Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Sorted by date Results 51 - 60 of 60
I'm a big softie when it comes to children's books. I remember my first library card (TWO trips to the library that glorious day!), and my held-together-with-duct-tape childhood copy of Little Golden Book "Danny Beaver's Secret" (by Patsy and Richard Scarry) sits proudly on my writing desk. So, I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to pose some questions to author Martin Powell, whose latest children's books, "Private Eye Princess and the Emerald Pea" and "Rapunzel vs. Frankenstein" go on...
I feared that the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing might get eclipsed by other celebrations (the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the 10th anniversary of financier Jeffrey Epstein's latest girlfriend learning to tie her shoes, etc.), but apparently the sky is the limit for Apollo 11 remembrances. And why not? This milestone offers something for everyone. Those of us with enough gray hairs and wrinkles to remember the moon landing...
Twenty years ago this June, when my father’s youngest sister Gwendol passed away, I glanced over at Dad during the funeral and thought, “He looks as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.” If my late father bore such a metaphorical burden from one loss, just think how much more pressure was on Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower 75 years ago. As supreme commander of Allied forces in Western Europe, he alone had the authority for launching or scrapping the invasion of Nazi-occupied terri...
The tragic fire that engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral compels me to write about services that we take for granted, right up until the moment we suddenly need them ourselves. I have the utmost respect for professionals who decide to make a career of firefighting; but this week I will be focusing on the nation's volunteer fire departments, made up of citizens who work for free or a nominal amount or at least a written guarantee that all emergency calls will last long enough for their spouse to get...
According to NBC News, we are in the early stages of mood forecasting technology that could help stop bad moods even before they strike. (No, this is a different story than the one about using surplus North Korean missiles to take out your lowlife cousin's Winnebago before he can embark on a month-long visit, although that too could stop bad moods before they strike.) NBC says wearable devices with special apps could track our psychological health by recording our heart rate, perspiration,...
On a recent Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of picking up my son after his chess tournament. Whether on my quiet country road or in the well-illuminated industrial park, I enjoyed driving through what Louis Armstrong sang of as "the dark sacred night." A much more TYPICAL excursion happened a few months ago when I drove to another town at dusk to deal with insurance matters. As I navigated the two-lane road, every vehicle I met seared my eyeballs with headlights that in a previous life...
I knew it wasn't just me! In recent weeks I've overheard multiple shoppers gripe about navigating the wildly dissimilar credit card setups at different establishments. Credit card machines have gotten just as confusing as the clothing and footwear business, where arrogant designers create fashions with sizes that have no relation to other designers' sizes. ("Do you want the size zero that is suitable for supermodels or the size zero that substitutes for a sofa cover?") I'm not in favor of...
The year had seen student protests worldwide, the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, a chaotic Democratic National Convention, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and countless other examples of discord. NASA came through with an uplifting message. On Christmas Eve, half a billion people around the world watched historic, Emmy-winning TV coverage of Apollo 8 orbiting the moon. The three astronauts (Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman) took turns reciting the...
"What have you done for us lately?" I don't think the average American military veteran has the time or the temperament to spend 51 weeks a year asking such a question, but a reasonable person could hardly blame him if he did. Veterans Day can be like Mother's Day or Father's Day - an occasion to heap praise upon individuals whom we spend the rest of the year ignoring, tolerating or circumventing. A week's worth of bumper stickers, newspaper interviews, special discounts and grade school essays...
Did you notice that Thomas Lickona recently adapted a portion of his book “How to Raise Kind Kids” into the online “Time Magazine” article “How to Raise Grateful Kids in An Era of Thankless People”? My own son Gideon is a gentle, cheerful, kindhearted lad; but I set aside the time to read the essay because I realize he is still a work in progress. Even though Gideon has mostly outgrown the “This is the worst day of my life” tantrums, he is still prone to swiping my French fries, neglecting “than...
