I remember being at many enjoyable places with my grandfather, M.K. Young. But I knew his favorite place, regardless of locale: the fence line. Wherever he was, he went to the stranger next door. Whatever the circumstance, he struck up a conversation. In the campground. In a son’s neighborhood. At a roadside stop.…
DetailsThis nation still can’t decide if war is a joint responsibility we all share, or if it’s something we hire out, like catering. Eight years in Afghanistan, six in Iraq, and we still treat warfare as just one of many service industries. The Bush administration ban on photographing coffins returning…
DetailsI still prefer to be barbecued. Or broiled — however it is that my remains can be reduced to the kind of dusty nutrient that makes fields and ravines grow greener. If it can’t be the Viking way — by floating pyre — let my bones retire the cremation way. That doesn’t…
DetailsA book from my childhood about Medal of Honor winners has a chapter about him: “Too Young to Fight.” The Texas boy lied about his age at 17, his face and physique betraying him to the Marines and Paratroopers who turned him away. Enlisting in the Army at the stroke of 18,…
DetailsWhat to do with a “failing” school: Summon a demolition party with torches? Convene priests and exorcize it of pedagogical demons? Convert it to a prison, the destination to which we assume students are bound due to the building’s failure? Yes, the building’s failure. All of the above fit neatly into…
DetailsScanning the ranks of the noble Tea Party protesters — exiles of conscience, taxed into penury without representation — it’s hard to ignore one impression: For oppressed people, they haven’t missed many meals. Also: Apparently they had their attentions turned to the buffet table throughout the Bush administration. …
DetailsWhen my hands held it again for the first time in decades, I felt the electricity that made it such an exciting gift for an 8-year-old. A radio I could hold in my hand — pop music, sports, news — all at my command in a genuine leather holder. By appearance, that radio — a…
DetailsPRESCOTT, Ariz. — “It’s no wasteland.” No, not this mountainous berg where seemingly everyone over 65 wants to live. Sergio Avila is talking about the U.S.-Mexico border, which bobcats, ocelots, jaguars, mountain lions, black bears and so much more inhabit. Avila, a biologist with the Sky Island Alliance, is a…
DetailsPublic policy in America has become a tale of two ships. The first, set on a deliberate (“bipartisan”) course, has no idea where it’s headed, and is determined to get there. The other ship is steaming, literally. On board, various strains of airborne illness (talk radio) are shared between passengers, ping-ponged back and forth like…
DetailsIt will be a cross between “Beverly Hillbillies” and “Wagon Train” when we head ’em up and move ’em out. Greater Waco will recede in the rearview mirror, Speegleville shouting a last “Ya’ll come back.” Which we will. We’ve still got packing and unplugging to do. Some spots on the floor of the too-small house…
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