Ezra's Essays

Category: 2011

  • SPRECHEN SIE DEUTSCH?

    Under ordinary circumstances, a visit to a physician in a non-emergency situation would not qualify as a reason for writing an essay.  Certainly that is true on a morning when we learned that Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, seems to have met his demise.  But in this case, my visit with the learned cardiologist Andrew…

  • HERMAN’S STUD FARM

    According to the Julian calendar, which I keep in my hip pocket at all times, today is Friday, December 2, 2011.  The latest news about Herman Cain, the Republican aspirant to the Presidency, is that he is going home tonight to keep a “date night” with his wife.  I expect that Herman will have a…

  • A FURTHER THOUGHT ABOUT THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS

    You may recall from a reading of Ezra’s Essays that my eighth grade teacher was a buxom woman named Miss Maxwell.  She was the one who wore high-buttoned shoes and liked to read English poetry to us, much to the chagrin of all the boys of the class.  Miss Maxwell was very intent on teaching…

  • HAVE I STAYED TOO LONG AT THE FAIR

    You may be excused if you do not recall exactly what you do were doing on the evening of August 4, 1959.  It was a Tuesday, but otherwise it was unremarkable.  I do not recall what I was doing that evening but I assume that I was working for the great AT&T organization and I…

  • STOCKINGS AND GARTERS

    I do not know much about the subject of stockings and garters.  There are those who would say my ignorance on this vital subject is appalling.  On the other hand, I would say to my detractors, of whom there are many, that the absence of expertise is no reason not to write an essay on…

  • O BEAUTIFUL FOR SPACIOUS SKIES

    The week ending on October 8 was an eventful week which may have consequences for every American as we travel down the road toward prosperity.  Three events took place, one involving a baseball decision and two others having local consequences.  But let us deal first with the baseball decision.  As you may be aware, the…

  • THE POWER OF PRAYER TWO

    You may recall that a few months ago an essay was dictated at this desk that had to do with Bishop Eddie Long who was pastor of the New Birth mega-church in Atlanta.  It seems as though Bishop Long had thousands of followers and they clung to every word that he uttered.  Not to tell…

  • IT HASN’T HAPPENED YET

    In the spring of the year 2010, I found myself in the offices of my favorite internist on more occasions than I would like to recall.  I had no specific complaints, such as my foot hurting or my head hurting, but rather I told the internist that I simply felt lousy, lousy, lousy.  The internist…

  • UPON BEING SELF-HOODWINKED

    This essay pivots on the origin of a popular folk song written in 1835 called “Kathleen Mavourneen.”  Like many Irish people and the world at large, I had long assumed that “Kathleen Mavourneen” was the epitome of Irish folk music.  The word “mavourneen” is an ancient Gaelic word for “my darling.”  The name Kathleen is…

  • MAKING THINGS EVEN

    There are several conditions and practices in the world that authorize men to have multiple wives.  In the western world where Christianity prevails, we limit one man to one woman at a time.  A knock on Mormonism is that for years the Mormons insisted that their followers could have multiple wives.  It seems that Orrin…