The tiny gold dolphin dangling from his ear on his return the first summer was just the beginning. He hasn't always been this way; that's part of the conundrum. "I went off to college, and according to my mother, that's when I began losing my 'foundation'," this recent graduate reports. When asked to describe this "foundation", he happily---indeed, proudly---launches into a litany of principles and teachings central to his traditional, deeply religious upbringing here in the Bootheel. They include honesty, industriousness, thrift, regular church attendance, and general social conservatism. The first four apparently presented no problem for him during his years away from home; it's the last of these areas in which, to the dismay of both his
- Feb 16,
Sorry...did I mention the Gorgeosity Factor here? It was as if he'd escaped from a GQ photo-shoot just to give me directions to the P.O.... I had an East-Asia memory that recently brought a smile to my face, and so I thought I might share it on Valentine's Day. First, the back story: Once upon a time, I lived in the then-Portuguese territory of Macau, across the bay from Hong Kong. Just out of college myself, I taught English at Macau's University of East Asia. But I hopped over to Hong Kong regularly to hang out with friends, eat Western fast food, shop, see movies, do mailings (faster transit from HK), and generally stretch my legs in a bigger set
Feb 14,I have opted, for this pre-Easter period, not to mindlessly eat like a six-year-old raised by wolves, who is then suddenly deposited on the set of Emeril Live during Mardi Gras Open House. Have you ever given up anything for Lent? What might one typically give up in attempting to identify more deeply with Christ's privation and temptation in the wilderness? Chocolate, perhaps? "Reality" TV? Alcohol? Tobacco? Coffee? Internet mania? Guitar Hero? Actually, I am determined to undertake an endeavor possibly more challenging than all these---for me anyway: I have decided to give up nutritional stupidity for Lent. Yes, I have opted, for this pre-Easter period, not to eat like a six-year-old raised by wolves, who is then suddenly deposited onto the set of
Feb 08,"You can have all sorts of philosophical discussions on life, the universe, and everything, but if someone's beating your face in, you're pretty much focused on the present moment." ---Tony Page Tony Page delivers. This fact is what has made him an American Taekwondo Association World Champion, and holder of over a hundred other ATA regional and national titles. It's what has allowed his martial arts school, the Black Belt Academy of Poplar Bluff, to flourish; it's what propels his students to victory after victory in nationwide competition, year after year.
Feb 06,Yesterday I got up the nerve to just stand outside a local grocery store (yes, the site of my unprecedented musical triumph described in "Duet With A Drifter"---what can I say, it's near my house) and ask people about their plans for Valentine's Day (Thursday, February 14). What I won't do to bring you ideas! Of course it was predictable---and amazingly evident, in some cases---that there were people with no intention of divulging, to a possible nutcase with a pad and pen at the ready, their plans for the most romantic day on the calendar. But some of those were among the most charming people I met on my roving-girl-reporter gig that afternoon! Here's how Valentine's Day is shaping up
Feb 04,