Thursday, July 23, 2009

His legacy will be one of the great legacies of great Americans. It sounds overstated, but it isn’t.























Cronkite Funeral Service to Be Webcast by CBS News

By Brian Stelter

CBS News will webcast the family funeral service for the former anchorman Walter Cronkite on Thursday.

The funeral for Mr. Cronkite, a pioneer of television news who was the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, will begin at 2 p.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan. The private service will include tributes by the “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney and Mr. Cronkite’s son, Chip, among others.

The network said it would stream the service on cbsnews.com...

CBS said a grander memorial service was expected to be held at Lincoln Center in the coming weeks. No specific plans for it have been announced.



AMERICAN DREAM
-by Julia Vinograd

I've been trying to remember America
when Walter Cronkite of the handsome white hair was president
and there weren't any politicians.
When fireworks and immigration were both legal;
we wanted everyone to want us,
it proved we were the best.
I held a sparkler, the Statue of Liberty held a torch,
I expected my light to grow into hers.
I remember when boys who wore baseball caps
played baseball.
There were maps full of geography
but they were the past.
We had fast food, fast cars and movies
of the slowest kiss in the world,
the one that's still going on
but I can't see it anymore.
America. I grew up believing it worked
even though it didn't work for me.
Like all the sad housewives
sure their neighbors' marriages were happy,
watching afternoon soaps in empty houses
with the blinds pulled down.
It might even be better now
in the dark where nothing works.
We're all scared and the birthday cards
painted on the sky peeled off long ago.
No more pretending.
Everything's broken from promises to plumbing,
it's not just us anymore.


Image and video hosting by TinyPic



-drawing of Walter Cronkite by and courtesy of Barrie Maguire,
NewsArt
-poem by Julia Vinograd from
Berkeley Daze
-title quote by George Clooney, actor/director, in describing Cronkite
-graphic from
tinypic


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8 comments:

bookmanie said...

"All this is interesting. The American dream always makes me think of the profits of merchants shovels, and the ruin of those who bought for gold." Bookmanie

Looking to the Stars said...

Good post! the american dream died and a piece of ourselves with it.

Lydia said...

@bookmanie- It seems that everyone has an idea of what the American dream is. For me it is described in the poem I keep at the very end of the page in my blog.

@Looking to the Stars- In some ways the last eight months have given me hope that a new American dream is now being shaped. That's heady stuff to consider because if it's true then it means tending that dream really is in our hands.

Darlene said...

I will never forget that wonderful voice booming out each evening dispensing real news. They don't make them like that any more.

Walter Cronkite was truly a real journalist. He will never be forgotten.

Lydia said...

@Darlene- So interesting that you referred to his "voice booming out" because it really did that...but without a high volume that hurt ears or had you running for the remote to turn down the volume. What an amazing quality that was.

Rhiannon said...

I shall miss him dearly. Watching him when younger, I remember feeling as if I was watching and listening to a well groomed articulate, intelligent grandfather type figure...who knew exactly what he was talking about, as he read and told us the "News of the day"...and you felt his heart was always in it. Smiles came along the way also..and charm and the twinkle in his eyes..and the sorrow in his voice when stating the vietnam death count day by day. He represented a "responsible" era of the news back in the day..when it truely "was" responsible journalism. Instead of all the "talking heads" nowadays, that interrupt one another, giving constant opinions(when not even asked)and are always mouthing off at one another..their egos taking over any "sense&sensibility" let alone common "decent" sense of respect for one another.

Walter was and still is "history". He told the news, just like it was. Not like he wanted it to be.

And that's the way it was and will always be.

Rest in peace Walter..and may you be sailing up on high..beyond the sky.

Love and Blessings,

Rhi

Lydia said...

@Rhi- Beautiful. Just beautiful, Rhi.

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

Thank you for the blessings of your words, Lydia, and the poems you choose to post, too. I cried upon reading this(some sorrow, & even some joy)
Peace,yo.

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