On Christmas Eve 1970, my mother gave my sister and me a fifty-dollar bill to pick out two centerpieces for our tables at home for decorations. So off we went shopping. Near closing time, the store marked everything 50% off! So, we decided to shock my mother by doubling her purchasing ...
Big confession, which might not be such big news to regular readers of this column: I don’t do Christmas trees. I haven’t had one for more than a decade, and even before then, I didn’t feel it. I did manage to fake it, however. For years I pulled that big bad boy of a dead tree into ...
Thankfully we are five weeks past the 2022 midterm election. I can hear many voters exuding a sigh of relief and shouting after $17 billion was spent on disinformation, misinformation, and the occasional truthful political ad, “yes, finally, the election is over.” Normal life – I think ...
Years ago, my mother-in-law went on a Christmas cookie-baking binge, making cookie plates for those needing cheering up at Christmastime. But she waited until Christmas eve to embark on this noble task as a major snowstorm blew in town. Hurrying to finish the project, she gave me the plates ...
One of the ways I learn best from the New Testament is to read and try to understand what Jesus’ parables meant for listeners in his time and us as we read or hear them today. Sometimes he spoke to his followers, but sometimes his audience included the temple chief priests and authorities. ...
It was early Christmas Eve in 1818 when the priests of St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria, learned that the broken pipe organ would not be repaired in time for the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. Joseph Mohr, St. Nicholas' associate priest, was the first to hear the bad news and was deeply ...
Services for the first Tama County World War II veteran whose body was returned from overseas was held for Pvt. Milo C. Upah, son of Mrs. Francess Upah of Chelsea, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Chelsea with the Rev. Father W. Panek reading the requiem high mass. Private Upah was killed ...
My wife took me to an out-of-the-way shop some years ago to see how potters “throw clay,” as they call it. He beat a hunk of clay mercilessly, ensuring all air pockets were out. Then he took that chunk and threw it on his potter’s wheel, peddling the wheel with his feet as fast as he ...
There’s one thing (of many) that I love about life: you are never done learning. If you are open to new practices, habits, and ideas, there is much more to explore and discover. Big things, little things, and everything in between. The day you stop learning is the day you stop living. I ...
Hate, vengeance, revenge, feeling offended, intention, satisfaction, and so on are experiences. These experiences are based on and coordinated by the brain. The brain is an organ of experiences, not just one of cells and molecules. The brain gives what is experienced, to the degree and when. It ...