Worthy to Print Column | Music to My Ears
A long time ago there used to be a fellow on television named Art Linkletter. He had a show on TV back when I was a mere boy. I have already told you that I stayed at home during the summer cleaning the house,...
Funny Papers Again Column | Note to Founding Fathers: ‘You Didn’t See This Coming, Did You?’
It’s 3:17 a.m. early Wednesday morning, nine hours before deadline for this column and I haven’t 1,000 cohesive words anywhere in my head: not a scintilla of theme. This is not often the case when offering this column on a weekly basis (or is...
Worthy to Print Column | Getting Strong
As I begin this weekly addition to the greatest periodical in South Monterey County, I should warn you that some words might need explanation. OK, I can hear the mumbling. “What is this wanna-be Hemingway talking about this week?” That’s a fair question, so...
Window on the World Column | The Divided States of America
Deep in numb confusion that dulls the senses and creates quivers of fear for the sanity of the world and the civilized folk out in it, and during another white night of incredulity, with curdled brain, I toss and turn from hot to cool...
Window on the World Column | The Annual English Tea Party Is Back
It has been a very long time since our last tea party — 2019, if I’m not mistaken. Prior to Covid, the annual tea parties were very popular. Then Covid came along and sucked all the fun, drove our traditions into the ground. Somehow...
Funny Papers Again Column | Midsummer Musings of Street Names and Reunions
I have given myself over to the theory that the Feds have in the interest of brevity or clarity or something meddled in our affairs regarding the city’s street names. This theory is based upon both the musings of a knowledgeable citizen and a...
Funny Papers Again Column | A New, Bright Street and an Old, Dark Ballet
If I were to offer up a descriptive sentence regarding the city’s newly upgraded main thoroughfare, it would be peppered with adjectives leading to superlatives and culminating with comparatives; i.e. “Like the revitalization seen in Old Town in Salinas, the City of King is...
Guest Column | Greenfield’s Speech and Debate Program Deserves to be Treated Fairly
On Dec. 18, 2020, the Competitive Speech and Debate Program at Greenfield High School was canceled. By eliminating this program, the South Monterey County Joint Union High School District Board of Education is depriving students of critical college scholarship opportunities. Perhaps more disturbing are...
Funny Papers Again Column | Oklahoma City to the Big Apple: How Many More Memorials Will We Need?
One late afternoon some years ago I stood among rows of uniformly sized brass markers placed with military precision in the grass at the Riverside National Cemetery. At my feet was my father’s marker, and this was my annual pilgrimage to his final resting...
Funny Papers Again Column | Words From One Bad Guy to Another
I was thinking about John Dillinger the other day while watching a 1934 William Powell-Myrna Loy film by the name of “Manhattan Melodrama.” It also starred Clark Gable, but for some of us cinephiles the Powell-Loy combination is one of the best pairings in...
