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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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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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SCALLIONS AND WHISKERS
Scallions and whiskers have absolutely nothing to do with each other but they occurred to me at about the same time as I was preparing to write an essay, so I have thrown a blanket over the both of them. Here are the two elusive subjects. Taking scallions first, I have been a devotée of…
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GRUBER’S LAW
I suspect that by this time every American must have an idea of the enormity of the oil spill that is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill is of such proportions that we should consider it before long a cataclysmic event. All of which brings me to “Gruber’s Law” that I would…
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LAYAWAY PLANS
One of my faithful readers has been Thelma DuPont. Thelma and I worked in the overseas department of the AT&T Company before both of us retired, which seems like in the last century. Thelma and I grew up nearly 1,000 miles apart yet, judging from her letters to me, we had similar experiences. For example,…
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THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AGAIN
From time to time in Ezra’s Essays, I have commented upon changes in the English language that have impressed me. There are a good many that do not impress me. Today’s essay largely has to do with those that don’t impress me. There are four words that I might cite as reasons for writing this…
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CESAR AND ANDY
Under ordinary circumstances, my wife and I go grocery shopping twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Again, if ordinary circumstances hold, we have found on Tuesdays, there are two attendants who retrieve the carts over the large parking lot and bring them back so they may be used again. When the two cart retrievers…
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ANOTHER NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
If I were an observant Muslim, I would add the phrase “Blessed be His name” after saying something about Prophet Mohammed. But as most of you know, I am not an observant Muslim and I suspect the Muslims would regard me as nothing more than a pagan. But be that as it may, the point…