Month: July 2013

  • SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

    In a recent essay, I deplored the fact that the tags were missing from the backs of my recently purchased tee shirts.  This resulted in my putting the shirts on backwards about 35 to 40% of the time.  So I wrote to the president of the Nordstrom company and told him that whoever made the…

  • A TINY CANDLE AT THE END OF A LONG DARK TUNNEL

    When the United States began to sink into the quagmire that engulfs our banking industry, the stock market, and our fortunes, most politicians contended that we were only in a recession.  Those of you who have been reading Ezra’s essays for a few years will be aware that for more than a year I have…

  • IN PRAISE OF BRIGHT, INTELLIGENT PREACHERS

    There is an oxymoronic quality to this essay which I hope will meet with your favor.  The oxymoron has to do with a writer whose belief is in non-belief, who then publishes an essay in praise of preachers.  But that is what I intend to do in this essay about preachers. For more than 66…

  • RADIATORS BOILING OVER

    As I am dictating this essay, it is approaching the end of October.  When I worked in the filling station business, the people who owned the filling stations ordinarily would set out to buy antifreeze at this time of year.  As everyone will recall, the radiators on automobiles are almost always located near the front…

  • I DECLARE

    If my mother had lived, she would now be 131 years old.  But of course she didn’t live.  Curiously as I grow older I am given to thoughts about my mother.  I suppose we enjoyed a normal relationship as much as could be expected under the circumstances.  My mother came from Golconda in Pope County,…

  • YOU KNOW AND ON ME

    As I have told you on several occasions, my friend Sven Lernevall, a resident of Stockholm, often told me that “English is a rich language.”  Listening to the President of the United States who speaks extemporaneously, he frequently resorts to the words, “you know.”  The fact of the matter is that I don’t know.  If…

  • FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC

    I have no way of telling you whether eternal life really exists.  I cannot tell you about this condition because I have not yet died.  However, when the time comes for me to answer the roll call up yonder, there will be certain things that I will miss greatly.  Naturally I will miss my wife…

  • CONFESSIONS THAT WILL EXCITE AND ENRICH THE SOUL

    It is the standard belief of preachers that confessions are beneficial to the soul.  My religious beliefs or lack thereof bar me from knowledge about the soul.  However, yesterday, February 17, brought three confessions that must have benefited every soul known to man or cattle.  The first was a confession by Alex Rodriguez, the $30…

  • AN IMPROBABLE MARRIAGE

    Giving titles to the essays that are produced at this desk is not an automatic function.  I suspect that most people would believe that after the essay is written, it would be titled.  My mind works in a perverse way.  I ordinarily title the piece and then go on to write it.  I suspect that…

  • TRANSLATING DAVID BROOKS

    David Brooks is a scholar in his mid fifties who writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times.  Brooks is also a frequent guest on television shows.  It is clear that Brooks has a background of being a teacher, a lecturer and a scholar. A year or 18 months ago, Mr. Brooks was an…