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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016 BARROW JOURNAL PAGE 5A Spring cleaning Keep the news in news feeds When I was a kid, there were two words that I dread ed more than any other: Spring Cleaning. You know what I’m talking about. We had our chores to do every week, and though we grum bled about doing them, we even tually got them done. But spring cleaning chores are unlike the regular chores. Spring cleaning meant flipping mattresses, wash ing windows, cleaning baseboards, beat ing the rugs outside, taking down the curtains for clean ing, washing out window sills, cleaning out drawers and cabinets. It was usual ly a week-long event. Oh, how my brother and I hated spring cleaning. Some things carry over from childhood. One of the things I brought with me from mine was my loathing of spring cleaning. Well, cleaning of any kind, actually. Whitney's dad never objected to my having home parties like Tupperware, Home Interiors, etc., because he said it meant I would give the house a good cleaning. Now, after having spent many years liv ing alone, one might think that it would be easier to keep a tidy house. Well, not so much for me. I love having a clean house, but whenever I clean, someone comes in behind me and mess es it up again. So. what’s the use. right? There’s nothing quite like the feeling of sitting in a tidy room with the floor freshly vacuumed, and everything in its place. I just don’t understand why it can’t stay that way. Who are these rascals that leave things out of place, and put dirty dishes in my sink? I can understand the cat-hair tumbleweeds, since I share my home with three kitties. But this other stuff, I just can’t understand. Surely I, my ownself, am not making this mess! One of my least favorite chores is laundry. Not so much the actual *doing* of the laundry, but the fold ing and putting away of the laundry. Busy girl that I am, (I tell myself), I don’t have time to stop what I’m doing and fold/put away the laundry when it comes out of the dryer. So, it usually ends up in a nice pile in the floor of my bedroom. That's not such a bad thing, really. Well, until every article of clothing I own ends up in the floor of my bedroom. I know it’s time to do laundry when I start to see bare spots on the floor. I've been home a lot more this summer than usual, and one of the things on my to-do list was to get my laundry under control. Something always comes up, though, and it doesn't seem to get done. Now that the end of summer break is coming to an end, and life will return to some semblance of normal, I am finally getting motivat ed to tidying up a bit. My laundry is all folded and put away, and my floor is vac uumed. For the moment, my kitchen is clean, as well as my living room. No, it’s not spring cleaning, but it’s a start. Now if I can just keep those gremlins from messing it up again... Cathy Watkins Bennett is a Barrow County native and a graduate of Winder-Barrow High School. Send com ments about this column to beneath @aol. com. cathy watkins bennett Food distribution day set July 28 The Barrow County Food Pantry in partner ship with The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia will hold a Food Distribution Day on Thursday, July, 28, beginning at 8 a.m. The event is held rain or shine at Holly Hill Mall on Athens Street in Winder. This is open to all Barrow County residents who meet USDA income eligibility requirements. Proof of Barrow County residency is required and the food is distributed on a “first- come, first-served’’ basis. Sunflower Festival plans underway The City of Statham will host its 18th annual Sunflower Festival on Saturday, Sept. 17. Applications are currently being accepted for vendors. Space is limited and vendors will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. The festival committee attempts to not have an over-abundance of the same type of ven dors, however, there may be some duplications. All interested vendors are asked to make inquiries early about space for this year’s Sunflower Festival. Vendor spaces are 12x12. Craft vendor spaces cost $30 without electricity and $40 with electricity. Food vendor spaces are $55 without electricity and $65 with electricity. Vendors are responsible for furnishing their own tables and other needed materials. All food vendors must have an up-to-date fire extinguisher. No refunds are given due to weather. Call 770-725-5323 for more information or write Statham Sunflower Festival, P.O. Box 87. Statham, Ga. 30666. News is a part of our social lives, and it should continue to be. Facebook, the mega-social network ing website, announced last week its plans to redo users' News Feeds. In an effort to “build a better news for you,” Facebook plans to rework its News Feeds placing more empha sis on posts from friends and family. The changes will likely impact Facebook “pages,” resulting in lower traffic and views for posts. These pages can be anything from local newspapers or major national media groups, to non-profit organizations or city govern ment pages. