Tuesday is trash day so minutes ago I was pulling fallen branches covered with Spanish moss to the street when my neighbor, Mike, out for a run, stopped to chat. Mike: “Hi Faith, Have your gardeners told you about what happened in your yard recently?” Me: “No, what happened?” Mike: “It was about three weeks … Continue reading Snake Report
… a timely snippet from the book EarthQuest by Ginny Brinkley and Kathleen Perry Halloween for aliens? Can it be true? Is that possible? It is if you are Yellahim and Yahhu! The set-up: Two aliens, Yellahim and Yahhu, had landed their spacecraft on a mountain near Frostburg, MD, and had taken refuge in an … Continue reading Halloween for Aliens
“You go first,” Timmy said to his brother. “No, you go first,” said Johnny. “You’re older.” “Oh, ok…,” agreed Timmy, standing up straighter and trying to act brave. “I’ll go first.” The two boys had been hanging out at the end of the road for several minutes, wondering if they really wanted to go trick … Continue reading Hookman
As it turned out, Charles Brockden Brown (our first novelist) was in my closet… Groan. How boring–digging through dusty boxes of who knows what reference and research materials that went back many years. Still, I knew it had to be done before I “threw the baggage out,” to channel Rex Harrison’s line from My Fair … Continue reading Return of the Thesis
-Citizenship: Still a vital competency- If we fail to instill the core values that reinforce love of freedom and democracy, we risk losing the behaviors originating with those core values—the actions and leadership vital to protecting freedom and democracy. If we fail to develop the competencies needed by citizens of a democratic republic, we will … Continue reading Flags and Futures
-North Jacksonville 48-star School Classroom Flag Honored- Remarks by Dr. Tracy D. Connors, CAPT USN (Ret) during opening ceremonies for 60th Reunion of the Andrew Jackson High School Class of 1956 on May 21, 2016. Tonight we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the class of 1956 finally escaping from Andrew Jackson Senior High school. Before … Continue reading It’s Still a Grand Old Flag
Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back, and, instead of bleeding, he sings. —Robert Benchley On that note, this recollection might be considered an aria, or at least a simple arpeggio sharing some thoughts and perspective on a topic we all probably know a great deal about – rejection. An email I … Continue reading Rejecting Rejection: being thrown back to the future
Mice That Roar and the journey to the Ph.D. A Vietnamese proverb about a mouse sticking his head in the mouth of a large carnivore, at first consideration, may seem a strange way to envision the road to PhD. “…the mouse does not know life until it has been into the mouth of the cat.” … Continue reading Mice That Roar and the journey to the Ph.D.
From a slot machine, run by steam, to a boarding house that was serving suspicious “spare ribs,” a new Boy Scout Camper learns a lot while singing in the Pavillion. Awful Camp Songs Sung on My First Camping Trip In 1951, when I was barely eleven years old, I joined Boy Scout troop 222 in … Continue reading Awful Camp Songs Sung On My First Camping Trip
In ancient Rome, when booty was piled up, the Latin term they used was pilare, to plunder, or to “pile up booty.” That meaning was derived from the word pila, or “pile” (think pillar). As time moved forward, as time inexorably does, “peel” acquired additional nuances, all derived from the “pile up” original meaning. For … Continue reading Pearl Street Peel Out