We get letters. Actually, we don’t, but I came of age right around the time the National Lampoon began publishing, and one of the most fascinating features in the magazine was letters to the editor that were actually fake. For example: To the editor: Has anyone seen my head? I appear to have misplaced it …
My friend Mick made an interesting comment in response to something on Facebook some months back, and while I have forgotten the topic, I’ve never forgotten his comment. “This is not the world it could have been.” A truly fascinating comment, but one that is about as open-ended as they come. Not the world it …
When my son Virgile was 14 years old, I was working at my computer when I heard music coming from his room. It was a song I’d heard about a thousand times too many, back in 1988 when it was all over the radio. “Here’s a little song I wrote, you might want to sing …
“Those who fail to remember the lessons of history yadda yadda yadda …” Sound like something George Costanza might have said? I thought so when I first wrote this 12 years ago, but to be fair, I’m not sure this particular quote ever appeared on “Seinfeld.” It’s just that I figure you all know it, …
As best I know, I have never had a personal reason to celebrate Memorial Day. I had two grandfathers who served in World War I and two Dads who were WWII-era veterans. All four survived their experience and died later, one as early as 1947 and the other as recently as 2008. Three of them …
MEMORIAL DAY IS FOR THOSE WHO DIDN’T MAKE IT BACK Read More »
There was an old story about how Americans look at the world. There had been a train wreck in India, and an American newspaper told the story this way: “Three hundred Indians and a man from Chicago died in a train wreck …” The punchline is that a woman was reading the article in Illinois, …
People love to complain that too few Americans understand civics anymore. And while I agree that’s a shame, what’s far worse is that too few Americans understand history. The particularly obnoxious offenders are the folks who say the Second Amendment entitles people to be as well-armed as the government, and that even limiting ownership of …
It’s a helluva world, isn’t it? Caveat emptor. One of those old expressions sent down from ancient Rome, it translates as “Let the buyer beware” and basically means if you’re spending your money, be aware that the seller may or may not be honest. I screen nearly all my incoming phone calls these days, and …
The one issue that seems to ignite the loony right more than any other is of course abortion. But the one that frightens them the most — particularly the manly men on the far right — is same sex marriage. Just look at the motel scene in “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” and you’ll see the …
I am definitely happy when I look at this map. It looks like the farthest south the 17-year cicadas will come is at least a hundred miles north of where I live. Since I lived in California in 2004 and Colorado in 1987, the only contact I ever had with this particular infestation was in …
