“Can you say something about nothing?” The words belong to a character in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the disturbing 1932 novel about a future where all thought is subjected to the will of the state, partly by limiting writing (and reading) to superficial, shallow topics. Which has me thinking. About thinking. I’m wondering about […]
Sitting in class watching students comment on their peers’ research papers. Funny. At the beginning of the semester, this is the part that scared them most. “Embarrassing,” they told me. But now? They wouldn’t think of turning in their stuff without running it by a classmate. Smart kids, huh? Makes me wish I could do […]
We called ourselves The New Creation, and we performed sporadically from 1969 to 1973. If you google the name, you’ll find a Christian musical group of about the same era who sang in places like Sweden, Germany and New Zealand. That’s not us. We sang in places like Dimmitt, Sunray and Claude, usually in parks […]
Driving into work this week, I spotted a couple of horses playing in the bottoms of Tierra Blanca Creek. Yes, playing. Galloping back and forth. First one in front; then the other. Brought back memories of those Hidden Falls Ranch days when I lived next to a horse herd. Horses do love to play, especially […]
In the photo (left), my friend Paul Matney stands beside what is probably the oldest, extant, wooden structure in the Texas Panhandle. I’m referring to the corrals built in 1876 by legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight, constructed just two years after, and located just eight miles east of the last Indian battle in Texas. Larry McMurtry […]
Fear. Felt it stalking me today. It came mixed with the news of a critically ill friend. Later, I saw it in the face of a news anchor explaining world events. Later still, it lurked in the margins of my checkbook as I paid bills. It’s an old battle. How does one send the stalker […]