THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Prayers of university presidents and school superintendents for commencement exercises to be executed as planned often are short-circuited. Some leaders are extremists–the kind who decree that neither blaring air horns nor unseemly yells will be tolerated. Their wish is for “pomp” to be exceeded only by “circumstance.” Often, they experience countless “slips ‘twixt cup

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Dilemma horns seemed to gore when I contemplated this week’s piece. I could have ridden (written?) off in either direction and still wound up with words to spare. Would I write about what I miss most–sights or sounds–that now seem permanently closeted in yesteryear?  I yearn to ask readers for directions to a place

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury My grandkids might understandably say of me, “Oh, Poppy, you are so yesterday.” And they are so right, clearly on target if they encase me with the “day before yesterday” crowd. Whatever, they often kid me about needless effort expended in simple written communication.  For example, I frequently scrawl the word “okay.” They assure me

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It would be daunting for researchers half his age, but it didn’t stop Dr. Ray Van Cleef from reconnecting with his baseball players from six decades ago. The longtime Texas community college administrator couldn’t resist trying. Late in 2022, the search began. At age 94, he employed the usual communications efforts–some of them

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury I’m sure Will Rogers was a friendly guy, even if the quote usually attributed to him has been taken out of context. During an interview, he mentioned prominent men he’d met, all of whom he liked. (Lesser guys weren’t referenced.) This observation aside, I have a friend whose admirers feel as strongly about

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Way back when, I agreed to serve as judge of pageants held annually in Fort Stockton and DeLeon. I–and another couple of judges–were to select queens of the Water Festival and the Peach and Melon Festival, respectively. It shouldn’t have been “rocket surgery,” but I didn’t realize that I would be detested (or near

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury They generally give us the benefit of the doubt even when we are dead wrong, wagging their tails while licking the hands that feed them. In their way, they pledge unending devotion, no matter what. One doesn’t have to look very far into literature or incline their ears to very many songs to

 THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury During growing-up years, I don’t remember hearing much talk about splashing on sweet-smelling stuff. Surely it was poetic injustice, what with cotton-picking heating up many of my kin who labored in the fields, not to mention other farm chores that caused streams of sweat that seemed inevitable during half of each calendar year. The

 THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Higher education gets news coverage in both mass and social media and much, I’m sure, is true. Technology is changing it at warp speed, and the old descriptions we used to toss about no longer fit. We joked that colleges had buildings where “ivy is creeping around on the outside and teachers are creeping around