News & Notes
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Thinking About Joe Paterno |
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Written by Tony Mussari
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Sunday, 22 January 2012 13:59 |
Joe Paterno
Written By Tony Mussari, Sr.
Copyright 2012
Mussari-Loftus Associates, LTD
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In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Dr. Martin Luther king
The news of Joe Paterno’s death did not take me by surprise, I expected it. Anyone who followed his story during the past two weeks, knew that Joe Paterno’s days were numbered. Nevertheless, I was saddened to read about Joe’s passing.
During my lifetime, I had three encounters with Joe Paterno. All of them were positive.
The first time I called him, he answered his own phone. I invited him to be a speaker at a banquet here in my hometown. He could not attend because of health problems his wife was experiencing. He graciously volunteered to get us another speaker, and he did.
Our second meeting happened when my brother Ken introduced me to Joe at a social function. He was polite, gracious and very friendly.
The third contact took place 21 years ago. My brother, an avid Penn State fan, died shortly after he left the Blockbuster Bowl in the third quarter. The cause, a fatal heart attack.He was 53-years-old. Our family was devastated. I wrote to Joe Paterno to tell him about Ken’s death. I asked him to write a letter to Ken’s wife and children to ease their pain.
This is the letter he wrote:
During an interview for Windsor Park Stories in 2007, Lee Lispi, one of Joe Paterno’s players, spoke about Joe Paterno the coach and the man. You can watch that interview at this address:
http://www.windsorparktheater.com/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=27&video_id=102
Much has been written and said about Joe Paterno during the past few months. In my mind’s eye, the words William Shakespeare wrote for Mark Antony should be comforting to Joe Paterno’s family and instructive to us:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
 On this day of parting, the words of Joe Paterno ring true for me. This morning I sent his words as a thought for the day to a friend and former student to ease the pain of a recent setback in his life.
Joe Paterno, coach, teacher, philanthropist, husband, father and grandfather is dead at 85. He achieved greatness. He empowered others to do good work on and off the field. He was human. He made mistakes, and one serious and haunting misjudgment. He lived long enough to acknowledge that misjudgment.
He was, in Shakespeare’s words, an honorable man.
May God have mercy on his soul.
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Be Yourself: Our Face of America Journey Continues |
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Written by Tony Mussari
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Monday, 16 January 2012 16:59 |
Be Yourself!
Written By Tony Mussari
Copyright 2011
Mussari-Loftus Associates
The Face of America Project
www.faceofamericawps.com
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson
N.E.D., Hallelujah!
If you have been following our Face of America journey, you know the good, the bad and the ugly about Kitch’s battle with breast cancer. We shared our story as a patient and a caregiver to help others better navigate the dark gravel road called cancer.
In this our first newsletter of 2012, we would like to share some very good news. Kitch completed all of her post treatment tests, and recently she heard these words from her primary care physician: “No Evidence of Disease!”
The acronym N.E.D. filled our hearts with a kind of joy and relief that defies description.
To everyone who helped reach this goal, we want you to know that we are grateful for your acts of kindness and your prayers of healing.
We are forever indebted to the doctors, nurses and medical technicians, who gave Kitch the competent and compassionate care that produced this positive outcome.
You can be sure that we will spend the rest of our life helping others meet the challenges of cancer so they can hear the words “No Evidence of Disease.”
Looking Backward
Two years ago this weekend, Kitch and I were in Yarmouth, Maine. It was the first trip in what would become our Face of America journey across America. 
While we were there, we attended Sunday service at the historic First Parish Church. We visited with Frank Knight, one of the most respected citizens in Yarmouth and the revered caretaker of Herbie, a 240-year-old Dutch Elm that was about to be taken down.
“You get old because you stop doing things,” Frank Knight told us. “You don’t stop doing things because you get old.” The former tree warden of Yarmouth knows what he is talking about. He was 101 years young when he shared this advice with us.
For three days, the Down East Village Restaurant and Motel was our home. Ed and Sue Ferrell were perfect hosts.
To this day, we have fond memories of our visit to Maine, the people we met and the things we learned there about America at its best. We are looking forward to a return visit, if and when our book is published.
