BACK IN THE SADDLE
Art is about inspiration, insight
What is art? OK, OK, that’s a way-too-heavy question to launch a column in a small town Indiana newspaper. But I’ve got to admit it has been on my mind for the past couple of months.
Relative’s passing led to knowledge
Thanks to a cousin I haven't talked to in years, I now know my great-grandfather's name. Genealogy has never been a high priority at our house.
Problems there are cause for worry
It’s been a rough several weeks. Not here. There. Here, things have been just short of spectacular. But things are often different on the other side of the world, as the news from Iraq reminds us daily.
Dictionaries failed to bring fluency
If you could learn a language by buying dictionaries, I’d be fluent by now. Fact is, I’m as much a linguistic basketcase as the rest of America. That truth was driven home to me over the weekend.
It was time to correct a mistake
I dug the hole in the wrong place. As Mother Nature has reminded me. More than 20 years ago, we moved into our house in Portland.
Reading negotiations came to halt
Some serious negotiations are under way at our house, and Harry Potter is involved. No, not the wizard himself. The books. It started long before the latest in J.K. Rowling’s string of best-sellers hit the bookshelves — or, in the case of LoBill’s in Portland, the produce shelves.
Column sparked reader response
You never know what’s going to prompt a response from readers.
The right grill finally came along
I’ve finally found the grill of my dreams. That’s not a typo. I found the girl of my dreams back in 1968 and married her in 1971. The grill of my dreams was a gift on Father’s Day.
Old road has disappeared to history
The rows of corn kept marching in neat lines, east to west, north to south. There wasn’t any hint of northwest or southeast to be seen. Any trace of what I was looking for had long ago been erased by passing time.
Everyone needs a friend like Andy
These days, when a storm front is approaching, I can feel it in my knuckles. The combination of age and a lifetime of work at typewriters and computers has given me some variation of carpal tunnel or arthritis. Most of the time, it’s just a nuisance. But the knuckles really …
Freedoms don’t extend everywhere
Anna shook her head in disbelief. “That sounds like kindergarten journalism,” said the voice in my headset, translating her words.
Time goes by quickly at 4-H auction
Pete Shawver leaned over and asked, “How many years?” Good question. Melodi Haley and I had been talking about that same thing earlier in the week.
How much have we really changed?
The ugliness of it was casual, and that made it even uglier. Growing up in Jay County in the middle of the last century, my generation was awash in casual racism. It was something we inherited from those who went before us, but by the 1960s it was also something …
The only choice was to sing along
The first time I saw them, they were “The Rick Z Combo.” It was a spring dance when I was in high school, one of those girl-ask-boy things that were known back in the day as a Sadie Hawkins dance. (If that reference escapes you, you’re too young to remember …
Cluelessness is widespread issue
You’ve probably heard of the “Stockholm Syndrome.” That’s a psychological effect which occurs when people who have been taken hostage start to identify with and side with the very people who took them hostage. At our house, we keep track of the “Stratford Syndrome.”
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