The expansion of a song into a short story – by the end, one will have little to do with the other – continues with its penultimate part. As clueless as he had felt at any time in his life, Jerry Lowndes knocked on the door of Room 227 of the Nocono Lodge, where …
Tag: government
Every Day Is Fools Day
Is there really any need for April Fools Day? I mean, really, what’s the point? I spent Monday, an exceedingly dreary day, thinking about possible hoaxes I could goodnaturedly foist upon the unsuspecting public. Guess what? No one in the public is unsuspecting anymore. They already suspect the president of being a socialist, a Muslim …
Latest Tale of the Wild, Wild South
I do a lot of sighing lately. It’s against the law, at least in most places, to smoke in bars. I’m okay with that. There’s a part of me that thinks it’s sort of strange that, in a place people come to drink, they can’t smoke. I’m sort of a “life is fatal” adherent. I …
The Patient President
I swore I wasn’t going to watch the State of the Union Address, but I wasn’t interested in basketball, and American Experience on the Amish led into it on PBS. After one watches an hour on the Amish, a presidential address seems so … modern. I just heard a weatherman refer to this Southern snow …
Everybody’s Got a Skew
Lots of times I read posts on social media that make me laugh. Everybody’s talking about Chris Christie. How come the MEDIA isn’t investigating Benghazi? Oh, you mean, like, the last 16 months. Personally, I think I get my conservatism from reading Facebook and my liberalism from my own mind, but that, in itself, is …
It’s Even History Now
It seems self-evident that history is important. Those who fail to heed it are doomed to repeat it, and all that.Yet it’s pretty obvious that fewer and fewer care. Many seem to take pride in their ignorance, which becomes obvious as one gets older. Any times comparisons are made, invariably someone says, “Well, that was …
The Power of the Dunk
Previous generations of African-American athletes were politically active. By and large, they aren’t anymore, and when they are, as in the case of Dennis Rodman, it tends to be maniacally weird. Today’s athletes stay clear of politics, seemingly unmindful and unappreciative of the benefits they enjoy due to the controversial efforts of Jackie Robinson, Muhammad …
Selfish by Nature
I shouldn’t eat as much fried food. I’m probably drinking too much coffee (right at this moment, even). I should get more exercise. I should curb my vices, and, quite possibly, my enthusiasm. It’s stressful, you know. I don’t care, and to one extent or another, that’s true of most everyone. We pick our poisons, …
The Daze Ahead
I’m optimistic about the coming year, particularly since it just has to be better than the one just completed. People are going to smoke marijuana, and lots more aren’t going to mind it. It’s going to be decriminalized in some places, medicinalized in others and legalized in a few more. It is an ongoing process, …
Time Passages
It won’t be long until proper names will mean nothing. The Big 10 will have 18 teams in football and 22 in other sports. The Big 12 will have eight schools. USC of Los Angeles will join the Atlantic Coast Conference, and USC of Columbia will be in the Mountain West. The House of Representatives …
Nightrider's Lament 