Opinion

It’s kind of strange to start a column like that, but I have been struck with a book I have been reading and I haven’t even finished the first chapter. It’s called “Hillbilly Elegy,” by J.D. Vance. This is the guy the Republicans have...

Today is a day when my dad would greet everyone he met with the most common phrase in the farmers lexicon. “Hot enough for you?” Actually, he didn’t say that very often. When you wake up over in the San Joaquin Valley, summer is...

It seemed to take blooming ages to get back to my life after my surgery. They say that the older you are, the slower you heal, and they are not kidding! Unfortunately for me, I had previously enquired before the surgery about the general...

(This essay recounting an automobile excursion from the Midwest to the Florida archipelago in the Gulf of Mexico is offered by an amateur writer from central California. American Travelogue Magazine does not by habit publish articles other than submissions by professional travel writers, but...

Well, here is hoping your Fourth of July was a good one. Nobody got hurt or burned playing with legal or illegal fireworks. We used to buy a bunch of sparkling showers or whistles that could raise the dead from one or another nonprofit...

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way!” My eye surgery is over and I’m a happy patient. Yes, it was done by a Veterans Administration doctor who looked suspiciously like a college student, but he...

They say that the “Good Die Young.” I don’t know about all of the young, but I do know that there is one young man who left this mortal coil way too soon. He left us with memories that will last forever. This particular young...

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There’s a plaque leaning up against a tree in my front garden. It’s old and weathered; but the message remains solid — “Enjoy the Journey.” It will always live with me. It reminds me of my sister Rosie and her successful efforts to enjoy...

We’ve been on the gravy train these past couple of weeks and this train has fallen off the tracks. Going home for the holidays is not for the faint of heart, as far as the stomach and waistline are concerned. I had planned to...