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to show more updates from friends and family, our social lives contain more than just those people. In many cases, the posts from news pages are far more relevant to me than the pictures my friends post of food and babies. Often, I'd rather read a story about something going on around me than see a status update from a family mem ber thanking people for wishing them a “happy birthday.” Even among relationships with friends and family, there's more than what is posted on Facebook. Our rela tionships are far more complex than a status update or photo gallery. They involve memories and pastimes, but they also involve both local and global events that connect us all with the rest of the world. When friends and family meet for a reunion or dinner, rarely does the dis cussion solely focus on something you saw on each other’s Facebook pages. You also talk about current events, interesting news and the things going on around you. Facebook is responding to an influx of stories and postings from its 1.65 billion users. This has created “far too much information for any one person to consume.” But the problem isn’t the number of posts being made. The real problem is irresponsible Facebook users (including myself) who carelessly accept every “friend” request they get and “like” every page they see. When you have over 1,000 Facebook friends and “like” over 100 different pages, of course, your news feed is going to be filled with updates you don’t care about. When you place an emphasis on quantity over quality, quantity is what you get. Facebook users should take responsibility for their own individual accounts and their own News Feeds instead of having Facebook decide what interests them. Individual users can ulti mately control what they see in their News Feed, which the company pointed out in its release. If you want to ensure you continue to see updates from the pages you follow, go to that particular Facebook page. Make sure you’ve “liked” the page. Hover your mouse over the “Liked” icon then click “See First.” (If you’re on your phone, click “Following,” then “See First.”) I do this for the news pages that I follow, local governments, public safety groups and my clos est friends and family. Essentially, it brings posts from those pages to the top of your News Feed. Facebook should be making a stron ger push to educate its users about these features instead of deciding what they think interests them and con trolling their content. Facebook doesn’t need to filter News Feeds. Individual users can do that for themselves. Facebook is a powerful tool for con necting. It is a massive social network that connects people, groups and ideas. Our friends and family are certainly a part of our social lives, but they aren’t the extent of it. The news affects our social lives. Current events affect our social lives. The things going on around us affect our social lives. We should all have that news in our “News Feeds.” But individually, we have to make sure the news stays there. Alex Pace is a reporter for the Barrow Journal. She can reached at apace @ barrowjournal. com. Discount spay, neutering services offered CASA seeking area volunteers Court Appointed Special Advocates is looking for volunteers for children in foster care. CASA volunteers advo cate for foster children and help them reach a perma nent, safe solution faster. They also make sure their assigned child receives tutoring when they are struggling in school. When a child is uproot ed from their school and activities, a CASA volun teer makes sure they get plugged into activities they enjoy: maybe it’s joining the local soccer team or signing up to participate in the school play. Most foster children spend at least one birthday in foster care and a CASA volunteer makes sure that day is still special, offer ing a personalized birthday greeting card or maybe a small gift to celebrate and reminding the child that they are important and they are worth celebrating. Piedmont CASA has new volunteer training classes starting on Aug. 25. Visit www.piedmontcasa. org for more information and to download an appli cation. Leftover Pets offers low cost spay/neuter surgeries at the Winder clinic located at 610 Barrow Park Drive. July clinic days include Mondays, Tues days, Thursdays and Fridays. Prices are $85 for female dogs over 25 lbs., $65 for female dogs up to 25 lbs., $55 for male dogs and female cats and $35 for male cats. A $5 discount will be given for any surgery patient no older than 5 months (as determined by Leftover Pets veterinarian). All surgery prices include a free rabies vaccination. There are no additional fees for in heat or pregnant animals. Financial assistance is avail able for any low income Barrow County resident. Appointments are required and must be made by calling 800-978-5226. July 27, 2016 ~ Crossword Puzzle Headmaster’s Corner by Steve Cummings EAGLE BASEBALL CAMPS - We’ve had a great 3 weeks of baseball camps here at ACS. The camps have been led by our Varsity Head Coach, Allen Osborne, and by our Pitching Coach, Jake West brook. Coach Osborne is a former college coach who served as the Head Coach at Wingate University in Char lotte, and as an assistant at UGA. Coach Westbrook was a 1 st round pick in the 1996 Ma jor League draft, and picked up 105 wins in his 13-year career. He also won a World Series with St. Louis in 2011. A big thanks to Coach Os borne and Coach Westbrook, who have made these last 3 weeks a great experience for these kids. ATHENS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL “Affordable Quality Education Since 1970” K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586 www.athenschristian.com Across 1. Baby or infant 5. Common Indian weaverbird 9. Walk 14. Shiite spiritual leader’s title 15. Mirish 16. Nostrils 17. Confiscate 18. Powder mineral 19. Moss, lace or banded stone 20. Doyle detective 23. New Rochelle college 24. “Case of the Ex” singer 25. Rays or devilfish 28. Cutting implements for sewing 33. Two-toed sloth 34. Lightly fry 35. Japanese apricot 36. Gargle 38. Consumed food 39. Swats 41. Doctors’group 42. Baseball teams 44. Japanese waist pouch 45. Impaired by diminution 47. A fixed portion of food 49. Gall 50. A block of soap or wax 51. Polite phrase for “What?” 58. Blackberry drupelets 59. Wild sheep of Northern Africa 60. River in Florence 61. Carried 62. Was visualized 63. Giant armadillo 64. Dwarf buffaloes 65. 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