Earlier this year, I was solicited to take part in a Pew Research Center “2022 Survey of Journalists.” It didn’t take long — about 15 minutes — and I was happy to do so. But little did I realize it was as “monumental” as it apparently was.

As we celebrate Father’s Day this weekend, I am mindful of two episodes that made me realize my dad was someone special.

I love asking people this question: So, you’ve got folks coming into the area to visit, where will you take them or what will you do to show off the Finger Lakes region?

One of the first editors I ever worked for as a fledgling cub reporter used to say, “Reporters need to REPORT the news, not BE part of the news.”

I had a professor of Italian at St. John Fisher College who not only was among the best instructors I ever had, but also was among the most memorable.

Other than the facts that our given first name is Michael and we both grew up being called by the nickname Mick, I never really thought I had much in common with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger (oh wait, my friend Diane Kitchen up in Lyons loves both of us too, so there’s that!)

I had a very nice phone conversation with a reader the other day, and I was so glad she called because she was asking about something that I wanted to address in a “Pub Chat” one of these days but hadn’t gotten around to. Until now.

If you’re not a particularly religious person, please bear with me on this Easter-related “Pub Chat.” I think you’ll find it worthwhile, or at least I hope so, which, after all, is what Easter is all about. Hope.

Did you catch those national championship basketball games?

Stupendous. Very beautiful. Incredible.

“Regrets, I’ve had a few … ” crooned the late, great Frank Sinatra in his 1969 hit “My Way.”

Just some housekeeping items in this week’s “Pub Chat” on this first weekend of Daylight Savings Time 2022.

A couple of weeks ago, Michael J. Fitzgerald wrote in his weekly Finger Lakes Times “Write On” column about what he called “news deserts.” His focus was the Schuyler County town of Hector, which is struggling to draft new zoning laws, yet has no major news source — newspaper or otherwise — t…

March is known for many things — some good, some bad.

The one thing about writing a weekly column is that some weeks — like this past one, in particular — I have so many things to attend to in my “real” job that sitting down to write a column can get shuffled to the backburner.

Two fairly significant events are coming up in the next few days — and no, I’m not talking about National Crab Rangoon Day or National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day (although those observances actually are today and tomorrow, if you’re keeping score at home).

There’s a humorous internet meme going around these days with a picture of longtime rock-and-roller Neil Young and the following message:

In these snowy, frigid, dark days of mid-winter, I wanted a “Pub Chat” that would remind us all of warmer times, so this is a tale from last summer. It also, by chance, continues a theme of other recent chats: Connections between us, those moments that make us say, “Wow, it really is a small…

We’ll call this one the Great Hearing Aid Caper.

I love connections, those serendipitous six degrees of separation, those ties that bind us as human beings even if we don’t learn about them for many years. Or sometimes ever.

Geneva has a rich baseball history. The problem is, if you’re younger than 30, you probably have no idea of just how rich it is.

Writing is cathartic for me, and so, this column is a little more personal than usual. I think you’ll understand, and being the holiday season, I hope you’ll indulge me.

My wife jokingly refers to me as a “blurbologist.”

The first time I visited San Diego, I remember watching a local weatherman on television and thinking, “That has got to be the cushiest job in America.”

Keith Richards, guitarist, singer and songwriter with the Rolling Stones, has been quoted as saying, “Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.”

If you, like me, are a fan of dessert — and really, who isn’t? — you may not know it, but we lost a real sweet icon recently, a man who was called a “gastronomical star” by the governor of his region in Italy.

Most of us know the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It may be among the world’s most recognized and oft-repeated proverbs.

A recent Letter to the Editor has created quite a stir, and has drawn at least a half-dozen letters in reply. That’s enough buzz that I thought it would be a good time to devote a “Pub Chat” to the subject of what we often refer to as LTEs.

If you see the words Blue Öyster Cult and think of one of America’s iconic hard rock bands, around since the ’70s and still making music, you’re probably about my age.

Regular readers know Dee Calvasina is a Saturday columnist for us, writing eloquently every month about Deer Haven Park and Seneca County’s globally famous white deer herd in her “Beyond the Fence” pieces.

I have a buddy — Lyons Athletic Hall of Famer and rock drummer extraordinaire Pete Kitchen — who teases me when he doesn’t see a weekend column from me.

Heard any good conspiracy theories lately?

It was one of those great finds, something you come across when you are looking for something else.

As we all continue to navigate these times that are so unprecedented in so many different ways, we continue to search out those moments that give our lives a sense of normalcy. And humor.

The news on the day before Thanksgiving that Diego Armando Maradona had died in his native Argentina caused barely a ripple in the Finger Lakes. Tucked in among stories on COVID-19 surges, vaccines, and politics, NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt” had a short piece on him — which amazed m…