(Yes, Eudora, there is a great short story titled “Why I Live at the P.O.”) During the boom economy, canned food drives always seemed odd to me. When a supermarket had a barrel near the door for customers to place an extra food staple for the poor, I would not comply. It was so blatant […]
In mid-May, I received the following e-mail: Dear Ben Pollock, Congratulations. You are a winner in the “On-line Category” of the 2009 National Society of Newspaper Columnists annual contest. We hope you will be with us to accept your award in person in beautiful Ventura, Calif. at the NSNC annual conference, June 25-28. For more […]
Copyright 2009 Ben S. Pollock Last Tuesday, May 26, the Ozark Poets and Writers Collective hosted the noted, and local, poet Miller Williams at the independent Nightbird Books in Fayetteville. What a turnout for such a space. The reading area — Nightbird just moved to a larger space, the fondly recalled Ozark Mountain Smokehouse, and […]
Can’t blame the dog. I refuse to blame myself. If it weren’t for bashful kidneys I’d start whizzing on their yards myself. It’s this letter we received last week. Here is the letter. The main thing that gripes me is that this constitutes the first notice. There was neither a knock on the door by […]
Copyright 2009 Ben S. Pollock The Internet is not killing the newspaper. The economy is. This would be obvious as it’s stated in every halfway decent article on the print media, but the copy usually includes comments by people who seem to throw their hands out and cry, “Ach, die Web” (Japanese for “OMG, did […]
Is this week’s garden visitor malicious or just curious? The greensward of our manse, Shady Hill, is pleased to house four, no, five beds this spring. The back yard has two for vegetables and one for herbs. The herb bed has one thriving, 6-foot tall asparagus, and we hope she’s pregnant. Next year I’ll move […]