THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury They are missed, these two men who didn’t try to make us love each other, but at the very least, made us tolerant of each other during their professional lives. Perhaps unknowingly, their gentle humor fostered tolerance. What they said was helpful–seldom painful–helping us to relax a bit, even when upended by life’s
Read more
By Glenn Dromgoole (This is the first of three excerpts from the book Parables from the Diamond that I co-authored with Phil Christopher, published in 2009 and now out of print.) The ball is hit to deep right-center field. The centerfielder takes off at the crack of the bat, straining every muscle as he attempts to make a spectacular catch
Read more
By Loretta Fulton A lot of kids would have gotten burned out on church if they had gone as much as Mike Greenfield did when he was growing up in Snyder. But fortunately for First Baptist Church that didn’t happen to Mike. After graduating from Snyder High School in 1979, Mike planned to be a lawyer but someone at his
Read more
By Jim Nichols Silence is a word that demands an opposite. We each understand what is meant by silence, but we would probably define it as the absence of something. We speak about silence “being broken” by noise, by a racket, by music, by applause, by clamor. Some of the methods of breaking the silence are gentler while others are
Read more
By Nancy Patrick In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks Romeo the title question when she tries to rationalize the relationship between herself, Juliet Capulet, and her lover, Romeo Montague. As a Capulet, Juliet knows that her family and the Montague families hate each other. These young people have lived their short lives within the framework of this longstanding feud.
Read more
By Danny Minton Almost everyone who reads this has probably seen the World War II movie, “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” We can’t resist whistling the song that the prisoners whistled together as they marched into the Japanese prisoner of war camp in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. We become close to the characters who live their lives amid day-to-day suffering, toiling
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Accounts of folks “pulling themselves up by their boot straps” warm hearts; when such is done without boots, it’s a whole ‘nuther thing. “Wholeness” was achieved in January when Brian Janak received a phone call he didn’t expect from a half-brother he didn’t know he had. It will take the waters of many rivers
Read more
By Glenn Dromgoole A few things I’ve learned after making Abilene my home for 40 years. Maybe you’ll agree. * Someone said “Keep Abilene Boring” and we take that as a compliment. * Quoting the Bible in Abilene is a contact sport. * A yellow traffic light means speed up and look both ways. * A green traffic light means
Read more
By Loretta Fulton The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2009 will be guest speaker for a lecture hosted by the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action in Abilene Christian University’s Chapel on the Hill. The Don Williams and Royce Money Distinguished Lecture Series, featuring Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed, will begin at 7 p.m. May 1.
Read more
Spirit Of Abilene 