Articles 2014

Welcome to Mexico! By Victoria Schmidt The Real World   As I sit at a stoplight, I am dreading my upcoming trip to the United States. I see a man cross the street carrying a block of ice on his shoulder. And I think, “Now there’s something you never see in the USA at an intersection.”  […]

Home Is The Warrior By Robert Bruce Drynan   She watched as the blue clad troopers escorted the horse drawn caisson. Bearing the flag draped coffin it moved slowly among the ranks and files of America’s fallen. She had been four years old when she last saw him. She cherished memories of him holding her,

Dear Portia Advice to the Lovelorn the Overfed and the Deeply Disgruntled   Dear Portia, HELP!!! I am being stalked by an elderly Brunhilda, who twice daily (when I keep track) lingers at my doorway staring in, mouth agape.  Trust me – this is not a pretty sight!  If, in a wild flight of fantasy I

Anyone Can Train Their Dog By Art Hessartthedogguy@yahoo.com   Last time we discussed people inadvertently teaching their dogs to pull on the leash and reinforcing the action every time they allowed the dog to continue the action. People also do this with many other unwanted actions but that’s a subject for another day. There is

Hearts at Work A Column by James Tipton “The simplicity of the everlasting truth”   John G. Whittier, the “Quaker Poet,” concluding his introduction to the 1871 edition of the Journal of John Woolman, “the Quaker Saint,” wrote:  “I am not unmindful of the wide difference between the appreciation of a pure and simple life

Hurt Hawks/Broken Herons —The Dark Vision of Robinson Jeffers Continues to Challenge Us By Dr. Lorin Swinehart   It was a cold but sunny afternoon in February of my fifteenth year when I found the injured heron. I had been wading up the small stream that trickled across my grandfather’s pasture, when I caught the

The Power Of The Dog By Rudyard Kipling   There is sorrow enough in the natural way From men and women to fill our day; And when we are certain of sorrow in store, Why do we always arrange for more? Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware Of giving your heart to a dog

PUEBLA-The City Built By Angels By Dave Good   Founded in 1531, the city of Puebla emerged from the chaos caused by the Conquest of the New World. Legend has it that “tall, beautiful, lightly-dressed heavenly beings with long hair and transparent gaze began to trace the city layout.” The City of Angels was the

Dis In The Afternoon By Ed Tasca   Modern psychologists now believe that the bullfight may not be what it has always appeared to be – a primal, man-against-beast ceremonial battle of grace against brawn. At least not to the bull. The bullfight, theorists argue (from the bull’s point of view), is really a torrid

Fifty Pesos By Antonio Ramblés   She looked like so many other street beggars that he wouldn’t have given her a second glance except to kill time until the next Chapala bus departed.  From his seat at the far end of the concourse, he distracted himself by marking her progress as she snaked among the