Odds and Ends
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Who doesn’t love a new gadget? Gadgets, toys, gizmos; Americans dig novelty. I must confess that I, too, am titillated when, occasionally, some newness finds its way into my life. And like most new toys nowadays, mine comes in the form of an app. What is this new and exciting piece of novelty that I…
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Okay, so America experienced yet another shooting. But wait! Aren’t Americans enlightened to shootings every day in urban hotbeds like Philadelphia and Chicago? Indeed. And thus begs the poignant question: Why do we only react when it’s suspected that a shooting is ideologically motivated? Moreover, why do we only unite behind an anti-gun sentiment when…
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Recently, on a commute home, when cruising through my neighborhood, I came upon a typical summer scene. Indeed, nothing says summer quite like young girls selling sidewalk lemonade. Sidewalk lemonade is the one item for which I don’t mind overpaying “the market price.” I mean, does anyone ever really asked for their change? Of course…
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What to sell, what to sell… mmm, let me think. Should I sell what people want or what they need? Moreover, do we, whether a Boomer or Zoomer, understand the distinction? I want a season pass to Citizens Bank Park. I need someone to heartlessly rid my home of all its junk so my wife…
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Many years ago, I told my father, “Steve Carlton is the greatest lefthander of all-time.” My father replied, “No, that distinction belongs to Sandy Koufax.” I countered, “But Carlton already has more career wins than Koufax and has years yet to pitch.” My father wasn’t satisfied with what I alleged was flawless logic, and told…
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The following is the first chapter of a novel I hope to complete before 2027. Because it can stand alone, I thought why not post it. A BALLAD FOR WINTER AND SPRING As a passenger train chugs its way northbound from Memphis into the night, a girl, perhaps too young to travel alone, sits…
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All team sports have common components and are derivatives of one another. All take place either indoors or outdoors and on rectangles of various sizes, with a fixed goal positioned at each end. Some look like this: Others look like that: Or this: Or that: Or this: Or that: But whether it’s the English…
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For decades, we in the West have undertaken the postmodern initiative of softening language. Cripples became handicapped and are now differently abled. Those who can’t hear went from deaf to hearing impaired; the blind are presently sight-challenged. The language changes but the conditions remain the same. For example, a sight-challenged chap is no less blind…
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Albertadromeus syntarsus. Why? Not because it has a complicated and nifty sounding name that rings like one of those stars in a neighboring galaxy with a hundred times the luminants of our sun, but because its’s a plant-eater that only weighs thirty pounds and could be weaned on a diet of weeds. Imagine never having…
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