Time Capsule.This past spring there was a story in my hometown newspaper about the son of a former teacher that had advanced to the high school state debate tournament. After reading it, the second thing that occurred to me was that I AM REALLY OLD since I remember this teacher having two very young children. [...]
This is what Halloween looked like in the 80’s. Yes, that crazy decade before the interweb. Back when Tonka trucks were made out of metal. Good ol’ bash other kids in the head metal. Sigh.
My head had grown to full adult size by age 3. Seriously. No, seriously. [...]
Although the town I grew up in had an actual name, I spent the first few years after high school telling people I grew up in the “Austin area” and avoiding further questions. It just wasn’t worth explaining where I was from, or how big the town was, or what my favorite sausage place [...]
There is a mediocre Italian chain near my work that used to hand out View-Masters with slides of the dessert menu. They eventually decided to copy the more upscale Italian chain across the street, and abandoned the classic toy, but I say, bring back the View-Masters! And while you’re at it, how about [...]
When I was a child, I would regularly read all of the usual periodicals for kids, including Jack & Jill and Highlights. But the one thing I always looked forward to receiving in the mail came from Weekly Reader Books in a package that posed the question, “Have you visited the town of Sweet [...]
During the summers of my childhood, I would sometimes wake up early in the morning and sit with my father while he ate breakfast before going to work. I was fascinated with the way he would carefully measure out exact portions of cereal and milk. When he left, I would stand on the [...]
This is a disturbing tale of murder and betrayal that may not be appropriate for younger readers. Okay, it’s not. I lied. I do that. The truth is, it’s another story from my vastly entertaining childhood. It’s probably true that most of us could write a book about our youth, [...]
I may not have mentioned it before, but I grew up in the country. And by “the country”, I don’t mean the parts of Connecticut where wealthy New Yorkers buy weekend homes. I mean the rolling hills and tree covered plains of Bastrop County, just outside the small town of Elgin and about [...]