Ezra's Essays

Category: Favorite

  • INFIDELS AND APOSTATES

    This short essay is undertaken with a sense of fear and trembling since it involves religion. When one person or one sect or one country calls another infidels and apostates, it would almost always be a slur. Generally speaking, my religious involvement is minimal because this ancient non-believer would seem to have no dog in…

  • ELEPHANTS AND MORE CONUNDRUMS

    Today is my birthday. Ordinarily, my birthday happens only once a year, so it has always been my intention to be as charitable as possible on this sanctified occasion. It is very difficult to be charitable this year as we were told last Sunday, August 1st, that the terrorists planned to annihilate those of us…

  • CRAIG JORDAN – A CONSUMMATE PROFESSIONAL

    Ordinarily, it is my wont to deal with financial matters promptly. This accounts for calling contractors before their bill for work at the Carr-Chicka residence has often been composed. And so my head is shaking over my failure to write an essay about Craig Jordan, a Lab Technician who works for the Summit Medical Group…

  • CHERISHING THE CHILDREN OF THE NATION EQUALLY

    In this essay, it is my intention to give consideration to the importance of the religious vote to the recent re-election of Bush, particularly to the Jewish element of that choice. The title comes from a sentence of a proclamation by the “Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to the people of Ireland.” The proclamation…

  • MORE BITS AND PIECES: THE MORMONS ARE AT IT AGAIN, etc.

    There is a Mormon Church only two miles from this house. It escapes me why the Mormons elected to build a large church in Short Hills, New Jersey. As far as can be determined, their sect has a very limited appeal to residents of Summit, Livingston, Millburn and Short Hills. But the Church of Jesus…

  • HOW I BECAME A PROTESTANT

    It would be a great source of regret it any reader were to conclude from the title of this essay, that this is a religious piece. Banish the thought. Quite to the contrary, this vignette is an Army story. When we reach the latter stages of this inquiry, there will be a denouement that will…

  • BITS AND PIECES – PART I

    From time to time, there are some shorter subjects that demand the attention of the essayist. To devote a whole essay to these transient items would probably be more than they deserve. On the other hand, to fail to comment on such items would be a significant injustice. And so what we have here is…

  • BECAUSE THE RIVER’S WET BUT BEALE STREET DONE GONE DRY – W.C. Handy

    Last year, the United States Congress voted to declare the year 2003 the “Year of the Blues.” This took place while unemployment benefits ran out, while the U. S. was snarling at Iraq, while most of the Congress was seeking re-election and while the economy was limping along. But in the end, as someone who…

  • FROM THE CROSSROADS OF THE WEST

    It is not a general rule of mine to tout a Mormon radio program. It may have been a product of the Great Depression that influenced all American citizens from 1929 until 1941. There were not a lot of things to tout. Nearly all of my similarly aged colleagues agree that the two major influences…

  • FOND MEMORIES OF BLIGHTY

    Being an essayist in New Jersey, USA, is an exciting existence. There are pageants and banquets and balls to be attended. New Jersey honors its essayists weekly with an uncommon display of gratitude and outright affection. In the midst of all these ceremonies, there is a chance that Americans, particularly those of Irish ancestry, will…