by Gary | Dec 21, 2013 |
They’ve been having parties of all sorts at the White House for…well, for a long, long time, and I’m sure they’ll be having them long after I am gone. But this one was different. I was there. To be accurate, my darling wife, about three hundred solid citizens (only a few of which I knew, and I were there. This was one of several White House Christmas receptions in 2013, or maybe they now call them Holiday receptions in an effort to be perfectly politically correct. Come to think of it, I did see a lot of Christmas trees, but I don’t remember seeing any angels. I know for a fact that they also have at least one Hanukkah reception...
by Gary | Sep 18, 2013 |
Warning: This blog will deal with what most consider to be religious issues. Some who read it may be offended. If you are possibly one of those, hit the delete button now. On the other hand, if you don’t read it, how will you know that you are offended. Oh, what the hell, most of you have read stuff a lot worse than this could ever be. Give it a read, then decide. I grew up a Southern Baptist. Well, that’s a stretch. Actually my earliest memories of things religious date from my fifth or sixth grade year. I dunno what happened, church wise before then, but I have clear memories of the Hillcrest Baptist Church in 1953. My mother had a murky...
by Gary | Aug 17, 2013 |
I can’t recall exactly when I first became aware of “men of letters” as a designation for a particular class of erudite and literate individuals. Upon seeing this designation in print for the first time, I immediately thought of uncle Ned’s funeral in which I thought the B.P.O.E after his name would qualify him as a “man of letters”. Unfortunately, I shortly learned that being a life member of the Brotherhood of the Paternal Order of the Elks did not qualify him for entrance into these lofty literary circles. Upon reflection and some study, I’m inclined to put “men of letters” in two piles. In the first...
by Gary | Aug 10, 2013 |
I dunno why, but I’d long dreaded the day, August 10, 2013 when I was to become seventy and officially old. I had long ago overcome the ignominy of taking the two dollar senior citizen discount at the movie theatre, and the snide, “…for a man of your age” that I was starting to get far too frequently. I’d even avoided taking a punch at the sales clerks who had begun to refer to me patronizingly as “young man” or, worse yet, “young fellow”. I had also begun to say with weak, gallows humor that, “I don’t even buy green bananas anymore” as a way of signaling that my time was growing ever...
by Gary | Jul 28, 2013 |
Earlier this year, S. and I had dinner with the Barack Obama. Well, he didn’t actually eat with us, but he was there while we were eating. Actually, we weren’t eating when he was in the room with us, but we had finished our salad before he came in. Never mind the details. We met, spoke to, shook hands with, had our pictures taken with President Barack Obama and his lovely First Lady, Michelle (from whom I got a classic, big Michelle hug). To say this was a high point in our political/social life would be a understatement of indescribable dimensions. You should view this in the context of knowing that I’m not a celeb kind of guy. The...
