Mark Curtis Media

(Boston, Massachusetts) – It has been quite a week in New England with the Boston Marathon bombings and the ensuing manhunt and violence. I spent most of the week covering various aspects of the story, including all day Thursday in Boston for the President’s visit and the interfaith prayer service (photo above). Only 2,000 people were allowed inside the cathedral, and I was honored to be one of them. The role of the press at a moment like this is to help take millions of other people “inside” the service, too, so they can share. Here are my reflections on the week:

“Interfaith Service” – America is an interesting mass of contradictions at times. There continues to be adamant separation between church and state. Yet when a crisis like this hits, where do we find ourselves going? I thought of this Thursday, as all the politicians, preachers, the public and the press gathered inside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston for the interfaith prayer service. It was an amazing event all around. As the Reverend Liz Walker, from the Roxbury Presbyterian Church, said: “We will rise in community, resolutely as one.”

“Boston Strong” – Of all the speakers on Thursday - from the political to the spiritual - Boston Mayor Tom Menino was the best. Beset by poor health, Menino recently announced he would not seek reelection, after serving as Mayor the past 20 years. On Monday after the bombings, he immediately checked himself out of the hospital to manage the crisis in his city. He needed a lot of help to rise from his wheelchair in church Thursday to speak from the pulpit. “Nothing can defeat the heart of this city! Nothing!” he said defiantly. “Even with the smell of smoke in the air, blood on the streets, tears in our eyes, we triumphed over that hateful act Monday afternoon,” he added. It was the most passionate of all the speeches, and I felt sorry for Governor Deval Patrick and President Obama when they had to follow the heartfelt Mayor Menino.

“Outlaws and In-Laws” – The weirdest twist in the story came late Friday afternoon, when I was dispatched to a home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, just a few miles from my own home. The homeowners in this quiet, beautiful, suburban cul-de-sac are the mother and father-in-law of now deceased bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He had married their daughter, Katherine Russell, and the couple has a three-year-old daughter. After being besieged by news media and law enforcement on Friday, the house was already up for sale on Saturday. It remains to be seen how much light Katherine Russell can shed on this investigation, including how much her husband’s radical Islamic beliefs were motivation for the attack, and whether anyone else was involved.

“Candid Camera” – I often wonder about the mindset of the modern-day criminal. Let’s face it. There are cameras everywhere these days, rolling 24/7. The ability to capture images, share them with the press and the public instantly, and then to flood them worldwide through the Internet and social media just amazes me. Most older criminals aren’t tech savvy, but the Tsarnaev brothers - ages 19 and 26 - grew up in the Internet age. They should have known they had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

“Olympic Bombing, Atlanta 1996” – I have covered a lot of big stories in my career, but the only one that compares to the Boston Marathon bombing is the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in July, 1996. I was there in that chaos, too. There were similarities – the rush to judgment, law enforcement missteps, and glaring errors by the press. But there are big differences, too. In 1996, the Internet was just in its embryonic stage. There was no Facebook or Twitter, and there weren’t I-phones to instantly record and transmit photos and videos worldwide. And certainly security cameras are far more prevalent now. The downside of the high-tech age is how quickly people can spread hateful diatribes or instructions on how to build homemade bombs, or can even use their smart phones to set off explosions.

“Best Quotes” – The interfaith service was sprinkled with powerful quotes from Scripture, passionate prayers and moving music. It also had some great political quotes: “Massachusetts invented America,” said Governor Deval Patrick, to perhaps the event’s most rousing applause. And President Obama, who went to law school here and clearly loves Boston, said “It should be clear by now, they (the bombers) picked the wrong city to do it," adding defiantly, "Not here in Boston!” to applause that nearly drowned him out.

“Music is Great Medicine” – As reporters, we are taught to be stoic and not to show emotion, but on stories such as this it is hard. The thing that almost always gets to me is the music. The interfaith prayer service included performances by the Boston Children’s Chorus and the adult Copley Chorus. Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma also performed. It was breathtaking. But when all of them – and the audience – ended the service singing “America the Beautiful,” I had to wipe away a few tears while trying photograph the moment. We indeed are blessed to live in the greatest nation on Earth!

