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Top 25 Defining U.S. Events of the Last 60 Years
Top 25 Defining U.S. Events of the Last 60 Years • The Civil Rights Movement (1960s) • Passage Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965): transformed American society. • The Vietnam War (1955–1975; peak U.S. involvement in the 1960s–70s) • Deeply di...
After the Fall, or Herpetology 101
“Honey, I asked her, Have you seen the snake?” Quickly awakened out of slumber’s rest she shrilly shrieked, then jumping out of bed anxiously replied, “I nearly died the last time when I awoke with that serpent upon my shoulder. I’d wish you were more feare...
James Joyce and His Influences
From a dissertation: James Joyce and His Influences: William Faulkner and Anthony Burgess An abstract of a Dissertation by Maxine Burke July, 1981 Drake University
It Was Thursday
Thursday, January 15th. 1977. It was a cold night and this was a big city hospital on the city’s north side. (No, St. Louis, not you). I was working the night shift from 6 p.m. to the next morning. I was an intern. I carried a stethoscope. In those days we...
Lunch at Marshall Field's
A long time ago, before Macy’s took over the world, we would go to Chicago around the first week in December. One of the traditions which we continued over the years was that we would go to Marshall Field’s department store in downtown Chicago, on State Str...
Ringling Bros. Circus Closing After 146 Years
My grandparents went to the circus, my parents took me and I took my children to the circus. My grandson is only a year old, but I won’t take him. The Big Top is no more. One of my favorite memories as a child was reading the Little Golden Book, Circus Time...
Thinking God Knows What: James Joyce and Trieste
Thinking God Knows What: James Joyce and Trieste By Luciano Mangiafico (January 1, 2013) 28 Comments January 15, 1941 dawned as a bleak, cold, snow day in Zurich, Switzerland. A scantily attended funeral procession made its way from the Fluntern Cemetery ch...
How Well Do You Know Jim Littlefield? (The Vanity Game)
How well do you know Jim Littlefield? or The Vanity Game 1. Name this object, what year was it acquired? Ans: Plumb bob: A plumb bob is used to establish a vertical line, used frequently in surveying as well as carpentry and masonry. In the summers of 1963...
Flying Down to Rio Without Fred or Ginger
Flying Down to Rio Without Fred or Ginger It’s a long way down to Rio. The wife and I headed south and we took off from Atlanta about 9 o’clock in the evening. As far as I could determine, neither Fred nor Ginger was aboard. However, 200 souls were heading...
In the Shop
From a recent post on the BBC: Right: A factory worker is taught how to handle a horizontal drilling machine in order to produce breech block components, 1943. From the Imperial War Museum archive.
Life Is Not a Problem to Be Solved but a Mystery to Be Lived
Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived. Follow the path that is no path, follow your bliss. - Joseph Campbell
My Writing Class
The world is full of writing classes. There are writing classes at the senior center, writing classes at the university extension, writing classes at the community college. There are writing classes through Oasis or through the senior center or at the “Y”....
Physics Is Important: Quantum Mechanics and Reality
From: aeon.com https://aeon.co/essays/shut-up-and-calculate-does-a-disservice-to-quantum-mechanics?utm_source=pocket-newtab is an award-winning British popular science writer based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of Quantum Reality: The Quest f...
Scotland the Brave
If you were contemplating a trip to Scotland then I suggest you go in August. The weather is most salubrious at that time of year though there is always the chance of showers. But the sun, never far behind the clouds, soon brings welcome warmth to the walker.
Some Thoughts on Ireland
Preface: Ireland is a relatively small country and the distance between those places you might like to visit is not great, so you potentially could visit one place in the morning and one place in the afternoon. There are several ways one could visit Ireland...
Songs in My Life
Songs in my life: Listed below are some of the songs (or music) that I have found most entertaining and meaningful in my years. However, associated with each song is a person who had some connection to the song. For example, they introduced me to the song o...
The French Lesson
The overnight flight from Chicago to Paris arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport around eight in the morning. The wife and I were on our way to the south of France, to the Dordogne, to see some of the remnants of the Hundred Years War and some very, very old...
The Old Switcheroo
If you’re old enough, think back to September 1967. And if you were in Sweden in that year, think back to early September, specifically Saturday and Sunday September 2nd and 3rd. On the former day you were driving on the left side of the road and on the lat...
Valborg
Valborg INTRO Valborgsmässoafton, most often called Valborg from the shortened form of the longer word, is known in English as Walpurgis Night, and is an important Swedish tradition marking the beginning of spring. Valborg is celebrated on the 30th of April...
Aphorisms as Dictated by James J. Walsh
A collection of aphorisms and sayings dictated by James J. Walsh.
The Lights of Betterton
A reflection on the lights of Betterton, opening with Fitzgerald and the recurring motif of light in The Great Gatsby.
Pierre the Balloon Poodle
Si vous prévoyez d'aller en Écosse, vous devez y aller en août. A Edinborough en août il y a deux festivals qu'il faut voir. Le premier est le roulement militaire d'Edinbororugh. Je parlerai de cela plus tard. L'autre est le Edinborough Fringe (Marginal) Fe...
Banana Bread (Bananakaka)
This recipe came from my great-aunt, Ella Swanson Sundberg, who was married to my great-uncle Axel. Axel was the brother of my grandmother, Ida Amalia Sundberg. Ella and Axel lived in Omaha for a time and before that in Chicago. In 1933, Ella gave my mother...
If Ties Could Talk
A thoughtful reflection on the stories behind a collection of neckties, each representing different chapters of life, career, and personal relationships.
The Art of Retirement
Navigating the transition from active medical practice to retirement, finding new purposes, and embracing life's next chapter.
Edna Swanson and the Wig
Edna Swanson and the Wig The following story was related to me quite a few years ago by an elderly lady, a patient of mine. She would now be somewhere around 120 years old. The story is true. Sometime in the 1920s she was living in San Francisco and was a y...
Mrs. Edith Swanson and the Wig
Sometime in the 20’s she was living in San Francisco and was a young woman with a sense of adventure. Perhaps the term “flapper” could be applied to her. She had heard that a new hairstylist had come to town from Paris. He was offering the latest in Parisia...
Ether
Ether Do you know the taste of ether? It is said there are five basic tastes of food: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. Ether isn’t on that list. It has a taste of metal, like sucking on an aluminum popsicle although the encyclopedia says it has a hot,...
Story Songs
Reflections on the narrative songs that have told stories throughout Jim's life.