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ONCE AGAIN, THE ICEMAN COMETH (With Apologies to Eugene O’Neill)
Behind my kitchen chair sits a gorgeous behemoth that is basically silent. Its color is an iridescent white and it possesses two polished chrome handles. Among the upper crust, it goes by the name of a refrigerator. It has always seemed to me that “frigerator” would get the message across but this device insists upon…
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“HAVE YOU GOT ANY NEWS FROM THE ICEBERG?”
A casual disinterested observer, noticing that this essay is accompanied by a compact disk, might conclude that this essay is about music. That casual disinterested observer would be exactly right. Music makes me feel better and so this essay is dedicated to our well-being, both yours and mine. If the rest of the world wishes…
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WHY DO WOMEN DO IT?
Simply put, I expect to be denounced and excoriated for the essay that is to follow. I am at a loss to tell you if being denounced is a greater penalty than being excoriated. But I can guarantee you that neither one is pleasant. As long as I am not castigated, I believe I can…
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THE SUNDAY AFTERNOON BLUES
Perhaps the most famous in the genre of blues songs was one composed by W.C. Handy. That of course was “St. Louis Blues.” Those of us who list St. Louis as our place of birth do not necessarily go around singing “St. Louis Blues” at all hours. The composer, Handy, wrote of a man who…
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WHERE SHALL WE GO NOW, MY FAMILY AND I?
As a general proposition, I often warn my readers about the essays that appear on these pages. And so it is that in this case, I will tell you that the essay that follows is about Irish music and also about my father. My father could not sing worth a lick. That applied to Irish…
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YANECONE, YADAMIEC, BLAUSTEIN AND MULDOWNEY
An outsider not familiar with Ezra’s Essays might have read the title of this essay and believed it referred to an international law firm. That is not the case. The title reflects the fact that this is a country of immigrants. At the moment none of my readers are native Americans such as Cherokee, Iroquois,…
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“THAT CERTAIN PLACE”
“THAT CERTAIN PLACE” Jake Haberfeld, Jerusalem~ 1983 Most Americans, particularly of the male gender, like to think of themselves as stand-up guys without a need to revert to nuances and/or euphemisms. There is nothing wrong with nuances and euphemisms, but there is also a virtue in calling things by their proper names. For reasons…
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SO BP HAS IGNORED GRUBER’S LAW
The title suggests that there are two principles involved in this humble essay. The first is, of course, British Petroleum (BP), an organization that is now hip deep or chest deep in grave trouble. The second principle is the dermatologist named Gruber, whom you will come to know before this essay is finished. Taking the…
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MUSIC AND MEMORY
Those of you who have followed Ezra’s Essays know that during my childhood I was forced to attend religious services of the Protestant faith. There were the Southern Baptists, the Nazarenes, the Pentecostals, and, finally, the Free Will Baptists. In the last case, the Free Willers banned musical accompaniment to their hymn singing on the…
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THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGLO SAXONS (circa 2010)
As it has turned out with my having been born in the United States, my native tongue is the English language. A good many years back, this language came from Saxon roots. When it went to England, it became the Anglo-Saxon language. Now of course it is simply the English language. My comment here today…