Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Out With the Old; In With The New

Posted Jan 4, 2010 by Kris DiGiovanni

Updated Jan 4, 2010 at 12:22 PM

This past week has been full to the brim with retrospectives, looking back on the year and the decade just past.

Personally, there’s not much from either that I care to remember.

The last president turned an inherited budget surplus into a staggering debt. He missed his chance to eliminate the leader of the organization that brutally attacked us, then belatedly launched an inept and unsuccessful effort to eliminate him. He invaded a country that had done nothing to harm us, and represented no imminent threat, because he was convinced that it was in our country’s best interests to proactively remove specific despots rather than focus on the group that had actually committed an act of war against us. After trillions of our dollars and way too many young American lives. instead of making the world safer, this tactic resulted in the establishment of Al Qaeda in a country which had not previously been open to them, and earned the US the reputation of being the world’s bully,

That the voters were disgusted with his handling of our country was evident in the last election, where George Bush and his party were firmly shown the door. But instead of taking the message to heart and regrouping, the party whose ideas were so flatly rejected in November has spent the entire last year trying to it discredit the current administration. They have reacting with malevolent hostility to every proposal, and used every trick they can think of to block or seriously weaken legislation.

They have shown their concern for their fellow Americans not by offering their own ideas or solutions, but by heckling the president during speeches, inventing “death panels” and other boogey-men, and blocking appointments, then complaining that no one’s in charge. They have been focused not on becoming a better party themselves, but only on ensuring their de-facto leaders’ wish, “I hope the President fails” comes true.

Thanks to pundits and politicians slyly using misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies, presented with a theatricality that would put to the most over-the-top ham to shame, our country has become more divided than it has ever been. The newspapers, airwaves, and blogs are filled with dire assertions that America is going to hell in a hand-basket and it’s all [insert party]’s fault.

“Ok, so, we didn’t do such a great job these past eight years. Put us back in charge and we’ll fix it,” says one side.

“You had your chance and it’s our turn, so stop getting in our way and we’ll fix it,” says the other.

Who’s right? Due to the total absence of reasoned judgment in the media or on the floor of the House or Senate, we may be halfway through this new decade before we figure it out.

I count myself among those whose job disappeared during the last decade, and who hasn’t been able to find a replacement. I’m also in the group that watched their investment portfolio dwindle to nearly nothing, and whose 401K lost half its value. Along with most everyone else, my home, the repository for most of my net worth, became worth less and less as time passed. I count myself lucky because mine did sell, but only after a year on the market, and for much less than what was put into it.

The last ten years, and particularly the last three, have not been good for me personally, or for the American people. So this is one person who is not pining for the “good old days” of the first decade of the 21st century. Rather, I’m eagerly trying to forget them. Here’s hoping the “teens” bring all of us a better financial situation, our elected officials some sanity and restraint, and our combat troops home.

The author can be reached at KrisDigiovanni at gmail dot com

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