You can read about our experience in Maine at this address:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/visiting-maine-in-search-of-the-face-of-america/
Happy Birthday, Dr. King
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Kitch and I would like to share some of his quotations that remind us of what America is on its best day:
Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
The time is always right to do what is right. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We must accept finit e disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
When I think about the life and death of Martin Luther King, the poignant words spoken by Senator Robert Kennedy come to mind:
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort...Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world...Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
Why?
Recently, someone asked me a vey pointed question: “Why do you spend so much time searching for the Face of America on its best day?”
My answer was quite simple: “I am trying to be useful.”
Yes, useful.
When Kitch and I produced corporate videos of J.P. Morgan’s CEO, Dennis Weatherstone, he was quick to tell large audiences of employees  that among the most important people in the bank were the people who worked in the mail room. “If they get it wrong,” he would say, “everything can fall apart,”
That does not mean that CEO’s, and other executive types are not important, but without the men and women who are on the ground in the classrooms, offices, operating rooms and mail rooms of institutions in cities and towns across America, not very much would get done.
These are the people who make America work. Seldom if ever, do they get any attention. Their work does not make the headlines. They are not the subject cable news programs. In a way, they are very much like my father.
My father was a signal maintainer for the D&H Railroad. If he got it wrong on the job, trains would crash. If he got it wrong at home, I would  not be writing this. He was not rich, powerful or famous. He was the most important and lasting influence in my life. Watching him sacrifice for his family gave me a Ph.D. in what really matters in life.
He was not an angry man. He was not a self absorbed man. He was not stressed out about his situation. His world was his family, his neighborhood and his church. He was thoughtful, generous, and kind. He took pride in his work, and he was grateful for everything he had. He was a patriotic and loyal citizen. He lived a useful life.
From my father, I learned that the greatness of America can be found at the ground level. He taught me by example to live the words of Emerson:
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
As we begin the third year of our Face of America journey, Kitch and I are determined to do what Suzanne McCabe encouraged us to do:
Please keep on focusing on the positive people and happenings around us. So much of what we hear and read focuses on the negative – your stories remind us that we really are surrounded by good, but the negative tends to drown it out. Please keep giving good a voice!
Toward that end, you will find three new articles in our Face of America Blog. They highlight the accomplishments of three genuine Faces of  America:
Mollie Marti, Holly Berry and Debbie Heberling.
You will find their stories at these secure addresses:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/walking-with-justice/
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/serendipity-meeting-holly-berry/
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/service-with-a-smile-and-kind-words-to-match/
Until the next time, we hope that all of your stories have happy endings.
Tony & Kitch Mussari
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Christmas Greetings from Windsor Park |
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Written by Tony Mussari
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Sunday, 18 December 2011 19:53 |
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Christmas Greetings from Windsor Park
By Tony Mussari
Copyright 2011
Mussari-Loftus Associates
The Face of America Project
www.faceofamericawps.com,
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"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” Charles Dickens
Moments to Remember
Kitch and I would like to share a few of the magic moments we experienced during our recent Face of America trip to North Plainfield, New Jersey. To be honest, these were four of the most wonderful days of the year. They were filled with learning moments, teaching moments, affirming moments and humbling moments.
The learning moments happened during a production of A Christmas Carol. At one point in the play, 60 students, teachers and administrators were on the stage dramatizing the words of Charles Dickens. They helped everyone in the audience better understand the spirit and the meaning of Christmas. Kitch and I were exhilarated and rejuvenated by the profound words of Charles Dickens and the excellent performance of his play in North Plainfield.
If you have a minute, you can read about our evening with Dickens and how the play puts Christmas in perspective. You will find it at this secure address:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/an-evening-with-dickens/
 Another learning moment took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Kitch and I attended the Christmas Spectacular with Jacqueline and Tom Mazur. There were many aha moments during the stage show. The one that made the greatest impression on my heart involved a song Closer Than You Know. It provided the theme for a prophetic story about a frazzled mother who was looking for the perfect Christmas gift for her daughter.
