Shikata ga nai
It appears there is nothing left of Amache except a small cemetery with gravestones and other memorials. The swirling wind doesn’t remember. The prairie grass twitches indifferently. The concrete barracks foundations are motionless. But buried below this forlorn landscape are pieces of ceramic tea cups, Go game tokens, hair barrettes, eggshells, rounded stones from the nearby Arkansas River and residual pollen from plants grown on...
Practicing retirement
More than 10,000 baby boomers a day are turning 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years. Many expect to keep working since 40 percent are not sure they will have enough money to retire. Robert Schulz saw the trend when he started researching retirement issues and making a plan for he and his wife. After attending several retirement seminars he realized many of the programs were trying to sell him products he didn’t...
Pursuing marriage
Lisa Anderson asks her young adult listeners why they aren’t pursuing marriage, questioning their dating styles, their cohabitation and their infatuation with their careers, trying to give them a vision for marriage and help them understand that it is critical to their future. Anderson sees her role as encouraging her 39,000 listeners to move beyond “adultescence”, an ambiguous developmental stage between adolescence and adulthood....
America’s carousel conservator
From 1885 to 1928, an estimated 4,000 wooden carousels operated in the United States; less than 300 of those exist today, about 150 of which are operational. They were carved and painted by European immigrant craftsmen who were proud to be in America. Patriotic images such as eagles, flags and banners were used extensively. Will Morton has spent half his life using his form of exploratory craftsmanship to reveal the character and...
Harp shooter
The glaring sun burned in the still, humid air. The clouds had fled. The bugs had not. Courtney Hershey Bress was starting to sweat in places under her helmet and harness. She laid down in the hot sand and looked at the rows of targets in front of her, and beyond at the pine-covered hills around Columbia, South Carolina.The loudspeaker from the range tower blared, “Ready on the firing line. Commence firing.” With hands that...
An Indelible Stain
Mike Keefe was born November 6, 1946 in Santa Rosa, California. He had two sisters and a brother. They lived in the San Francisco Bay area until Keefe was in second grade when they moved to St. Louis, MO, where Keefe graduated from Ritenour High School in 1964. His brother died at age two and a half, devastating his mom and forcing his father, Ray Keefe, to find ways to care for her while earning a living. Running out of resources, he...