I bought a new guitar four months ago. It’s my second resonator, with the shiny cone, the kind made famous in Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”
Mississippi Delta was shining like a National Guitar…
This one is made by Gibson and is called a Dobro Hound Dog. It is made from maple and has a sweet burl finish. The Hound Dog contains an inner pickup so it can be plugged into an amplifier. I do not play well enough yet to amplify the missed strings and mangled chords that emanate from this sweet instrument. Just ask my dogs.
OK, Sam and Rosie are not great communicators. They limit their...
Read more...
LBJ LIBRARY, AUSTIN — In the Great Hall of this 10-story structure on the east side of the University of Texas campus, four floors of glass walls dominate. Encased in those four floors, in red file boxes with a gold presidential seal, are the papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson. LBJ while serving as president, vice-president, Senate majority leader and congressman pushed through more landmark legislation than any 20th-century president, with the arguable exception of Franklin Roosevelt. Among those achievements: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Medicare and Medicaid, the Higher Education Act, Head Start,...
Read more...
Dr. Geoffrey Canada told this story the other morning in Longview, to a crowd gathered in the Belcher Center on the LeTourneau University campus for the Poverty Conference, sponsored by the Junior League. An acclaimed documentary called “Waiting for Superman” was produced a few years back, in part featuring his work creating the Harlem Children’s Zone. Canada was raised in the South Bronx of New York City, a tough neighborhood. His work with his team cleaning up and taking back 97 blocks of Harlem and serving thousands of kids over the past 30 years is the crux of his story.
Canada said...
Read more...
Our daughter Abbie bought a selfie stick a few months ago. This allows her to take self-portraits from an extended reach using dramatic angles, since the stick telescopes out several feet. Her iPhone is locked into a frame with a cable leading to a button on the handle. She photographed her entire senior class of a dozen or so students with the device, which cost her $7 or so at Walmart. It’s a compelling image. I worry that a Walmart-purchased selfie stick is a bit flimsy to hold a smart phone that cost several hundred bucks, but so far no disasters.
Being a visually creative young woman,...
Read more...
Being of a certain age, and with a family history of colon cancer, my doctor browbeat me into undergoing a colonoscopy in late April. This occurred three years before the warranty expired on the last one. Actually, the procedure is not a big deal. The prep, however, is not a stroll in the park. In fact, there is only one location to which you will be strolling. Likely, you will walk briskly.
I am certain many of you reading this know this. For most of you under the age of 50, you will find out soon enough. That is not the point of this story. It is what happened after that boggles me, and makes...
Read more...