This secure address will take you to an article about our Radio City Music Hall Christmas experience and some pictures we took of the building once heralded as the showplace of the nation:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/a-day-in-new-york/
Teaching Moments
The teaching moments happened during and after two student assemblies at the North Plainfield Senior High School. I was given an opportunity  to speak to more than 1,000 students before two separate screenings of our documentary Shanksville, PA: A Place of Transformation. I did my very best to introduce the students to the Legacy of 2LT Emily Perez, the meaning of the word hero and the importance of community service.
If you are looking for something to counteract all of the negative messages we get in the news these days, the short video we produced about Emily’s Legacy and the two articles we wrote about the students we met in North Plainfield will lift your spirits and give you hope.
These links will take you to the short video and the articles:
http://faceofamericawps.com/video/emilys-legacy/
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/four-days-in-north-plainfield-nj-part-3/
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/four-days-in-north-plainfield-nj-part-4/
An Evening like No Other
 On December 6, the North Plainfield school district hosted a community screening of our Shanksville documentary. It was an evening of special moments and unexpected surprises. In every respect of the word it was a perfect experience.
Kitch and I have tried to record the magic and the memories for you in this article:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/four-days-in-north-plainfield-nj-part-5/
Living Christmas
Please accept these offerings as a Christmas present given from our hearts to everyone who has been kind and helpful to us during our Face of America journey across America and Kitch’s year-long battle with cancer.
If you are wondering why we continue to search for the Face of America on its best day despite all of the reversals, obstacles and setbacks, if you are wondering why we are determined to highlight stories of hope inspiration and service just like we did whhen we were producing Windsor park Stories, you will find our inspiration in the courageous life of 2LT Emily Perez, in the wonderful work being done in the North Plainfield School District and the encouraging words we receive from people like you who read our newsletter.
A few weeks ago, a person we admire and respect wrote these words after she read our November newsletter:
“Please keep on focusing on the positive people and happenings around us. So much of what we hear and read focuses on the negative – your stories remind us that we really are surrounded by good, but the negative tends to drown it out. Please keep giving good a voice!”
As Kitch and I look forward to Christmas and the New Year, the words of Charles Dickens fill our hearts with a desire to live the Christmas spirit every day of the year:
“I have always thought of Christmas time… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.”
Merry Christmas, and may God bless us everyone.
Tony & Kitch Mussari
Producers
The Face of America Project
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Written by Tony Mussari
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Sunday, 30 October 2011 13:34 |
October Surprises
By Kitch & Tony Mussari
Copyright 2011
Mussari-Loftus Associates
The Face of America Project
www.faceofamericawps.com
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October is a fine and dangerous season in America. It is a wonderful time to begin anything at all. Thomas Merton
Waiting for the Snow to Melt
Like everyone else in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the surrounding states, we are waiting for the rare October snow to melt.
This picture of the Angel Garden is but one of 200 digital images I snapped at various times during the storm.
In our little corner of the world, we had almost a foot of snow. The water-laden crystals covered everything in our garden. It caused branches on the trees to bend and, in some cases, touch the ground. The images were delightful. The sounds of silence were peaceful. The power and poetry of nature was humbling.
On the flip side, trees were downed causing power outages. Driving was treacherous, and people were inconvenienced. Some suffered. One of our friends who is up in years and living alone in a mobile home has only a space heater to keep her warm. She is a courageous face of America who needs help. Kitch does what she can to fill in the gaps.
 I must confess. I love snow. It brings back wonderful memories of my childhood complete with sleigh rides, snowball fights, building snowmen, and freezing cold hands being carefully warmed over a coal stove. We laughed together, played together, got wet together. We did these things in real time, with real people in neighborhoods where everyone knew their neighbors.
Where we lived, no one was wealthy, and every home was heated with anthracite coal, commonly known here as black diamonds. It was a glorious time of community, camaraderie and simple pleasures. It was a time that was, but will never be again.
Battling Cancer
Last Sunday our Face of America journey took us to a wonderful celebration of survival. For three hours we joined a room full of heroes who know the agony of cancer in real and very personal ways. They also know the ecstasy of survival, and the complications one encounters during recovery.
