The day my Momma stuck it to

the Harper Valley PTA

In Baseball as in Life

"In the end it comes down to throwing one pitch after another and seeing what happens."

Fly Over Land

The coastal media markets have never reflected our day to day.

Opera Season is always open

A classic:

Don't Drown Your Food

Note the absence of abolitionist thinking.  Moderation in all things.  Just don't drown your food.

Here's Johnny!

 

On May 22, 1992 I was getting ready to graduate high school, spend a few months working at a factory, and then head off to Illinois State University.  Other than a few months here and there, it also marked my final months of living in the only town I'd ever called "home."

Eyes on the future, I didn't really pay to much attention to end of the Carson era of late night television.  Late nights were for either being out running around or sleeping.  I hadn't been that interested in television for a couple of years. 

Did I miss anything?  Well, nothing I'd trade for what I did experience. 

Still, I hear Johnny's voice in my head time to time.  If you mention late night television, I don't think of Leno.  I only secondly think of Leno.  The first face to come to mind is Johnny Carson.

The Black Fly Song

I'll never go again

     to north Ontario.

Zombie Movies

Zombie movies never really scared me. 

I grew up in Illinois.  As a kid I witness a night of the living dead every time there was an election. 

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Marcus Aurelius wrote, "the universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make of it."This was first illustrated to me in a children's book that I first read, as you might expect, as a child: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

The story in brief begins with Mike and his steam shovel, Mary Ann, proudly building America during the first industrial revolution only to find themselves replaced by new diesel powered machinery.  Steam shovels are thrown aside and our builders find themselves cast off and without a place in the world they had known.  Mary Ann is confronted with an existential threat.  Mike finds his loyalty tested.

The ending is a happy one.  It is a story of adapting to change and I am not going to spoil it for you.  I'd bet your local library has a well worn copy.