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UDDERLY REDICULOUS
Ezra’s Essays have been distributed to the movers and shakers around the world for the past 13 years. In all that time, there have only been a few occasions when the proprietor of Ezra’s Essays has been moved to make an award. In the current case, the proprietor of Ezra’s Essays is moved to award…
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RAMPANT NOSTALGIA
This may be a twice-told tale in that in 2005 I may have dictated an essay on the same subject matter. But I have always held that the fun in story-telling belongs to the story teller. It is a lot like prayer. The person who prays feels good about himself when his prayer is finished. …
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PUTTING A PRESIDENTIAL FOOT IN IT
Yesterday was August 22, 2010. In the op ed column of The New York Times, there were great editorials from Frank Rich, Tom Friedman, Maureen Dowd, and Nicholas Kristof. In addition to those columnists, there were essays in The Washington Post. The reason that these essays and editorial comments were written has to do with…
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MUST WE ALWAYS BE ENTERTAINED?
I hope that I do not have to establish my bona fides with respect to music. I was raised in the suburban area of a musical town where there were symphonies, operettas, a grand opera, and recitals of all kinds. The name of the town was, of course, St. Louis. It may not rank with…
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LEVI AND K-ROD
The dramatis personae of the following essay will cause historians to rate it as a tour de force or as a complete omnibus essay. The dramatis personae include Levi Johnston, the Wasilla, Alaska stud who impregnated Sarah Palin’s daughter, and Sarah Palin’s husband who claims Eskimo ancestry in his parentage. Moving in a southward direction,…
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HE ALWAYS SHOOK MY HAND
Eric Bogle is a prolific songwriter who started his life in Scotland in a town called Peebles. At age 25, he took off for Australia and has long since become a citizen there. Bogle composed a song which is really a poem to recognize the existence of a love affair wherein the husband eventually died. …
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I’M STILL MAD AS HELL
This essay should be read after another essay called “In Memoriam: Abelino Mazariego.” I don’t usually write essays that are to be consumed one after the other. I like my essays to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, the thought being that they can all stand on their own feet. In the instant…
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FULL FLEDGED DEVOTION
Under ordinary circumstances, the day at this house begins with a loud thud made by the storm door on the front porch. The loud thud has to do with the delivery of two newspapers rolled up and inserted into a plastic bag. If I am lucky, the newspapers will be placed to the side of…
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GREEN BANANAS
As everyone knows, I hope, I am a student of politics, particularly at the national level. For a time of about four years, I had the opportunity to be a lobbyist for AT&T in Washington. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to meet Senator Claude Pepper from Florida during that time. But as age…
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HALL TREES AND SAM HALL
When I entered the high school in Clayton, Missouri in January of 1936, I was asked a question about my course preparation. The basic premise was that if you were going on to college, Clayton High School would equip you to handle college work. If you were not going to college, you were assigned to…