Affectionately titled “Its All About Me Pink Tea: Stories of Survivorship,” the event was sponsored by Candy’s Place, The Center for Cancer Wellness.
You can read our account of this beautiful and poignant experience at this secure address:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/finding-the-ecstasy-in-life-after-the-agony-of-cancer/
Saying Good-Bye to a Friend
Our Face of America journey took us to Brooklyn on a beautiful Friday afternoon. I went to share a painful moment with one of our former  students, Rob Anderson. Rob has been a good friend to both Kitch and me. In fact, when Kitch was diagnosed with breast cancer, Rob competed in a race for a cure. He dedicated his run to his mother and Kitch.
Rob’s mom, Frances Grasso, was a model for Kitch. Unfortunately, her cancer spread to her brain and she died a peaceful death surrounded by her four children: Michelle, Jennifer, Melissa, and Rob.
At her viewing, her oldest daughter, Michelle, described her mother with these words. “My mother was thoughtful, caring and kind. She taught us to always reach up for our best.”
I know that to be the case, because Kitch and I had the privilege of teaching Frances Grasso’s only son. He always responded with his best effort. He is a very good person with a very good heart. He willingly to gives of himself to help others.
Rob was very kind to us during our Face of America trip to Florida.
He is a living legacy of the love and kindness of his mother.
Being a very small part of Rob’s tribute to his mother reminded me of the words of Albert Einstein: “Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us...”
Frances Grasso, 54, lives on in Michelle, Jennifer, Melissa and Rob, and all the people who know them.
Moving Forward
Kitch and I have decided to produce a documentary about battling cancer. It will draw upon our experiences and the things we learned during  the past year.
In may be hard to believe this, but the idea came to us after we discovered Martina McBride’s song “I’m Gonna Love You Through it.” It’s written with conviction and warmth. It’s a wonderful story, and it is a testimony to Martina McBride’s great talent.
An unsuccessful effort to enlist the support of McBride’s production company provided us with a great opportunity. We needed a song and a music bed for our project, so we wrote lyrics that speak to the central theme of the documentary and Kitch's experience battling cancer.
Our friend Mike Lewis helped us make a connection with a producer in Nashville, and next month our song will be recorded.
We have our fingers crossed. We hope things will work out well. We will keep you posted on any developments.
From the Courthouse
On October 17, I drove the Luzerne County Courthouse to respond to a summons for jury duty. For a good part of the week, I had the privilege of living one of the values that exemplifies America at its best, equal justice under law for everyone.
In my opinion, being a part of a jury pool provides invaluable insight into America and Americans at the ground level.
You can read about what I discovered at this secure address:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/maintaining-justice-jury-duty/
Picture of the Month
 One afternoon, I saw something I had never seen before. In fact, when I first saw the hawk having lunch in our backyard, I did not believe my eyes. After I snapped a few pictures, the hawk decided to make a quick exit. Fortunately I had the camera set to the shutter speed and exposure.
This is a picture that speaks to elegance, strength, survival and nature in its unvarnished form.
Until the next time we hope that all of your stories have happy endings.
(Picture of children in the snow courtesy of The Library of Congress digital collection)
Tony & Kitch Mussari
Producers
The Face of America Project
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Written by Tony Mussari
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Saturday, 01 October 2011 18:26 |
Victories and Visits: Our Face of America Journey Continues
By Tony Mussari
Copyright 2011
Mussari-Loftus Associates
The Face of America Project
www.faceofamericawps.com
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You cannot touch love, but you can feel the sweetness that it pours into everything. Annie Sullivan
Battling Cancer: Great News
Kitch finished her radiation treatments on August 17. This picture records the ecstasy and joy of the moment. Day by day she is getting stronger. She takes a yoga class every week, and she works out with light weights three days a week.
Throughout her ordeal, Kitch has been courageous, determined and resolute. These are the words that gave her strength to battle cancer with optimism and hope, “I refuse to let cancer make me a victim.”
In her own quiet way, she is helping other cancer patients deal with the disease and the treatments. In every respect, 2011 has been her finest hour.
