English is a HARD language for Furriners to learn
My readers should know by now that I was an anthropologist. I think I enjoyed Linguistics more than anything in that field of study. I was also a student of Russian back then, and recently made the acquaintance of a new friend born in Moscow. It has set me on the path of recovering my […]
I Was Santa Claus for Winn Dixie
When in college I drove a yellow and white 1953 Packard, complete with the swan hood ornament (Ask the man who owns one!). It had the flat straight-8 engine. Like so many cars I owned and loved in those years, I could not afford its last fatal repair. I had bought it from a kid […]
Thrill Hill
“We’re going to have Fun, Fun, Fun Till our Daddy takes the T-bird away!!!” I HAD a T-bird when I was young. There was a road in Coconut Grove in Miami so steep that if you drove on it very fast, when it dropped off, your car would literally leave the ground and come crashing […]
Doctor Who
I have been a fan of Doctor Who since the 1970s, practically from the beginning. Just like Star Trek, it is stunning how much more sophisticated the production values became over the years. They say that your first doctor is always your favorite. Not quite in my case. My favorite was Tom Baker. My first […]
I Don’t Think I Am In South Florida Anymore, Am I Toto?
The research team I was part of in the Everglades monitored the buildup of pesticide residues in the environment. I suggested we get samples from Taylor Slough. Everglades National Park surrounded a section of land called The Hole in the Doughnut. This was farmland which, as a compromise when the park was created in 1947, […]
Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus
I have been accused of being a soppy sentimentalist. As cynical as I am about so many things, there are some things that are just nice! This is one of the most famous editorials ever written. It was in 1897 in the New York Sun. I saw this reproduction of it in 1988. It has […]
If you have enjoyed these, could you all please help me?
I started all this twenty years ago just for myself, but a few friends I shared the stories with really loved them and wanted more. I spoke in the Opening Act about why there had been a hiatus before beginning again this past year. I have been urged to pay various web services to advertise […]
Anthropologists Can Too Have a Sense of Humor
By now most of you should know I was an anthropologist. When I left graduate school ABD (all but dissertation) many people expressed sympathy for not being done. “They didn’t make me check my brains at the door when I left” That part of my education has stood me in good stead in everything I […]
The True Story of How John Cougar Mellencamp Came to Be Called The “Little Bastard”
I was there. I witnessed it. And I just spoke with my friend Eileen Alexander who gave him that nickname to confirm my recollection, AND she gave me permission to name the guilty parties! Some background is necessary. If you have read the postcard story you will know how I came to have clients in […]
The White Album
I wasn’t very smart in those days about business or looking after my own interests. A friend of my father decided he wanted to start his own coffeehouse, and he planted it right across from the Flick Coffeehouse on US one near Red Road in South Miami. He hired me to recruit all the talent […]