Half a century hasn’t dulled the tragedy of these Christmas stories.

Start With People and Where Are You?

 Top public relations executives took a long, searching look at themselves and what they referred to as “continuing attacks” on their work at their recent Miami Beach convention and their conclusions are succinctly reported in the four-page PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Convention News.

In his keynote speech, the new president, Kenneth Youel, said the society’s job primarily was to raise the stature of public relations as a profession.

“The greatest area for accomplishment,” he said, “the great challenge to public relations leadership is this:  How can we attract more of the right kind of young men and women into public relations?  How can they themselves be prepared for leadership?  I have thought about this many times and inevitably I return to the same starting point — people.” Continue reading →

A Lucky Man

 Lee Shippey sat smiling at a table in the Broadway Department Store yesterday, chatting with friends and autographing copies of his new book, his 11th, “The Luckiest Man Alive.”  Lee, a glowing, healthy 76, means himself.  The book is autobiographical.

Lee, columnist for The Times for 30 years, now living in Del Mar, writes near the end of his book,

“I have been able to do what I wished to do and live as I wished to live.  I have a house full of good books and a world full of friends.

“It is only through our appreciations that we live.  Without them we would be mere clods, even if wealthy and powerful clods.  The man who can appreciate kindness, courage, faith and beauty is very rich. Continue reading →