Happy Birthday Aprillians!

Picture a critter of some kind - probably a racoon - that you might meet along the road. Put that critter on a birthday card, and imagine it as you read along.

This is from another of those yellowed pieces of paper found in an old file on which I scribbled the text before copying it onto the card. I'm throwing the paper away, but I have to keep the story.

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Fear

I have started a project of clearing my old file cabinets. I believe this was written in Madison, Wisconsin, in the late summer of 1980, jotted in an old notebook with yellow paper, three pages of which were torn out and saved. It seems I might have been dealing with fears of my own: Read more about Fear

Vote

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Don't Kill MY TV!

It was 1948 or so. I was five years old, and living in a little town of 300 Norwegian farmers called Badger, Iowa. My father ran the "corner store." I don't remember when he brought home the TV. I just remember that he opened a soda fountain (he was a teetotaler) in the basement of the store and invited the locals in to watch. I don't remember what was on back then, but I became an unapologetic TVidiot and remain one to this day. Read more about Don't Kill MY TV!

Me or We

A couple of weeks ago, I watched PBS' American Experience, The Amish, which was fascinating on several levels, not least of which was a re-introduction to the power of community.

I was struck by the high percentage of young Amish who, when they are given the choice in their late teens to join the church or no, choose to remain. There is comfort in the familiar, in acceptance, in knowing where you fit in the general scheme of things. Read more about Me or We