To Kitch’s doctors and nurses, the members of our family, our friends and the people we met during our journey along the dark gravel road called cancer, we say Thank You.
For the rest of our life, we will use what we learned battling this disease to help others who are suffering. That is the least we can do for the precious gift of life God gave us.
Good News
 Every now and then someone asks us what the status is on the book we have written about our Face of America journey. Recently, we received some very encouraging news from our literary agent.
The book proposal is in the hands of an editor at a major publishing house in New York. We don’t know what the outcome will be, but we have been told this is a major accomplishment especially in these days of celebrity books!
Our agent put it this way, “Not many book proposals get that far these days.”
We have our fingers crossed, and we will keep you posted on any developments.
Shanksville: Sentimental News
To use the words of a famous nanny, our final visit and screening in Shanksville was “practically perfect in every way.” The weather was good. The people who attended were wonderful. The documentary was well received, and the memories we have are rich in all the ways that matter.
Recently we posted several articles about our final screening on our Face of America website. You can read them at these secure addresses:
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/shanksville-a-place-of-transformation/
http://faceofamericawps.com/articles/
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/an-unforgettable-weekend-in-shanksville/
http://faceofamericawps.com/news/the-secret-to-our-remarkable-weekend-in-shanksville/
 During the past ten years, producing the Shanksville documentary was central to the rhythm of our life. We recorded the necessary B-roll and interviews during our visit. We recorded additional interviews during the year, and we set aside four months for editing and post-production.
To be very honest, it was the most important work we have ever done, and we loved every minute of every day we worked on the film and planned the events for the visit.
Access to the Peoples’ Memorial to the Heroes of Flight 93 was never an issue. The people we met at the Peoples’ Memorial were welcoming and very helpful. It was not uncommon for us to visit Shanksville several times during the year.
In ten years, we have produced 22 documentaries about Shanksville, Point Thank You on the West Side Highway in New York and Ground Zero. None of these documentaries was motivated by profit and no attempt was ever made to commercialize this work.
We did the work to help keep the memory of that day alive. We did it to help young people better understand what happened that day and why it is important to remember all those who lost their lives on September 11, and after in Iraq and Afghanistan. We did it from the goodness of our hearts and with love for our country.
For our part, we are pleased to have had the opportunity to tell the Shanksville story in a Windsor Park way. Our final visit and screening was remarkable in every sense of the word. We left Shanksville with a very good feeling about the work we did, the people we met, the friendships we made, the things we learned, and the hundreds of people we took to the Peoples’ Memorial in Shanksville.
The words of Annie Sullivan best describe our ten year What Is America? project in Shanksville.
“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.”
Anniversary News
One year ago we were driving south to finish our Face of America Journey. We visited Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia. Kitch really enjoyed this part of our journey. She loved Charleston and Savannah. We met some wonderful people, and we recorded several; beautiful scenes. Little did we know then what was ahead of us? Often during her battle with cancer, we talked about the magic moments from this part of our trip.
Picture of the Month
 During our final vist to Shanksville, kitch and I decided to spend a few minutes walking along Main Street. this sentimental journey took us to one of the town's landmarks, Idas Store.
While we were there we purchased two ice cream cones. Like two tenagers, we sat in front of the store visiting with people as they came to pick up items.
I took this picture of the Amish while Kitch and I were sitting on the bench in front of Ida’s Store.
Kitch waved to the couple, and the Amish woman smiled and waved back. It was a priceless moment on a day of many memorable moments.
On the Road Again
In the days ahead, we will be sharing our Shanksville documentary with audiences in Maryland and New Jersey. 
We have been invited to speak about the documentary and our Face of America project at a lecture series in the spring.
One of the women who visited Shanksville with us this year is determined to find a way to get the documentary into high schools across the country. If that happens we will very busy. If it doesn’t happen, we have the sweet memory that someone cared about our work and was willing to help us share it with others.
In our opinion, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Until the next time we hope that all of your stories will have happy endings.
Tony & Kitch Mussari
Producers
The Face of America Project
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