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Local Columns

Didn’t your boss carry a cross?

Didn’t your boss carry a cross? I can’t remember during which one of our countless conversations D.D. shared that memory. Maybe we were eating at the Mongolian barbeque. I know we weren’t eating at Kokoro. That was Japanese. I only forced him to eat there once, and I say forced ...

Beauty is as beauty does

Many years ago I arrived home from work to find my son and a friend busy at the kitchen table. The boys were about 10 or 11 years old at the time and I assumed they were working on a school assignment. “What are you guys up to?” I asked, looking over their shoulders. They seemed a bit ...

The Bible tells me so

For my ninth birthday my parents gave me a Bible. It was a black leatherette-bound King James Version with my name stamped in gold on the cover. I was pleased to receive this gift but was horrified by what my mother wrote on the presentation page: “To Arvid from Mommy and Daddy.” From ...

Remembering Smallpage

There are too many veterans. I say that with the utmost respect. I say it because, to my way of thinking, there are too many wars. And too many deaths. I believe you understand. You probably understand because, like the rest of us, someone you know is a veteran, loves a veteran, or has ...

Forget-me-not

Another Memorial Day had come and gone. John had attended the community Memorial Day service at the local cemetery Monday morning but melancholy gnawed at his soul in the days which followed. On his way into town for a tractor part on Thursday morning, John felt an inexplicable urge to stop ...

An open letter to Class of 2024

Dear high school senior: It’s been a busy year, hasn’t it? Senior photos, mailing out invitations, prom, trying to think of something witty to say when someone asks about your plans for the future. About all that’s left is a long, hot ceremony in a robe your grandmother wouldn’t be ...