with nasty innuendo but always goofy and funny, on "Saturday Night Live"; the Geico Insurance commercial about the "woodchucks chucking wood;" the clever writing of James Thurber as read by MSNBC news personality Keith Olbermann; and the entertaining CNN teaming of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin for the New Year's eve show. But the winner is Betty White, whose monologue and comedy-sketch performances as a guest host on "Saturday Night Live" was very amusing. She seems pretty ageless with her sparkle and wit.

BEST ENTERTAINMENT TV SHOW--"Saturday Night Live," "Merlin," "Haven," "The Mentalist," "The Closer," "Parks and Recreation," and "Monk." The winner is "Smallville" though the absence of the character Chloe, played by Allison Mack, was evident this past fall.

ACTORS AND ACTRESSES TO WATCH who are early in their careers, all of whom are winners: Ashley McKay, Yuval David, and Carlo Marks.

BEST NEWS SHOW--"Rachel Maddow Show," "Keith Olbermann's Countdown," "Anderson Cooper's 360," "Nightline," "60 Minutes," "Ed Schultz Show," "The McLaughlin Group," "Need to Know," "Fareed Zakaria's GPS," "Reliable Sources," "Caught on Camera," "Now," "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." The winner is the PBS News Hour.

BEST NETWORK--MSNBC (except for the crime show schedule on the weekends), CNN, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and the Sci-Fi Channel. The winner is PBS for depth of news and information, music, and historical programming.

WHAT I NEVER WATCHED (not once in 2010): Fox news or commentary shows, most reality shows, "American Idol," "Mad Men," and "Dexter."

BEST BOOKS (from the ones that I read, some of which were written in earlier years): "The GI Bill, A New Deal for Veterans," "Thirty-Eight Witnesses," "All the Devils Are Here, the Hidden History of the Financial Crisis," and "Jacob Riis, Reporter and Reformer." The winner is, but I'm very biased on this category, the sixth edition of the Wyoming Almanac. For digital books: "The Wolves and Short Stories" and "Sage Street."

BEST MOVIE (from movies I watched, some of which were made in earlier years): Not as many good ones as last year that I found, mainly through Netflix. "Avatar" and "Blind Side," which were two from last year that I finally watched. Also, "Daybreakers," and "2:37." For an indie film, the winner is "Entre Nos," a 2009 movie about Colombian immigrants in New York city. Paola Mendoza was the main actress as well as director in a story based upon her mother's experience in struggling to provide for her children. For a major film, it has to be "Avatar," which was excellent and really set a new standard in special effects. (Favorite movies continue to be "Dear Frankie," "Idiocracy," "Bella," "Sin Nombre," "Angel-A," "Children of Heaven," "Evil," "Unleashed," and "Across the Universe," and the segment leading up to the sheep driving the truck off the cliff in "Black Sheep.")

And drum-roll...

HONOREE (PERSON OR ORGANIZATION) OF THE YEAR--Last year, the Sage Street "Honoree of the Year" was singer Pete Seeger. Time magazine named Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, as its 2010 "Person of the Year." Sorry, Zuckerberg didn't even make the list for the Sages. This year, the nominees were:

Elizabeth Edwards, who lived with grace, optimism, and resilience and who died of cancer before the year ended. She also was probably the truest voice among the many leaders in politics and society for progressive action.

Jon Stewart, who kept the humor and insight going on his TV show. He continues to be a political power through his sharp perspectives.

Rachel Maddow, who provides meticulous depth on issues on her MSNBC TV news show while she also is smart, likable, has a sense of humor, and can easily smile, which is rather rare and unaccomplishable for most TV talking heads, especially the mean, angry ones on the right.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner who writes about economics and politics for the New York Times, who always had insightful views about the economy and recommended an approach more like one from FDR.

The people within the organizations of Amnesty International and the ACLU for continuing the important missions of those organizations.

The winner is the WikiLeaks organization of people who have determined its mission of dedication, as a website, to worldwide governmental and business transparency. It is hoped that Julian Assange, the founder of the site, is correct in defining the criminal accusations against him as false and as a smear campaign. However, the site itself should not be judged by the personal conduct or behavior of one person. The information on the WikiLeaks is probably the most important addition to American journalism since the passage of the Freedom of Information Act.

(To see the first Sage award nominees and recipients, go to the Politics category for 12/29/09.)