Odds and Ends
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Most remember the adage Necessity is the mother of invention. For centuries it was an axiom that rang true. Once upon a time, in order to take the necessary leap to grow the economy in the West, we had to mobilize society; thus, came trains, automobiles, and buses. To accommodate a high illiteracy rate in
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The year was 2010. I dropped my wife, Kathryn, at Philadelphia Internation and proceeded—against my better judgement, and because I was too cheap to spring for the airfare—on a 650-mile journey with three 13-year-old boys (my son and two friends). Our destination? Myrtle Beach, where we would meet Kathryn and my in-laws at a beachfront
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I am unapologetically sentimental, a hopeless romantic, and a novelist. That is what’s otherwise known as the trifecta for those who look fondly upon the past. History is romantic, a period one can embellish; it possesses “lure” and “lore;” its poetry and myth become elegant over time. The future can be inspiring and bright, but
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What’s the greatest gift one could bestow upon another? I could be quite succinct with this one: RESPONSIBILITY. In learning responsibility two things transpire: we grasp the value of what it means to be trustworthy and, as a result, gain confidence we can tackle obstacles the world and its wearing influences will throw our way.
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My mother made her departure in 1992. I was just thirty. Funny thing about doomed cancer sufferers: we tend to mourn them while they are still living, agonizing through the disease’s progressions. I did not shed a single tear at her funeral. The year was 2008; I was rummaging through a basement closet, a place
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Please indulge me with a yarn sure to resonate like a fable. It involves a string and a kite. A kite without a string is bursting with ambition but aimless; it wants to go everywhere and do everything; it is analogous to a three-year-old in a grocery store clamoring for pop tarts, Yoo Hoo, and
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The seasons are equal in length, or so says the calendar. So why does winter seem so much longer? Why does this bleakest of the four seasons seem so stubborn to yield to its well-anticipated successor? Winter makes me think of the line from A Christmas Carol: Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it. Indeed,
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Yep, that’s right; I made a quiche out of rutabaga. Been doing it for years, and it couldn’t be simpler. The ingredients are as follows: One rutabaga – one green pepper – one Vidalia Onion – fresh dill – salt – black pepper – lemon juice – butter (I use Smart Balance) – eggs. The
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Men and women are equal, but they are not the same. Yeah, I know. To put those words in print could place one in a political minefield from which they may never successfully tiptoe. Nevertheless, for the sake of this post, I shall bypass the postmodern view and keep to the lane of objective reality.
Michael's Corner 