Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898
Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898
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Realizing that September 25 marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere of “The Partridge Family,” I am reminded that time moves more swiftly than a 45 RPM turntable. It seems like only yesterday that I was a fifth-grader and my mother was teasing me because 10-year-old Danny Partridge (played by Danny Bonaduce) was in love. In the blink of an eye, it’s 2020 and I feel compelled to sing, “I woke up in Depends this morning/ I woke up in Depends this morning/ Went to sleep with Hot Wheels on my m...
What were you doing the night of Saturday, March 19, 1977? Like 21.2 million other Americans, I was watching the final episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Watching it and making a nerdy audio recording of it for posterity. Sure, I didn’t anticipate the cassette keepsake having such an eardrum-assaulting HUM on it; but at least I felt like I was a part of something historic. And maybe I should use the tape’s hum even today to drown myself out when I spontaneously start singing, “It’s a...
One of the highlights of my 93-year-old mother’s week is when she receives an inspirational essay from a church lady (hi, Regina!) who maintains a mailing list for Special People. Yes, the world is flooded with anxieties, conflicts and doubts. Many of us NEED someone hitting us over the head with a metaphorical two-by-four on a weekly/daily/hourly basis -- refocusing our thoughts on truisms about perseverance, forgiveness, friendship, self-worth and happiness. (And about counting to 10 when s...
For most of us, Labor Day will be an occasion for relaxation and contemplation. (And MORAL DILEMMAS, because our contemplation will be complicated by the fact that the little cartoon angel on our right shoulder and the little cartoon devil on our left shoulder aren’t allowed within six feet of each other.) For others, even in the time of pandemic, it will be “just another manic Monday.” My afterschool job required me to work EVERY holiday, so my sincerest empathy goes out to those truckdrivers,...
“The first thing we do, let’s reboot all the lawyers.” No, that’s not really how the line from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI, Part 2” goes; but it came to mind when I read a Wall Street Journal special section on artificial intelligence and encountered the article “Would You Trust A Lawyer Bot?” According to the Journal, numerous startup tech companies are churning out apps and digital services that horn in on routine procedures typically performed by flesh-and-blood, bar-exam-passing lawyers. These t...
When I was a carefree lad watching “Lost in Space,” the Robinson family’s high-tech hydroponic garden sounded neat. Now I worry that the science fiction program sowed seeds that are taking us too far away from our roots of harvest festivals and “planting by the signs.” According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “vertical farms” may be the wave of the future -- if we can find enough vertical WORKERS. (“Quit nagging, mom. I can’t have been slumped over the video game console for more than – HOW long does it take for mold to make penici...
Much of the nation is experiencing a prolonged heat wave, so of course your humble columnist counterintuitively conjures up WARM MEMORIES to comfort himself. When I was in college, I sometimes supplemented my income by helping my late father with deliveries for Easy Pay Tire Store (the tires-and-appliances store where he worked for the Ritter family). One delivery should have been routine (installing an air conditioner for a countryfied elderly couple I had known since my high school job at...
What spoils even more evening meals than robocalls? How about newscasts with their endless stream of titillating revelations coyly attributed to “reliable sources,” “people close to the matter,” “people familiar with the situation,” “people who thought the situation was a cast member of ‘Jersey Shore’,” etc.? The whole concept of “close to the situation” is overrated. Lots of people “close to the situation” can’t see the forest for the trees until Columbo, Poirot or Jessica Fletcher waltz in...
A man’s home is his castle – but sometimes the crocodile in the moat decides he wants to try out the bathtub instead. At my day job working in Inventory Control, one guiding principle is “a place for everything and everything in its place.” Too bad wild animals aren’t as easily pigeonholed as nuts and bolts. A string of recent events helped me settle on this week’s tirade. My wife replaced the window screen that had been shredded by an impulsive raccoon. A bird kept flying down my mother’s ch...
“Late at night when it’s hard to rest/I hold your picture to my chest/ and I feel fine, I feel fine/But it’s a rainy night in Georgia…” – written by Tony Joe White and performed by Brook Benton. I need your input. I know this is a terribly personal question, but which songs make you cry? And why? (And would you be miffed if you suddenly, inexplicably started receiving spam emails for Kleenex and Visine?) I could name a dozen or more songs that reliably put ME on a spectrum of emotional r...
One of the most awkward, self-conscious incidents in my life occurred when I was shopping with a group, and one of my companions blithely continued browsing long after the store doors were locked. I have done assembly-line work, junkyard work and freelance writing; but I have also punched enough cash-register keys and worked around enough clerks-slash-sales-associates to know that the retail life isn’t all skittles and beer. (Okay, maybe there IS a lot of Skittles and beer, in the sense of ...
One of my biggest pet peeves: people who can’t hold up their end of a conversation. Oh, I’m not saying that every single human being is obligated to bring jaw-dropping factoids, whimsical quips and provocative perspectives to every mundane conversation. But listeners could at least honor speakers with something more interactive than banal “filler” material like “Uh huh,” “Well, I’ll be!” and “How do ya like that?” If you reveal, “I lost my wallet on vacation, but a former U.S. president voluntee...
“Look around me/ I can see my life before me/ Running rings around the way / It used to be…” – Crosby, Stills & Nash I couldn’t eat at my favorite Chinese buffet, attend the cinema or even hang out at the public library; but in mid-April, I celebrated my 60th birthday, bolstered by the love of my family, the companionship of my pets, an impressive degree of health and the guilty pleasure of newspapers being stuck with conveniently OUTDATED photographs of me. (Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome...
“Never in history has such ruination – physical and moral – been associated with the name of one man.” – Sir Ian Kershaw, English historian. April 30 marks the 75th anniversary of the suicides of Adolf Hitler and his newlywed bride Eva Braun. Historical milestones seem to be a dime a dozen in today’s hectic world, but Hitler’s impact was so great that each of us should pause to remember the Nazi dictator’s legacy in one way or another. (The six million victims of Hitler’s genocidal program...
On a recent Saturday afternoon, 86-year-old Uncle Doug shared a bit of family lore about his grandfather (my great-grandfather). When great-grandpa Henry Lee Gipson was four years old, a stranger came knocking on the door. The visitor introduced himself to great-grandpa and went inside to conduct his business. As he was leaving, he apologized for using a pseudonym; he confided that his real name was Jesse James! (This was when Jesse and brother Frank were living in Nashville, and three or four...
The recent death of actor James Drury (star of the 1962-1971 TV Western “The Virginian”) adds insult to injury when one considers what will occur next month. When the networks announce the shows they’re canceling and launching, yet again there will be no true Westerns in contention for a coveted spot on the fall schedules. The year I was born, there were 30 “horse operas” spread out across three broadcast networks in prime time, and that culture left an indelible mark on me. (Not in the publi...
