Ezra's Essays

Category: 2005

FROM VAUDEVILLE TO MLK, JR. | Meditations 16, Anonymous Verses

Vaudeville is now largely dead having been a victim of first radio comedians and later, the comedies appearing on television. In the Catskill Mountain of New York, where many of its patrons are Jewish, there still are “tummlers” who tell Yiddish jokes and who good naturedly insult guests. My recollection of vaudeville goes back to…

March 6, 2017
ATTENTION: FALL OUT | Meditations Chapter 15: Verses Clayton, Mo. Through Crawdaddy, Texas

In Chapter 13 of these sacred Meditations, there was a reference to one of the basic principles of the American Army. If the Army possessed a stone tablet reflecting the Ten Army Commandment, high on that list would be the injunction about not thinking. Simply put, soldiers would be warned that they don’t get paid…

March 5, 2017
SATURDAY AFTERNOON THOUGHTS DURING AUGUST HEAT | Meditations Chapter 14: Verses Amos to Andy

It may be that the string of temperatures of over 90 degrees has gotten to the old essayist. For an old geezer from St. Louis where the summer temperatures are reminiscent of the home that Satan enjoys, it must be said that the heat is more than impressive. All of this leads to a series…

March 5, 2017
QUESTIONS IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS | Meditations: Chapter 13, Verses Pre-Genesis to Mid-Malachi

From time to time, questions come along that make me wonder if anyone else has similar questions and whether any solutions really exist. The questions are so persistent that they must be acknowledged even though there may be no answers at all. Try some of these. Verse 1: Poor Health, Men’s Division The Chief Justice…

March 3, 2017
A POTPOURRI OF THOUGHTS | Meditations: Chapter 11, Verses Genesis to Exodus

Verse 1. THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION My final job at AT&T was in the Overseas Department where it was necessary to deal with all the other telecommunications organizations in the world on mutual problems. In many cases, it was a matter of maintaining harmonious relations with people who were very different from ourselves as well as…

February 28, 2017
FURTHER PROFOUND MEDITATIONS | Chapter Nine: Verses Leviticus to Haggai

The last Meditation seemed to exhaust the ready reserve supply. So it was my thought to put the Meditation series aside and go on to other projects unless there was a celestial sign that further work on this series would be met with ecclesiastical acclaim. In the middle of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium,…

February 27, 2017
THOUGHTS THAT OCCUR LATE AT NIGHT | Meditations Chapter VIII

When the idea of Meditations was revealed to me, it was my thought that a sentence or two on each idea would be sufficient. As it turned out, some of the Meditations cannot be dismissed so lightly. Some require an explanation that would rival Genesis of Biblical fame. And so it is time to return…

February 26, 2017
IS CAMILLA PG? | Meditations – Chapter Seven, Verses 1-17

For the better part of 35 years, Prince Charley of England had played games with Camilla, an upper class English woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to his mother. Charley and Camilla were married to other people for many of those years, so it is fair to assume that Princess Diana and Mr. Parker Bowles…

February 26, 2017
THOSE GOLDEN YEARS | Meditations – Chapter Four

There are many Americans who are cliché driven. When a person sneezes, they say “God bless you.” Tardiness is treated as “Better late than never.” Young daughters are told as they meet their dates, “Get home early” or “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Women are involved in monstrous untruths when they say, “Oh, I…

February 22, 2017
SECOND CHANCES | Meditations – Chapter Three

For nearly 63 years, this old broken-down soldier has thought that he and five other GI’s, could have acted more graciously in not accepting an offer by a gentleman to pay for a breakfast we ate in a civilian restaurant. Once the offer was either not accepted or if you will, rejected, there were no…

February 14, 2017