The news of Jimmy Carter’s passing takes me back to 1976, a year that marked my own passage to adulthood. As the bicentennial year dawned, I took first notice of Carter upon his victory in the Iowa Caucuses. I followed his campaign through my high school graduation and into the summer, when I ...

School trips have changed since I was a kid. Over Thanksgiving our granddaughter flew with her high school band to California to march in parades at Disneyland and in Hollywood. A business acquaintance told me a few weeks ago his son and his high school band are scheduled to march in New ...

I intentionally reserved this space for this day to wish you a Merry Christmas. But this weekend, I joined with other friends to say goodbye to an old friend who passed without ever getting the kind of recognition she deserved for her brilliance and talent as a writer. Mary Beth ...

Among the things that I’ve never had nor have ever wanted is a nickname. My first name is unusual enough; I have no need for a nickname to set myself apart from other Arvids. I’ve only met a few. For as long as I can remember my siblings have called me Arv. That’s okay because it’s an ...

In our church Christmas pageants there is one primary character who doesn’t get many, if any, lines: Joseph, the quiet nice guy in the Christmas story. Have you ever wondered what Joseph was feeling and thinking during those months preceding and following Jesus’ birth? Times and customs ...

Convenience store and grocery store news racks are not as “captivating” as they were a few decades ago when there were some fascinating “rags” on display. They displayed headlines like “Two-headed Gator-Man eats dentist!” “Spice Girls begin breeding in attempt to create Spice ...