Ezra's Essays

Category: Favorite

  • FROM THE FRIENDLY WHITE HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE

    If you were alive in January of 2001, you may recall that George W. Bush ascended to the Presidency of this country. He got there by virtue of the ugly fact that the Supreme Court was counting the ballots. At the conclusion of the ballot count, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia issued his ruling…

  • QUESTIONS IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS | Meditations: Chapter 13, Verses Pre-Genesis to Mid-Malachi

    From time to time, questions come along that make me wonder if anyone else has similar questions and whether any solutions really exist. The questions are so persistent that they must be acknowledged even though there may be no answers at all. Try some of these. Verse 1: Poor Health, Men’s Division The Chief Justice…

  • THOUGHTS THAT OCCUR LATE AT NIGHT | Meditations Chapter VIII

    When the idea of Meditations was revealed to me, it was my thought that a sentence or two on each idea would be sufficient. As it turned out, some of the Meditations cannot be dismissed so lightly. Some require an explanation that would rival Genesis of Biblical fame. And so it is time to return…

  • SECOND CHANCES | Meditations – Chapter Three

    For nearly 63 years, this old broken-down soldier has thought that he and five other GI’s, could have acted more graciously in not accepting an offer by a gentleman to pay for a breakfast we ate in a civilian restaurant. Once the offer was either not accepted or if you will, rejected, there were no…

  • A TOUCH OF ELEGANCE | Meditations

    Calendars don’t mislead or obfuscate. They mark the inexorable passage of time. That was the burden of the message exchange recently with Shirley Morganstein, a great speech therapist who set me to writing essays nearly eight years ago. In my case, essay writing has made those years pass most pleasantly. While essay writing has occupied…

  • FRITZ, JAEGER, MENCKEN AND HERSH

    If someone were to ask me who ranks first among all American journalists and authors since we gained our independence 229 years ago, my answer would be prompt and unequivocal. Clearly, it is Henry Louis Mencken who edited the Baltimore Sunpapers as well as “The Smart Set” and “The American Mercury” magazines. For 60 years,…

  • CLEAR THINKING

    The Commander in Chief/Chief Executive of these United States claims that he has discerned that Social Security is proceeding to a state he calls “flat bust.” If he were talking about female physiognomy, that would be one thing. But Mr. Chief of Everything is saying that the Social Security Trust Fund will be bankrupt in…

  • TALLY HO THE G. D. FOX

    Legend has it that during World War II, an American GI was invited to a fox hunt in England. It was explained to him that being invited to such a supremely significant social event was a great honor. He was told to be on his absolutely best behavior with the royalty and upper class Brits…

  • WE’LL KEEP A WELCOME

    A TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE OF JEAN MC FARLAND LIVERMORE AND A COMMEMORATION OF MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP WITH HARRY A. LIVERMORE “We’ll Keep a Welcome” is a Welsh song that personifies Jean McFarland Livermore’s life and to some extent, Grinnell College in Iowa which she attended. “We’ll Keep a Welcome” goes back…

  • ARE AMERICANS COLOSSAL PRUDES? OR: VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAIETH THE LORD

    The effort to answer the question as to whether my fellow country women, men and children are colossal prudes will inevitably require allusions to what some pious Yankees consider vulgar language. In other cases, our research inevitably leads also to consideration of the display of nude or semi-nude females in night clubs, on the beach,…