Wisdom and depth are often found in quiet country folk.
We live in a world where it is common for total strangers to confide in us the most intimate details of their favorite subject: themselves. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, I think, and it wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, a degree of genteel reserve was thought to be one of the fundamentals of politeness. Now it’s all but extinct.
It could be genetic. My father was a reporter and columnist, too.
What makes me think of this just now is something he wrote in his column more than 40 years ago. Though it was written in early October, I always think of it and re-read it around Thanksgiving. It sums up the season for me better than anything else. I think that you might find it nice, too.
Winston Churchill famously said, “there is something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.” He was right.
Every year, Americans gather around their dining rooms to have holiday dinner. Unlike other special days of the year, however, this holiday is a holiday of intolerance and division. Surely you know the day I refer to, don’t you? Thanksgiving!
Down at the Marathon the other day I saw a man buying a lottery ticket.
A nondescript fellow he was, middle-aged, appearing neither particularly well-to-do nor poor. He got me to thinking, which is sometimes a dangerous thing to do (as those who gazed upon the contraption I invented for fixing my gutters can attest).
This week, OFB is pleased to welcome Dennis E. Powell as a regular contributor with his column, “the View from Mudsock Heights.” Everything must start somewhere. For Dennis, it starts with a woodstove.
Even to the present day, I remain woefully ignorant of the catalog of an American acting legend – Katharine Hepburn. Despite that, based upon two films, 1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and 1981's On Golden Pond, I had decided that she was the best actress I've seen.
We as a country have messed up priorities. For weeks, there have been discussions of massive voter registration fraud and fears of actual voter fraud on Election Day. The board of elections in the state of Washington finally kicked into gear – against Starbucks.
Alaska has been a subject of national interest in recent days. Years ago I lived there and I recently found myself musing on some of the unique aspects of that mysterious state the nation is now so inquisitive about.
Mounting scientific evidence indicates that the long-term health of U.S. children depends on them spending less time in front of video screens and more time outdoors. There is no better time to for children to experience the world outside than summer.