professorlarry

Here’s the link to my latest Philadelphia Magazine/Phillypost article on Mitt Romney’s misleading TV ad.

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2012/07/13/debunking-romney-ad-private-sector-is-fine/

Here’s the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-atkins/currys-dismissal-setback_b_1659219.html?utm_hp_ref=media

Best Things:

1.  U.S. Supreme Court upholds Obamney Care. Chief Justice Roberts shows courage in splitting from Conservative Justices.

2.  Sixers trade for a big guy and sign Lavoy Allen.

3.  Boise St. officially leaves the Mountain West after having second thoughts. Good news for Temple and the Big East.

4.  Anti-Romney Bain Capital political ads shown to be effective.

5.  Michael Phelps dominates the Olympic Swim Trials

6.  Spain impressive in Euro Cup win

7.  Temple U. doesn’t raise tuition

8.  My Philly Post article (see post below)

Worst Things:

1.  Republicans vow to repeal Obamney Care

2.  Two Cable TV networks erroneously report at first that the Supreme Court had struck down the law.

3.  The purely partisan House censure of Attorney General Eric Holder

4.  Phillies trade Jim Thome

5.  Sixers draft another small forward who can’t shoot.

6.  Ann Curry booted off the Today Show

7.  Extensive media coverage of TomKat divorce

The Philadelphia 76ers have a huge need for good big men. Spencer Hawes is slow and Elton Brand is old. But instead of taking a big man with the 15th pick, they took yet another small forward, Moe Harkless of St. John’s. He was the Big East rookie of the year and might turn into a very good player, but he doesn’t fit the Sixers’ needs. They should have taken Tyler Zeller, the 7 foot North Carolina center, who was the ACC player of the year.  He can run the floor, rebound, play defense, and block shots. They could have gotten Zeller and still made the trade for Arnette Moultrie, which was a good move.  They should have kept their last second round pick and taken Robert Sacre, a 7 footer from Gonzaga who ended up being taken by the Lakers. A troubling aspect of the Harkless pick is that despite his poor three point shooting in college, the Sixers said that he shot well during his workout. That’s a lot different than game situations. Do you like what the Sixers did in the draft? Comment below.

I wrote an article for today’s PhillyPost.com, which is Philadelphia Magazine’s website, on the Utah judge who ordered a mother to cut off her daughter’s ponytail as a punishment. Here’s a link to the article:

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2012/06/29/judge-mom-cut-daughters-ponytail-punishment/

Best

1.  Obama decision on immigration

2.  Jim Thome’s walk off home run

3.  Burger King’s bacon sundae. Mayor Bloomberg’s worst nightmare.

4.  40th Anniversary of Title IX

5.  Teased bus monitor gets over $600,000 in donations

6.  Sandusky conviction

Worst:

1.  Crown for king. LeBron wins first title. I’m still drinking the haterade

2.  Daily Caller Conservative reporter heckles President Obama during his immigration announcement.

3.  Congressional witch hunt on Fast and Furious against Eric Holder.

4.  Muslim Brotherhood candidate declared President of Egypt

5.  Bus monitor gets teased by ruthless 7th graders

6.  Penn St. football doing well in recruiting

7.  Boise St. reconsidering Big East bid.

8.  Too many shootings in Philadelphia over the weekend

Here’s my list of the best and worst things that took place last week. Feel free to add your own:
BEST:

1. My cousin Matthew finished his military duty in Afghanistan and will return home in a couple of weeks.

2.  The Philadelphia Writers Conference was a great success. There were around 200 people in attendance. My personal favorite presentations were Jonathan Maberry’s opening speech, Sonia Sanchez’s banquet speech (even though I’m not a Poetry guy), and Terri Levine’s Nonfiction Book Workshop.

3.  The Boston Celtics lost in the NBA Playoffs.

4.  Joe Banner leaves the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s time for a change. Andy Reid—Time’s yours.

5.  Another Al-Queda Number 2 bites the dust. Obama keeps getting the job done.

WORST:

1.  I’ll Have Another doesn’t get to race for a Triple Crown.

2.  It was reported that Mitt Romney used to pretend to be a police officer in high school and pulled over cars. What a jokester.

3.  Wisconsin re-elects union buster Scott Walker as Governor.

4.  “Bloviating ignoramus” Donald Trump gets back in the news when a contestant alleges that his beauty pageant was fixed. Trump filed a lawsuit right away.

5.  Hatboro-Horsham high school students discover that someone emailed their class rank to the public.

6.  Temple University football player gets charged with rape.

7.  Nude photos of Snooki were leaked online. She already gets too much exposure.

8.  Science fiction legend Ray Bradbury dies.

9.  Le Bron and the Heat go to the NBA Finals

Yesterday, I was interviewed on KYW News Radio about the Philadelphia Writers Conference. Here’ s a link to the text of one of the segments.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/06/05/philadelphia-set-for-64th-annual-writers-conference/

Remembering great athletes who never got a chance to compete in the Olympics. It includes mentions of local athletes, including Eulace Peacock of Temple and Michael Brooks of La Salle. Here’s the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-atkins/olympic-athletes_b_1569448.html

      The 64th Annual Philadelphia Writers’ Conference will take place on Friday, June 8th through Sunday, June 10th at the Holiday Inn at Fourth and Arch Streets in downtown Philadelphia. This year’s theme is: For the Love of Language!

    This year’s keynote speaker is Sonia Sanchez, the world-renowned writer, poet, playwright, teacher, and activist. Last year, Sanchez was named as the first Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. Sanchez, who has written 16 books, has received many awards, including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Humanities for 1988, the Peace and Freedom Award from Women International League for Peace and Freedom (W.I.L.P.F.) for 1989, a PEW Fellowship in the Arts for 1992-1993, a recipient of Langston Hughes Poetry Award for 1999, the Poetry Society of America’s 2001 Robert Frost Medalist, and a Ford

Freedom Scholar from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

    The opening session speaker will be Jonathan Maberry, a New York Times bestselling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer.

     The conference features several three-day workshops, including Short Story, Poetry, Horror/Sci fi/ Fantasy, Memoir, Novel, Playwriting, Writing for New Media, and Nonfiction Book. Other topics include Blogs, Screenwriting, Flash Fiction, Writing for Magazines,

Travel Writing, Writing for Online Magazines, Selling Your E-Book, Using Social Media as a Writer, and Boosting Creativity. The conference includes meetings with book agents and editors.

     Past speakers at the conference have included Pearl Buck, James Michener, Jennifer Weiner, Jeffrey Zaslow, Michael Smerconish, Larry Platt, Chris Satullo, Jane Eisner, Mark Bowden, Larry Kane, Will Bunch, Nelson Johnson, Solomon Jones, and Rachel Simon.

      The conference typically draws between 150 and 200 conferees from the Philadelphia area and around the country. Beginning and experienced writers are welcome.

     Conferees can register for the conference through Kathryn Craft, PWC Registrar, 67 Woodbridge Drive, Doylestown, PA 18901-1971.

Telephone: 610-653-5037.
Website: www.pwcwriters.org       Email: info@pwcwriters.org

Cost for the conference is $225 plus the cost of the optional Friday buffet and Saturday banquet.