Bill Patterson needed to hear your name only once to be able to remember it a lifetime. He had a knack for learning names. Asked if he’d had a memory training course and he’d say, ‘No, ever since I was a kid I could remember names.? He’d not only recite that person’s name, but their […]
Watching the bands often enjoyable as the games I watch, and enjoy a lot of football games (college and professional) on tv. I am always annoyed by commercials, and blather filling the screen when public interest should be considered and the cameras should focus on the bands. So, while I spend a lot of time […]
The color shades for next year will be sage and other greens. ‘Green is the color that represents a larger social movement,? says a Pantone rep. There’ll be new neutrals, subtle nuances, such as when you’re not sure if it’s blue or grey. For women, destroyed denims are out. So is high maintenance silver and […]
The original purpose of a weekly newspaper was to make public items that seemed important to locals, but were irrelevant to non-locals. These papers covered local governments, but more widely they emphasized ‘who went where and when? items neighbors wanted to read. Weeklies had country correspondents who wrote these 4-Ws at named crossroads and real […]
The seventh birthday was looming for our twins, which means it was time to take my twins? shopping advisor to a store or two. The ‘advisor? is Trevor and Haley’s 10-year-old sister, Savannah. First a little background (boasting) about Savannah. She’s a reader, having read all six of the Harry Potter books at least twice. […]
On the west coast of Michigan, the name ‘Batdorff? has long been a prominent name in the newspaper business. Austen Batdorff owned the Traverse City Record Eagle until selling it to Dow Jones, probably in the 1960s. The Big Rapids Pioneer Press and Manistee News Advocate were also part of the family chain. They still […]
Old farmer’s advice: Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance. Good judgement comes from experience, and a lotta??? that comes from bad judgement. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. Every path has a few puddles. And every puddle has at least one little one jumping in it. […]
Baseball was my game in my growing-up years. As a freshman in Owosso High School I pitched three, 5-inning games for the Trojans, allowing a total of five runs, but lost two games. Next year, I was in Morrice High School where the coach-science teacher-librarian-counselor ‘knew? that a tall baseball player had to play first […]
Favorite bumper sticker: If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it’s in English, thank a soldier. – – – 0 – – – Seriously, readers, don’t you think the United States ought to consider dropping its membership in, and support for, the United Nations? If not that extreme, perhaps there is some way […]
I’ve mentioned that I write a lot of letters. Usually I try to make them uplifting, but when it comes to complaining to manufacturers, the responses can be curt. Here’s one I wrote to Sunbeam Products about their Oster toaster: ‘To whom it may concern, which is probably nobody, ‘Some months ago, when I decided […]