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AIN’T GONNA STUDY WAR NO MORE
A good many of us music lovers are attracted to an art form called the spirituals. In former days, that art form was called Negro spirituals. But somehow, Negro fell into disfavor and it became awkward to call them colored spirituals, black spirituals, or Afro-American spirituals. So the compromise in the music world has now…
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A NICKEL’S WORTH OF ADVICE FROM THE OLD GEEZER
My search for a high-paying job with bonuses and stock options is not a magnificent success story. Last year, I thought I had the New York Mets’ manager’s job sewn up, but they gave it to Willie Randolph largely because he is younger and he is a Brooklyn native. When the New York Knickerbockers demoted…
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MISTAKEN IDENTITY TIMES TWO
During the late 1980s and the earlier part of the 1990s, my wife Judith and I rode on mountain bikes all over northern New Jersey. Our objective was to reach at least 100 miles per week. On most weeks, we met that objective. From time to time, we would stop to rest, usually in preparation…
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NEVER SEND TO KNOW FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
“NEVER SEND TO KNOW FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS; IT TOLLS FOR THEE” John Donne 1572 – 1631 These lines are being dictated on a gloomy Friday afternoon at the end of December, 2006. Ordinarily my outlook on life is less than exuberant during the period between Christmas and New Year’s. Today’s news has sent…
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“…HE KEPT IT FOR HISSELF ” (sic)
It may come as a surprise to all of you to know that your ancient essayist has been a victim of permanent shock since 1940. Permanent shock is sort of a funk which is debilitating in every sense. The shock was caused by Del van Buren Barbee, a philosopher who also washed cars for a…
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“I’M EVERYBODY” – VERNON LUDLOFF
It may very well be that this essay should be entitled “Back to the Future.” In my current situation, I am of course unable to see the action taking place on television. I listen to the dialogue on television and in many cases, I can determine who the speaker may be but in other cases…
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TAKE ME OUT TO THE AFRICAN BALL GAME
The title of this essay is a bit misleading because at the time this game took place, Africans played no baseball at all. On the other hand, it is a celebration of a game played by GI’s late in 1944 or 1945 between two clubs whose managers disliked each other with such intensity as to…
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ON FEAR AND DUTY
When it comes to fear, this might be the first essay you will ever read which does not make an allusion to Franklin Roosevelt’s thought that we have “nothing to fear but fear itself.” In this essay, I propose to comment on three kinds of fear that are prevalent today. Under ordinary circumstances, I avoid…
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MILLBURN AND TERRORISM | Everybody Has A Story
Advancing age seems to have done considerable violence to my memory. From the time I started to school, it was my belief, which I thought was shared by all other Americans, that this was a nation of immigrants. As it turns out now, people who seek asylum in this country are more often regarded as…