Meow

Now that Walter Elias Disney’s influence on the multi-faceted corporation that bears his name is finally waning (Walt died in December, 1966), I think I have a new Disney movie plot. My movie would be called That Damn Cat! Of course, my movie would not be like one of Walt’s last, That Darn Cat! which […]

Thank you, sir

He is so young. That was what my mind contemplated just before I shook the soldier’s hand. In that nanosecond before our hands touched I didn’t really know what to say — the young man in front of me was a stranger. The people surrounding him in the park’s pavilion were his family and friends. […]

Irish Jokes

March is a time when folks start to think spring in Michigan may actually arrive. It’s also a time car dealerships and furniture stores have Irish-themed sales. There’s still snow on the ground. The air is still cold and, wouldn’t you know it, St. Patrick’s Day is here. To help all you of non-Irish descent […]

Whoopee!

Niagara Falls, Ontario. Whoopee! Boy there’s a lot going on in that town — a lot more than I remembered. Of course the last time your humble scribe visited said water attraction, he was with a group of smart-alec ninth graders from Sashabaw Junior High School — and that my friends was, as ancient Native […]

Larry Drum: Let My Son Come Home

This article was first published in October of 2005 (Part of a Series) For one man the trip to Lake Orion, Michigan, from Lake Orion has been a long one. The road Larry K Drum has taken has been hard, winding and uphill. Drum, an Eagle Scout, graduate of Lake Orion High School, member of […]

The Wonderful World of DEET

Just like the weather in Michigan, clothes styles and the way folks wear their hair, I have come to believe all things change. Nothing of this earth is stoic, static or simply stuck in one place. What threw me over the edge and to my revelation was a recent trip to the store. One of […]

Change is a good thing, right?

I must be a very shallow man. Maybe I’m just thick in the noggin? Son Shamus has taken to calling me, ‘Dad.? I’m not used to it and I am not sure how I feel about it. Let me back up here a moment. The word ‘dad? is not a four-letter word, hence some would […]

Things sure have changed in 228 years

This past weekend with fireworks and much merriment, we celebrated the declaration of our country’s independence. Not, as some get confused, our being independent from the old world’s superpower, England. On July 4, 1776 we merely announced to the world that we were free and were prepared to back up our words with action. ‘When […]

Do female frogs croak?

Growing up in the late 1960s through the 1970s one of the things my family did together, after dinner, most nights, was watch game shows. We watched Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Match Game, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Let’s Make a Deal and Hollywood Squares. (I am sure there’s more, but space is tight.) […]

I want to start seeing some red

Readers — listen up! (That almost makes sense.) I want you to rev up your red writing utensils and get ready to start marking up your Oxford Leader (or Lake Orion Review, Clarskston News and Citizen). We want you to show us what you read. To do that, cross out those articles and stories you […]