The spring warmup is fine with me, but today I’m going back a couple months to Jan. 9. It was one of the coldest days of the winter, chilly enough to cancel school because of the biting wind chill. The snow was a bit more than a dusting though not severe. Being unpredictable carries an …
Month: March 2015
Weekly rehearsals paid dividends Sunday afternoon for the Coles County Barbershop Chorus. Payment wasn’t in a financial way, as the offering from the organization’s 20th annual Lenten Concert was divided among local charities. Rather, payment came in the form a robust audience that dented the spacious sanctuary of the First Baptist Church in Mattoon. No …
It’s Sunday, a good time to find something good to read. The best reads generally are pieces in which you can place yourself in the story in some way. Then you put your imagination to work on the role or roles you might play, and the interest and meaning multiplies. Sometimes, you can feel emotion …
Bill Hamel turns 85 today. For those of you outside of Central Illinois who don’t know, Bill worked 45 years at the Journal Gazette and later the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier, most as publisher. His father is a previous publisher, so his roots in the newspaper business run deep. I worked with Bill from 1983, when I …
Doing research on a piece I’m writing, I ran across Mabel Clark, the former owner of Clark’s Foundry in Mattoon. When I saw the Rev. Bob Clark (no relation) presided at her funeral, I called him, taking a chance he remembered a little something about Mabel. I learned hers was one of 1,500 funerals for …
I plan to use this blog as a way to profile interesting people and places, and share thoughts about other items that interest me, and may interest you, too. The site also is a place to get information on writing services I provide. If you have a need for a writer, please contact me. To …