7th grade art class. My teacher, Bessie Fredericks, asked us to create our own nametags using picture symbols to tell our names. I drew an outhouse (John), a robin (robin) and the sun (son). Bessie was fearsome even when calm. … Read More
12,000 Poles Down: Bootheel Disaster
Long before The Weather Channel began naming continental storms, this one will be remembered as The Ice Storm of ’09. Its widespread devastation covered Missouri’s Bootheel like a glacier. In the two counties that form the heel of the boot, … Read More
Ancient Island Hopper
Headed toward Key West. I remember the old road. Imagine driving that narrow bridge trying to outrun a hurricane.
Seven Mile Bridge
This old bridge goes forth for miles and backward to 1909. Bet it has seen some winds. Most recently Hurricane Irma. The new bridge is a more comfortable, less romantic way to be tossed into oblivion by storms. Marathon Key. … Read More
To learn the value of a culture, check their barbecue.
The credit card machine kept disconnecting. I didn’t have cash, or my checkbook. “No problem,” said Perry Foster, “mail me a check.” Perry Foster’s Bar-B-Que embodied all that is good about humankind: Trust and harmony and world peace. Oh, and … Read More
Drive in movie
In the darkness, I followed a silver Suburban for two hours. Visible through its back window was a video screen playing to backseat passengers, so as I drove along Route 60 to Springfield, I watched Finding Nemo on a small-screen … Read More
Winter Water
The air was cold, a few degrees above freezing. A north wind tried to aggravate us, but Cora blocked its best gusts. Cora is the island on our port side. We’d survived the toughest part of the trip: launching a … Read More
Chapel in the Snow
Just off the highway, inspiration awaits. Fay Jones did the chapel. Mother Nature threw in the snow.
Empty Faces, Hollow Eyes
Damn depressing. But they deserve a shout. Thousands of these old family farmhouses sit empty and decaying. Each house was a setting for love, laughter, life. But during the 1980s and thereafter, thousands of families were driven from their homesteads. … Read More
