She was a very little girl at the time. But long before that, I had discovered that very little girls sometimes have very big questions. That day, I saw the thinking happening, as the little face wrinkled with perplexity. Then suddenly, she blurted out, “Where do people go when they […]
Marie Snider – This Side of 60
It’s been a long time but I still remember the signs in the windows. Not in our window, fortunately, but in the windows of neighbouring families. The sign that said “Quarantined–Scarlet Fever.” And everyone stayed away. Sometimes if the man of the household was lucky, he didn’t get the disease. […]
For the most part, my beautiful white dog, Phoebe, is carefree and happy. She chases her toy when we throw it, and dances about excitedly when she hears the word “walk.” She waits patiently until treats are offered but pushes her dog dish out into the centre of the room […]
I’ve always been curious about that Broadway show and movie “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” and one of these times I’m going to see it. But in the meantime, I just keep puzzling over its title. When you think about it, it is a funny […]
It was a long time ago but we’ll never forget the “self-reliant” little girl with the golden ringlets. The little girl whose mother always said, “Smile, Shirley.” I loved seeing her on the silver screen, and I loved drinking my milk from a Shirley Temple cup. But most of all, […]
Sometimes I’m tempted to shed responsibility. I crave a distant time and place when my parents told me how to spend my money, and my college advisor told me what to choose for a college major. When my doctor told me exactly what to do about my health, and my […]
It was a gray day. That I have to admit. And yet, the grayness wasn’t at the top of my mind. It was the spring of the year in 1949, and I was walking across the northern Indiana campus I had so grown to love. In a way I felt […]
“Grimpons, grimpons,” sings the French professor in the 1960s Disney film, “In Search of the Castaways.” All the while smiling, and making you feel for sure that anything is possible. Anything at all–if you just keep climbing. The word, says actor Maurice Chevalier, means “let’s climb. It is the French […]
Bordered by Maine on the east, Vermont on the west, and Massachusetts on the south, with a narrow tip stretching up to touch Quebec, the 9,000 square mile triangle known as New Hampshire has to be one of the most beautiful spots in the U.S. It’s a state with picturesque […]
Even though I’m this side of 60, I’ve never really felt old. With one exception, that is. And that exception was many years ago. I’d gone to school most of my life, and taught the rest of it. I’d travelled in the summers, and served in many places of need. […]
“Who should get flu shots?” asked the interviewer. And the expert looked earnestly at the television camera to answer. “Well, to begin with, the elderly should get shots,” he said. “Anyone over the age of 65.” And that’s when I stopped listening. Now, I have nothing against flu shots. Without […]
It was more than a quarter of a century ago when Alvin Toffler confirmed our fears about the future in a best-selling book called “Future Shock.” Toffler didn’t create the future. He just outlined in detail for us what we were already beginning to sense. Change would be the name […]
