New Editor's Ramblings on Lucy and Weekly News

On my first day, Wednesday, there was a lot of eye rolling, as I tried to meet my Patch goal of getting four stories to you before midnight. Can you say, are you kidding?  Four more were due Thursday. Ha, ha, ha, I found myself laughing madly.

When I survived Thursday, Friday came demanding more. I still don't know how, but thankfully, all the stories made it to publication. I was also supposed to be doing all sorts of administrative things that, well, I didn't.

One of the big things that I am failing miserably at is producing a video to introduce you to me. Cause, Lord knows, you just can't get enough of me. 

Until I come up with my grand production, I'm hoping you'll accept this YouTube substitute, as it pretty much says it all. Imagine I'm Lucy. Which for some odd reason, that I'll blame on sleep deprivation, calls to mind an age-old fight between me and my sister, Deenie.

"I'm Lucy."

"No, I'm Lucy."

"No, you're Ethel, I'm Lucy."

"No, no, no, no, no. I am not going to be Ethel."

Since it's my column. Deenie gets no say. I'm Lucy, and my sidekick, Ethel, you guessed it -- Deenie. Sibling rivalry, it never really ends, does it?

Okay, now I'm supposed to do the gratuitous week in review story. I am hoping a few of you read these, because it's Saturday, nearing midnight, Iceland is erupting and I haven't had lunch. So I want to beguile myself into thinking it's for good cause that I'm denying myself the blueberry muffin waiting to be dinner.

Before I launch into to the glump of stories (Is that a word? If not, at least, somewhere Ogden is proud), anyway, before I give you the list, let me say, despite my whirlwind week -- I love being our local editor. It's sappy, I know, but I really do. My eyes may be stinging and my house may be a sty... but, strangely, something quite nice is happening too. 

I think a big part of that is because we local journalists get to see -- and through our work, hopefully, let you see -- the extraordinary ordinary people whose lives and work sometimes go unnoticed. They may not be as camera-grabbing as Gaga, but they are what gives us our souls.

Okay, lest I lose the few of you who have bothered to read this far -- I'll get to the stories.  If you only read one, please take a look at Greenbelter Jon Aert's story.

It's about how the by the mass of Turning Point Academy advocates who showed up to say they want our middle school building. Although some Greenbelt West hopefuls had come to the middle school task force meeting hoping to voice their wishes for the building, they were vastly outnumbered.

Another major event was Greenbelt Homes Incorporated's , which was as much about Greenbelters' spunk as it was about that were debated and amended and argued and decided.

When I was in training on Monday and Tuesday, trying to figure out how in the world to create a video in less than an hour,  Kathleen Bryan mercifully captained the site for Greenbelt. I love the story she posted on  , written by Jolie Doggett, because -- how can you go wrong when you throw a party with Darth Vader, Stormtroopers and real astronauts -- and, as if that weren't enough, you let guests build their own satellite with LEGOs?

I also loved  at Mishkan Torah. It's a video, so you get to hear him play his music.

Okay, there is one more that I'm willing to delay dinner for. one little fish at a time -- I would read it. It's just one cute tale. (Thank me for not saying fish tale.)

There are other good stories that I think you'd like reading. I'll put them in a list at the finish of this column.

That's all for now. "Sink me!" And if you can tell me where "sink me" comes from, you win… hmmm… well… sorry, I don't have any giveaway goodies yet. So, for now, you'll just have to be satisfied with my admiration. Give yourself at least five minutes to figure it out before tapping and mousing your way to imdb.

Starting Monday, I hope to have some more stories for you about our quirky magical little town. And please, drop me a line or two if you get bored. I'm going to be up late anyway. If you don't remember anything else about my wee hour ramblings, just hold on to this one thought -- I'm Lucy.

The list of good stuff:

hired 280 new employees in Greenbelt and added blue crab to its menu. We'll also have a story Tuesday morning on their grand opening.

I liked this one. Although you probably wouldn't guess from my dinner menu, I'm in to good food. Kathleen took us to to see where some of our Greenbelt Farmers Market food comes from.

to one count of extortion and one count of evidence tampering.

list with its massages, facials and body wraps. It also started its classes this week.

Is our own legendary stirring up his troops? Pay attention to the signs. How could one little goat elude that many police unless the force was with him.