Ezra's Essays

Month: March 2014

  • BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

    When the calendar gives a reading of November 1, a sense of hopeless gloom settles over many Americans. In these days, that gloom also includes Cubans, Venezuelans, Canadians, Dominicans, and all of those who pursue the wonderful game of baseball. As a diagnostician of many years’ standing, I can tell you that the hopeless gloom…

  • A FEW WORDS IN PRAISE OF SANITY

    I hope that my readers will not think less of me when I offer a few words of praise of sanity in the American relationship with those who practice the Muslim faith. During the month of September, pious adherents of that faith are celebrating the month-long holiday of Ramadan. Ramadan requires that the faithful consume…

  • PROSE AND POETRY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

    During all the years of my long life, the English language has informed and entertained me endlessly. It must be a good language in that it has now become the lingua franca of the world. Perhaps one of the reasons for it becoming spoken so widely is that it is a living language. In this…

  • CANDIDATE EZRA’S FIRST DAY AS PRESIDENT OF THE US OF A

    The last time I ran for an office of any kind was in January of 1950. In that case, I ran to be the president of Local 6350 of the Communications Workers of America, which was located in my home town of St. Louis. As it turned out, my candidacy was successful but my tour…

  • SAUCERED AND BLOWED

    In previous essays, I have noted the fact that my ancestors were rural folks who carried their country customs to the big city of St. Louis. They were farmers in Pope County, Illinois and had one peculiar custom that I have not seen for many years. Basically, the custom was that, when served a cup…

  • “…THE LAST OF LIFE FOR WHICH THE FIRST WAS MADE”

    -ROBERT BROWNING (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) Those of you who have had the misfortune to hear me address several retirement banquets will know that the title of this essay is a lift from a poem by the English poet, Robert Browning. The first line is “Come grow old along with me /…

  • IT GOES WITH THE TERRITORY

    In July of 1951, I accepted a transfer from St. Louis to Kansas City.  I knew that Kansas City had hot weather in July and other summer months, but St. Louis was no bargain either.  One of my colleagues told me that in Kansas City during the summer, it gets “hotter than the hubs of…

  • INFIDELS, MORMANS, CATHOLICS, JEWS, ET AL: NEED NOT APPLY

    Let us suppose that Mrs. Sanjay Gupta is delivered of sextuplets by a Doctor Gandhi at the world-famous clinic he runs in the city of Peculiar, Missouri. All of the newborns are girls, which beats Mrs. Dionne by at least one baby. As soon as Dr. Gandhi has finished washing the children in the sacred…

  • QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

    To this old Missouri essayist, it is a cardinal sin to grow older but no wiser. At this moment, there are four or five questions unanswered that are floating through the vacant space in my head. The first question has to do with wine. In the early 1980s, a lovely saleslady at Svensk Glas sold…

  • TOWARD A MORE PERFECT UNION

    I suspect that most of you will recognize that the title of this essay has been lifted from the preamble to the American constitution. My best guess is that it came from the pen of Thomas Jefferson, a gifted writer. This essay is not about politics or governmental affairs. It is about a few items…