“Mom worries about dumb stuff,” Corey told the counselor. “During tornado season, she writes our names on our legs with magic marker.” from Mary Hood’s short story, “After Moore” Any southerner who cannot tell you a good weather story should not be trusted. This is not hyperbole. Well, ok, maybe it is hyperbole. But I’m […]
People opposed to crass commercialism always complain about the combined Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas triumvirate of holidays that end every year. “Can’t we at least dig all the candy corn out of our teeth before the Butterball turkeys appear in the supermarket freezer section?” they ask. Or they say, “Can’t we at least finish all the Thanksgiving leftovers
The Ghosts of Thanksgivings Past Read More »
I’ve had a terrible case of spring fever this year, so instead of attending my last academic meeting before summer break, I submitted personal leave on Friday so Mike and I could make a day trip to a beautiful Colorado location we haven’t seen before. We decided on Westcliffe, a town about 70 miles southwest
On the Hunt for a Retirement Spot: A Day Trip to Westcliffe Read More »
Here, coffin that slowly passes, I give you my sprig of lilac. (Nor for you, for one alone, Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bring, For fresh as the morning, thus would I chant a song for you O sane and sacred death. All over bouquets of roses, O death, I cover you
Pretty Petals: Reflections on Memorial Day Read More »
Regular readers of my Academic Redneck columns know I was spot-on in my belief that Donald Trump would win the presidency. I was also confident Trump would not be found guilty of any crime related to “collusion” with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. I’ve argued that if Democrats and their allies didn’t let go
Media Collusion with the Party of Cray-Cray Read More »
Sliding into the reclining chair, I notice Animal Planet on the ceiling-mounted television. Some man wielding a tranquilizer gun has taken down an Alaskan bull moose. I’m almost drawn in, but the hygienist, garbed in germless gloves and goggles politely requests I open wide so she can descend down my masticating mineshaft to scrape, sandblast,