Posts Tagged ‘dad’
Philip Kenney’s “Where Roses Bloom”
Where Roses Bloom, Philip Kenney’s recent book of poetry, is an impressive body of work, especially when the poet’s novel, Radiance, is included in any consideration of the author’s output. The title might suggest sentimentality in his approach. “Roses,” as a word, has many connotations. But do not be misled. Kenney’s work is fresh, challenging,…
Read MoreDuck Hunting was a Weekend Pursuit When I Was a Boy
#hunting #duck hunting #pheasants #shotgun Hunting ducks always comes to mind as the autumn season deepens. My dad was an avid hunter. He could not wait until my brother and I became old enough to accompany him on his weekend excursions into the South Dakota countryside to hunt ducks and pheasants. I remember going with…
Read MoreTwo Poems — One Explained; a Second Challenges Explanations
I have been writing poetry since I was a boy in elementary school. There have been times where poetry came easily, flowed right out of the daily events in my life. At other times, I felt as though I was hammering words into place, pounding the lines into shape in the hopes that I would…
Read MoreMy Dad Believed in the Manly Art of Self-Defense. No Boxing Gloves for Grampa
#selfdefense #boxing #grandfather #grandchildren May 28 is the anniversary of my father’s death. I wrote about the days leading up to his death in an earlier article for this web site. My dad died on May 28, 1980, after a debilitating series of small strokes that diminished him in degrees until he was barely there…
Read MoreSenators Favor NRA Approval Over the Chance at Saving A Child’s Life
#guncontrol @gunregulation #nra Here, never to be forgotten, is the list of the Senators who preferred to keep favor with the NRA rather than take one small step to protect our children. Listed below are the Senators who voted against extending background checks to include gun shows and other improvised markets. 1. Sen. Lamar Alexander…
Read MoreAdoption Papers were Ready for Signature. My Son Needed to be Baptized First.
The following is an installment in a series of posts dealing with the options available to the underage parents of a child born out of wedlock during the 1950’s, before the advent of outpatient abortions, the pill, and a dramatic change in the public view with regard to sex prior to marriage. My son was…
Read MoreAdoption Was an Unwed Teenage Mother’s Option Before Out Patient Abortion Became Available
#adoption #1950s #teenagepregnancy Adoption was a commonplace practice in the 1940’s and ‘50’s before the introduction of the pill and outpatient abortion service. The children who lived next door to my family when I was a boy were adopted, all four of them. Kids in the neighborhood thought nothing of it. If questioned, parents responded…
Read MoreDeadly Portfolio Holds Autobiographical Material. This In Memory of My Father.
My father died on May 28, 1980. I was in Oak Ridge, TN at the time. I returned to my motel room after dinner and found the message light blinking on the telephone, as I tell the story in my novel, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds. In the book, the man taking the…
Read MoreStepparent Seen by Adult Children as Parent’s New Partner But Not as a Stepparent.
#stepparent #blendedfamily #stepchild A reader from New York asked if I planned on commenting about the role of a stepparent when the stepchildren have left the home and are established as adults on their own. Great question! Great suggestion! There is not a whole lot of actual parenting to be done once children have moved…
Read MoreDime Stores for Valentines and Other Gifts.
#valentine #fiveanddime #dimestore A dime store was a dime store in the 1940’s. No two ways about it. Scott’s called themselves a “five-and-ten-cent store.” Newberry’s went one better. See the sign in the picture to the right that has been copied from a postcard as it was in the mid-1940’s. Newberry’s proclaimed they were a…
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