photo by me
This is nothing new. People have been using sex or sex appeal to sell things since the dawn of advertising, I would guess. I think of bathing suit clad beauties perched on old muscle cars. Or the half naked dancing man in Kmart commercials.
It’s about sex, baby. [...]
photo by me
american life in poetry: column 065
by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006
Visiting a familiar and once dear place after a long absence can knock the words right out of us, and in this poem, Keith Althaus of Massachusetts observes this happening to someone else. I like the way he suggests, [...]
photo by me
The threat of fire is so pervasive that a siren sounds and we all cringe, wondering if it’s in our part of town.
Today one of my co-workers came into my office and told me she thought there was a fire in my part of town. I was worried. My dog [...]
I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while. I’ve been thinking about the impact it will have on all of us - not least of all bloggers, especially those big bloggers that draw in a lot of traffic, who may have a message different from the one their service providers agree with, and [...]
photo by me
This is something I don’t understand about people who are facing eminent danger in natural disasters. Why do they insist on staying in their homes?
I think about the people who refused to leave their homes in spite of hours of warnings before Mt. St. Helens blew. They ended [...]
photo by me
The positive thing about fires - they give us amazing, beautiful sunsets.
Okay, there are actually many things about fires that are positive but they are also very scary and overwhelming and intense.
I have so much respect for fire - especially now that my brother is a firefighter. I understand [...]
photo by me
Did your family move around a lot, or stay in the same place when you were growing up?
We moved a lot as we were growing up. I don’t even know all of the places we lived when I was young.
My dad was in the Navy and we were stationed up and down the [...]
My brother has joked about us being white trash for as long as I can remember.
What does that mean to him? What does it mean to me?
Does it mean the kids who wear mismatched clothes and have dirty faces all of the time? Does it mean that you're too poor to be able to buy [...]
photo by me
Sorry I haven’t responded to all of your well-wishes. I’ve been quite under the weather lately. I’ve been in bed for three days (and, frankly, tired of it).
The fire crews on the Woody Fire were amazing. Within 24 hours, the fire was contained. The fire, while [...]
photo by me
american life in poetry: column 064
by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006
Storytelling binds the past and present together, and is as essential to community life as are food and shelter. Many of our poets are masters at reshaping family stories as poetry. Here Lola Haskins retells a haunting tale, cast [...]