I am always interested in what you have to say. Please click the comment button at www.MarkCurtisMedia.com.

(Providence, Rhode Island) – It was one of those weeks in which no single story dominated the world of politics. It was a jumble of unconnected events. So here is this week's “grab bag” of political nuggets:

“Where’s the Beef?” – Yes, North Korea is beginning to remind me of the old lady in the classic Wendy’s commercial, who did not find much burger in her nearly empty bun. North Korea keeps threatening to launch a nuclear missile at South Korea, Japan or the United States, but never does. While it provides great fodder for late-night comedians, I’m worried. Leader Kim Jong Un is – like his father before him - an unstable kook. I worry that while we’re all looking for missiles on the horizon, he’ll just deliver a suitcase full of nukes at a U.S. shopping mall or mass transit station. The North has no viable rocket program, so it could look for an easier, more unconventional delivery system.

“The Iron Lady” – As one of the first women to lead a major world power, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher helped break the glass ceiling for many women around the globe, both in politics and other endeavors. To a lot of people, she simply set the example that women can lead, too, and at the highest levels. Ideology aside, women who have held public office since Thatcher, including Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, Diane Feinstein and Sarah Palin, owe her a debt of gratitude. CEOs, including Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, also owe some of their success to Thatcher, who died this week, simply because she taught a broad swatch of society that strong, smart women can lead effectively, too.

“Gloomy Skies for the Blue Angels” – I’ve been watching weekly for real, tangible signs of the $85 billion dollar budget sequester from Washington, DC. All of the gloom and doom that was predicted has still failed to materialize. This week, perhaps for the first time since White House tours were curtailed, there was another visible victim. The Blue Angels flight demonstration team has cancelled the rest of its shows for 2013. Sure, it’s disappointing for people who were planning to see a show, including me. But, in the great scheme of federal spending and identifying items that are “needs versus wants,” this is just not a crisis. Many of the job furloughs and deep program cuts that were predicted with sequester have still not happened, and most of the public simply marches on, unfazed.

“Bonehead of the Week” – A Florida police sergeant has been fired after bringing paper targets picturing the late Trayvon Martin to a gun training range and trying to sell them to fellow police officers. What was he thinking? The killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of neighborhood-watch captain George Zimmerman, still awaits trial. The racially-charged case has already brought enough tension to central Florida, without such insensitive behavior. When one cop does something like this, it not only reflects poorly on him, but it unfairly brings harsh judgment on the rest of his profession. That’s wrong.

“Best Looking Attorney General” – I had lots of comments last week regarding my analysis of President Obama's publicly stating that California Attorney General Kamala Harris was “by far the best-looking Attorney General in the country.” One reader suggested that the President was being chided merely because of his race. Can you imagine that there wouldn’t have been a similar outcry had President George W. Bush or, in particular, President Bill Clinton made such a comment? They would have been harshly criticized, too. Supporters of President Obama need to quit playing the race card every time he is criticized or opposed. They did it on health care reform, the fiscal cliff, and now on the Kamala Harris controversy, just to mention a few incidents. President Obama - to his credit - has repeatedly tried to dispel this racial mindset at every turn in his public life.

“Politicians – like Cats – Seemingly Have Nine Lives, Part III” – This is becoming a regular feature in my column, as we watch political figures who left in disgrace simply rise from the dead like Lazarus. Former Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) has won a primary for a Congressional seat from his state, years after being caught in a sex scandal with a woman from Argentina (who was not his wife, but is now his fiancé). Now, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is thinking about running for Mayor of New York City, just years after he, too, resigned in disgrace over a Twitter sex scandal. These two men are redefining the concept of “failing upward.” As I always say, you just can’t make this stuff up.

Have a great week everyone! My surgery went well, and I am back on my feet. Thanks for all the good wishes. As always, share your thoughts by clicking the comment button at www.MarkCurtisMedia.com.

© 2013, Mark Curtis Media, LLC.