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UPON BEING CUCKOLDED
I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject of being cuckolded. While my expertise is negligible or almost non-existent, I must say that when an example of cuckoldedness takes place and is confirmed by one of the participants, I am obliged to pay attention. The incident in question took place in two…
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SCALLIONS AND WHISKERS
Scallions and whiskers have absolutely nothing to do with each other but they occurred to me at about the same time as I was preparing to write an essay, so I have thrown a blanket over the both of them. Here are the two elusive subjects. Taking scallions first, I have been a devotée of…
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IT AIN’T NATURAL
My father, who was a taciturn man, didn’t have much to say while he was alive. He has been a resident of the Oakhill Cemetery in Kirkwood, Missouri for 52 years and, one way or another, in recent essays he has turned up a good bit more than he did when he was alive. In…
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TALKING IN TONGUES
Browsing through The New York Times yesterday, August 17th, Miss Chicka read to me a story that was datelined Accra, Ghana. Furthermore, it had to do with talking in tongues, which is a hallmark of the Pentecostal faith which is one of the Christian Protestant churches. This story had two attractions for me. In the…
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RIGHT AWAY – LOOKING FORWARD
Like most Americans, I have followed events in Washington, which are a form of theater. Granted that it is a deadly theater, it is theater nonetheless. When members of this Democratic administration try to explain what is being done, they overwork the words “looking forward.” A few weeks earlier, they overworked the word “transparency.” Robert…
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RED (OR BLUE) BANDANNAS
Those of you who were raised in the precincts of America’s great cities may well have missed out on an article of men’s wear that is usually associated with hard work and/or country ways. Again, if I may use my father as an example, I would like to cite one article of his clothing that…
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PREACHERS
The basic question that this essay proposes is “Where are the preachers now that you need them?” According to news accounts, we are now into the seventy-seventh day of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Pious pilgrims, such as myself, have searched for answers. We have made inquiries along ecclesiastical lines but…
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LAMENTATIONS ON “I WISH”
I keep two identical dictating machines on my desk. The left one is for dictations that I turn over to Mrs. Eva Baker for transcription. The right one is for notes about future essays. Recently I recorded some notes on the subject of lamentations which was a subject I wanted to do an essay on. …
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PLEASE, GIVE ME A VOTE
I suspect that everyone who has attained the Methuselah-like age of 80 may well have given thought to his or her own departure. I don’t dwell on that subject but I am quite aware that it exists. Again, I suspect that the dying part is not the major consideration. It is the preliminaries of extended…
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REFUDIATE
The Duchess of Alaska, Sarah Palin, had a pronouncement over the past weekend. On two occasions, which were recorded in newscasts, Sarah used the word “refudiate.” When she was asked to explain what “refudiate” meant, she said that William Shakespeare made up new words at various times in his career. Those of us in the…