Opinions

Food for Thought

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 6:48pm
That spring thing
By
Milli Gilbaugh

There was at least one constant every spring while I was growing up– a new spring coat or jacket– count on it. While we very often wore the same warm winter coat for two or three years running, the spring coats were always new, light-weight, pastel in color, and inexpensive.


Walkin'

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/19/2013 - 7:03pm
Back pain is back
By
Brian Fleck

My back went out for the first time in the late 1970s.
I was a twenty-something publishing a newspaper for the military community of Bamberg, Germany.
Once a week I’d check a sedan out from the motor pool and drive 140 miles to the Stars and Stripes headquarters in Darmstadt to get my paper printed. Occasionally, a vehicle from the pool would not be available and I’d have to scramble to find transportation.


Food for Thought

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/19/2013 - 7:02pm
Why kids ask so many questions
By
Milli Gilbaugh

I remember, at sometime in my early childhood, how many big and mysterious words there were in the world. Not just words I heard adults use, and that I assumed I would someday learn the meanings of, but words that were just out there– posted on cars, buildings, billboards– waiting for me to unravel their mysteries. Reading was like a parlor trick. Comprehending was another matter.


Walkin'

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/12/2013 - 6:22pm
Toilet tribulations
By
Brian

During a recent stay at a motel I saw something odd: in the bathroom there were two toilet paper rolls offered, one over the other.
This brought to mind one of the age-old conundrums that has pestered human minds since the first rolls were mass produced in the 14th century: should toilet paper be hung so it reels off the top or bottom?


Food for Thought

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/12/2013 - 6:20pm
collect the whole set
By
Milli Gilbaugh

I got a chuckle out of seeing that bumper sticker ahead of me while I waited at the stoplight. It got me thinking about all the crusades to save various species of wildlife I’ve seen over the years. When I was fresh out of college, there weren’t so many crusades, not nearly the number of animals designated as endangered as there are now, bumper stickers and posters for the various causes were uncommon. By the mid-’50s, I was becoming aware of causes other than soil conservation and the wisdom of having your dog or cat neutered.


Walkin'

Submitted by admin on Wed, 03/06/2013 - 9:02pm
Barney and his gun
By
Brian Fleck

Barney almost shot me by accident, twice.
The year was 1970, and I was working the night shift on the loading dock of the Marshall Fields Department Store in the Woodfield Mall outside of Chicago. I unloaded semi trailers as they arrived and then sorted the packages into two-dozen piles, one each for the drivers who delivered them the next day.