There are no words
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Suprise Me
Maus
Prompted By Banned Books
/ Stories
On May 10, 1933, university students burned more than 25,000 “un-German” books in Berlin’s Opera Square (pictured below). 40,000 people gathered to hear Nazi chief of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, make a speech in which he said, “No to decadence and moral corruption!” Sound familiar? This past January, the McMinn County Board of Education in Tennessee…
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Mr. Cave
Prompted By An Unforgettable Person
/ Stories
This was elementary school in the 1950’s, before President Kennedy advanced the cause of fitness for school children. But Mr. Cave needed no presidential push.
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Hirth from Earth
Prompted By Final Farewell
/ Stories
My friend Hirth died five years ago, today. I don't think he'll mind if I bring that up. Whatever I did, he was down with it; whatever he did, I was down with him.
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All Rise
Prompted By Jury Duty
/ Stories
I thought being on a jury would be helpful in my career as a trial lawyer, and I also thought it would be fun!
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Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair
Prompted By Summer of Love
/ Stories
14 years old, out of braces, in contact lenses…I had arrived! The ugly duckling had blossomed. 1967, my first summer in High School Division at the National Music Camp (now the Interlochen Arts Camp) and I thought I was BIG STUFF! I got to wear powder blue knee socks, designating HSG, no longer red socks…
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Masterpiece Dinner
Prompted By What We Ate
/ Stories
We were looking at a ridiculously expensive cut of meat that we were instructed to stud with truffles, brush with brandy, brown in butter, slather with a mixture of more butter blended with pâté, and finally wrap like a precious gem in a buttery dough.
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“And that’s the way it is.”
Prompted By Broadcast News
/ Stories
”And that’s the way it is.” I’ve written about my family dinners as we listened to Lowell Thomas reading the day’s news on our Emerson radio, and how to my childish sensibility it seemed he was speaking directly to us in the intimacy of our kitchen. (See Kitchen Radio) Years later on my parents’ black…
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Backfield in Motion
Prompted By Super Bowl
/ Stories
Everywhere you look this week, you see Super Bowl LIV. I have to laugh. Where else in American society does anyone use Roman numerals any more? The only places I can think of are the cornerstones of buildings (and now I’m wondering if modern buildings even have cornerstones) and the copyright date shown in the…
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