Columnists
600 Words To The Wise!
MONDAY: People sometimes ask me if I can finish a column in one sitting (like I do with Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast) or if I dabble with it, like my wife’s spinach soufflé. I’ve used both methods, but the pressure of completing a story in one day has taken its toll. I’m not as young…
Read MoreThe Unlikely Story of Parke H. Davis and the 1931 Boilermakers Football Team
Until reading “Perfect Warriors,” the story of the 1943 undefeated Purdue football team, I didn’t know Parke H. Davis from Fenway Park. Between 1869 and 1936, when The Associated Press poll was launched, there seldom was such a thing as a consensus national champion. Davis, a former player at Princeton in the early 1890s, took…
Read MoreStone Soup Holds The Golden Ticket
If you want a lead role in Joey Murello’s Stone Soup summer youth musical, you have to show the director that you can handle it. Once she sees and hears firsthand the talents of those participating in the Stone Soup Children’s Musical Theater summer program, she chooses a show that highlights their talents. “I always…
Read MoreThree Little Piggies
With time on my hands and no summer trips planned, I’ve been reading a book of fairy tales. I’ve found many versions of the Three Pigs classic. Here’s a condensed story. An old sow supports three grown sons. She tires of feeding them, and tells the boys to go “seek your fortune.” This means, “Get…
Read MoreContinuing Discussion on Morals
I’ve been writing newspaper columns since my junior year in high school, almost 50 years ago. A couple of them produced death threats that the law enforcement folks deemed credible enough to have a chat with me about watching my back for a few days. Not sure I’ve written any that generated as much response…
Read MoreGracie Fisher is Supreme Showman in 50th Annual 4-H Fair Competition
Tears flowed on Monday night as Gracie Fisher hugged her family and friends and clutched to her large wooden award plaque after being named the 2022 Hamilton County Supreme Showmanship Grand Champion. For county 4-H’ers who show livestock, Supreme Showmanship is the be-all and end-all in 4-H. The 50th annual contest took place at the…
Read MoreThe From Time to Thyme Virtual Circus
This week I’m introducing yet another column spinoff — the “From Time to Thyme Virtual Circus.” Grab some peanuts and popcorn, and follow me into the virtual big top to see the Carnivorous Mouse, Killer Turtle, Daredevil Dog and Fiddling Bear! Cue the circus music! (You know the tune I mean.) Our first act appeared…
Read MoreTractor-Driving Champs
What’s it take to be the best tractor driver? Just ask 16-year-old Arcadia resident Grady Piel or 12-year-old Westfield resident Graham Curtis. Piel won the Hamilton County 4-H Fair’s senior division of the 4-H Agriculture Tractor Driving Contest. Curtis won the Fair’s junior division. Piel is going into his junior year at Hamilton Heights High…
Read MoreThe Likely ‘Model’ For Looming Indiana Abortion Restrictions
With the Indiana General Assembly and Gov. Eric Holcomb on the precipice of historic abortion restrictions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court rendering Roe v. Wade moot with its Dobbs ruling, the architect of what happens beyond July 25 will likely be Terre Haute attorney James Bopp Jr. Asked if he is currently…
Read MoreThe Perfect Pet
My mother has found the perfect pet. She just doesn’t realize it yet. A clever little red squirrel has been trying to get my mother’s attention for months. “He’s such a pest!” my mother complains. But the squirrel does not give up. He has become quite tame, hanging out below the bird feeder, waiting for…
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