HOWARD PAYNE UNIVERITYNEWS RELEASE Dr. Don Newbury, Howard Payne University chancellor, will sign copies of his new biography this Friday and Saturday, October 14-15, as part of the university’s Stinger Spectacular. The book, titled Faith, Fervor and Fun: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Don Newbury, Howard Payne University’s Popcorn President, was commissioned by friends of Dr. Newbury and written by
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Uncle Mort refuses to give in to what he thinks leads many folks to early graves. He says he’ll resort to extreme measures to avoid falling into a trap he calls “terminal boredom.” Mort finds much to merit his attention on his little spread down in the thicket. Sometimes, though, he seeks a scene
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury For many decades, football-loving men gathered in coffee shops to dissect the previous Friday night’s schoolboy football games. There was more dissecting than coffee-drinking. Many may not have realized it, but those games–won, lost or tied–helped to unify community spirit. For the most part, high school sports were kept in perspective, unlike major university programs
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Umpteen years ago, I entitled a speech–cleverly I thought at the time—”From Adam’s Rib to Women’s Lib.” I provided more details than audiences wanted to know, explaining that with such an expansive title, maybe I wouldn’t wander too far off track. It was admittedly a weak joke, probably not warranting so much as
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury I, as well as most others who string words together, will never be confused with Robert Frost, the poetry genius from whose pen flowed marvelous words about his beloved New England. One of his best–published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1915–was “The Road Not Taken.” Actually, it was intended as a joke to
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Residents in the East Texas thicket where my Uncle Mort hangs out almost never leave, so welcoming a new family is quite a topic of conversation. Larger communities have welcome wagons delivering goodies to newbies, but it’s not every day that the guy bearing gifts drives up on a golf cart, carefully balancing one
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury With each passing year, I am less likely to categorize occurrences as coincidences, happenstances or even “blind hog” luck. Now, it is probable that on significant matters, I’ll classify many of them as divine interventions or acts of God, His angels or others He might designate.Two recent conferences at the same hotel on
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury “Doting” is an adjective often used to describe grandparents. In the case of Rick and Becky Cadden, however, “pranking” might be a better fit.Theirs is a family whose members are on perpetual look-out for ways to get a leg up in the prankster department, and grandchildren are not off limits. In fact, Rick
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury We laughed intermittently for weeks about our decision to embark on a 3,000-mile road trip because we didn’t have time to fly. As the date neared and mass media folks conveyed horror tales of passengers stranded in airports or delayed, our decision to take to the highways seemed well-founded. Our ultimate destination was
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Spirit Of Abilene 