In my youth, Memorial Day was a village-wide event. The parade was big. It seemed every organization from the Brownies to the Knights of Columbus had an entry, plus the crowds lined the sidewalks, three-deep, from start to finish. Once the parade ended at the town hall, everyone went to ...
If writing has one rule, it is this: Show, don’t tell. In other words, instead of simply describing things, ILLUSTRATE them. It’s easy enough to say it, but it’s mighty difficult to DO. That’s why a piece of writing can be technically perfect — no mistakes in spelling, ...
My parents were from NYC, so we always went there four times a year or so, to do city things. Among them, we visited museums (which has stuck with me), rode the subway (which has NOT stuck with me), and generally took in city sights, sounds and smells (whether or not I wanted to). But no ...
I’ve been an avid reader almost all my life. Of course, that was no big deal when I was a kid since everyone was a reader of one kind or another. TV hadn’t yet become the national drug of choice, and reading was pretty much the only game in town. Sure, there was radio, and everyone ...
When it comes to remembering dates, I’m hopeless. I know few peeps’ birthdays, some national holidays and an odd occasion here and there. If something significant happened in my life, I might remember the year and season, but never the actual day. The only exception to this is April 29, ...
As much as I hate superstition, so many things went wrong Saturday morning, I could only think I was having one very UN-lucky day. It started as soon as I got up. Frankly, no matter how late I get up, I’m non compos mentis for at least an hour. Then again, since I don’t do anything that ...
When I was in my mid-teens, if you’d asked me or any other young lad what “Q” stood for, I’m sure almost all of them would’ve had the same answer: Q stood for Q. It wasn’t the letter itself, but the man Q. He was the crusty old guy in the James Bond movies who supervised all ...
It seems our traditional greeting has been replaced, and for good reason. Used to be you saw someone you knew and you said, “Hey, how ya doin?” A rhetorical question if ever there was one. Now it’s, “So, how ya holdin’ up?” Not a rhetorical question at all. Of course, the ...
Last week I wrote about the reliability of memory. Or more precisely, about the un-reliability of my memory. The column revolved around my memories of an old Winter Carnival parade and one float in it. As I’d remembered it, it was Carnival ’66, and the float was Chuck’s bar’s, ...
A while back, Diane Griffin and I were chatting on the phone. And as might be expected, after the usual exchange of pleasantries, the talk turned to our usual topic — The Good Old Days. Specifically, I’d mentioned that little hole in the wall on the first floor of Petrova school where ...
Chicago canceled theirs. New York canceled theirs. Boston canceled theirs — even Dublin canceled theirs. But My Home Town’s happened took place right on schedule. I am, of course, referring to our St. Patrick’s Day parade. A week before the parade, Jen-X asked me the perfect ...
It’s true you can have a lot of fun while you’re aging. But unless you’re a card-carrying masochist, aging itself is no fun at all. The Golden Years are rife with all sorts of aches and pains, shakes and strains, worries and weaknesses. Young people don’t believe it’ll happen to ...
Most of us are suspicious of statistics, and rightly so. Not that their conclusions can’t be accurate — of course they can. But it all depends on how the conclusions were arrived at. If they were based on unrepresentative or inadequate cross-samples, then they’re dubious at ...
If you ever decide to become a magician, you must learn The First Law of Magic, which is this: There’s no such thing as magic. Huh? What? No such thing as magic? Am I toying with you? Not at all. There’s a very good reason magicians never reveal a secret: namely, to spare ...
I don’t know exactly when the bug first bit me, but I do know I wasn’t yet out of single digits. Luckily, My Home Town had the perfect venue where I could indulge myself. It was the co-joined J.J. Newberry-Woolworth store on Main Street. In that sacred enclave I could lose myself ...
The weather for the Winter Carnival parade couldn’t have been any better if it’d been ordered personally by God Almighty, Hisself. The sun blazed in a bright blue sky, the wind was light to nonexistent, and it wasn’t snowing. Beyond that, the temp was perfect, holding in low single ...
Although I’ve never been asked to show my credentials as a Saranac Lake townie, if I did, I’d pass with flying colors. I’m a 100% local, a native even, having been born here in the old hospital (now the North Country Community College admin building). I went to local schools, ...
Way Back When (in this case, my early childhood), medicine as we know it was in its infancy. First, they didn’t have the our arsenal of diagnostics. Thus they often had no idea what caused many conditions. And if they had an idea, there was seldom a way to prove it. Second, even if they ...
Monday marked the second official work session of The Brothers of the Bush Executive Design and Fabrication Committee. TBotBEDaFC consists of Brothers Russ Defonce and Bruce Young. I’m of course there, but only in an advisory capacity — those guys do all the actual work. We were ...
The one, and perhaps only, vice I never indulged in is gambling. On the simplest level, I just don’t understand games of chance. And when I say I don’t understand them, I mean I don’t understand them at all. And it’s not like I haven’t tried. Take cards, for example. At various ...