By BILL DUNCAN
The Elder Statesman
Libraries across the nation are in trouble. Not because there aren’t enough patrons. More than ever readers are flocking to the libraries during what is now called the Great Recession. However, as a fall out of the nationwide continuing recession, government is slashing budgets. Government always slashes what the public benefits [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elder Statesman
America celebrated Memorial Day on Monday, a celebration dating back to 1866, then called Decoration Day, to honor the fallen in the bloody Civil War. It continues today on the last Monday of May to remember the fallen in all American wars. To some it was just another holiday and for [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elder Statesman
There is an old farmer’s saying that when corn is knee-high on the Fourth of July, there will be a good crop. My ground is plowed and waiting. Waiting for May to act more like May than February. It will be June next week and if I am lucky my corn [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elderstatesman
Capital Press correspondent Craig Reed, is convinced I inherited my genes from Methuselah, the Hebrew patriarch, who according to the Book of Genesis lived 969 years. Reed bases that hypothesis on the fact that 30 plus years ago I survived terminal cancer without chemotherapy or radiation and despite medical science predicted that [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elder Statesman
Grief is an integral part of the human condition, but we each react to it differently. Recently, in a class I teach on writing, one of my students in her 90s wrote a surprising piece about grief that seared the hearts and minds of all who heard her share the words [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elderstatesman
I received these Mother’s day one liners from Mary Matthews of Roseburg, who said as the mother of seven children she must have used every one of these gems at one time or another. But she is also sure that her own mother used them in speaking to her during her growing [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elderstatesman
I made my annual purchase of beer this weekend. Let me explain. I don’t drink beer, or for that matter any alcoholic beverages. My purpose in buying a six-pack is for my war chest.
I stocked up on ammunition after I read a garden bulletin that because of the wet winter and spring, [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elderstatesman
I know what the calendar says. As of Sunday, Spring has arrived. Don’t believe it.
Not even the super moon can convince me winter is over.
Oh, I look out the window and see the tulips and the daffodils in full bloom. I see the fruit trees dressed in whites and pinks. But I [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elderstatesman
There is no other way to say it, we’ve had some ugly weather of late, ripping wind storms, snow, hail, rain, sometimes all within a matter of hours.
What amazes me is the TV meteorologists insist on calling this constant battering, “pretty.” Nightly, I hear those weather prognosticators say the weather is “pretty [...]
By BILL DUNCAN
The Elderstatesman
When my granddaughter, Melissa was a child she was a frequent contributor to my monthly newsletter, GrandpaNews, which I did for all my grandchildren. I encouraged contributions from all of them, but Melissa was my shining star. I sensed she would be a writer one day.
She moved from the West Coast to [...]
