IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Give me a break. There are pitfalls when one is in tall weeds trying to determine the origin of expressions. I’m “old school,” still delighting in reading newspaper comics. A recent Bizarro panel from the fertile mind of cartoonist Dan Piraro struck a chord. (I tend to communicate best at a fourth-grade level, so I miss the
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Uncle Mort isn’t his usual self. His 108th birthday is at hand, and he’s hung up on whether to have a “real” party, or join the growing list of folks who are “computer Zooming” to celebrate special occasions. (Printers are shaking their heads, turning out fancy invitations with the word “virtual” in big type.) “Maybe I’d
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury “We’ve never done it that way before.” The expression was well worn before the pandemic came along. Lately, creative juices have been milked dry for new ways to conduct commencements, weddings and funerals. The late Roy Kornegay, a church leader who died recently in Amarillo, might well have observed, “So what?” When softball nudged against
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It is ironic that author/broadcasting legend Garrison Keillor’s mythical hometown of Lake Wobegon is only an hour’s “crow fly” journey from Minneapolis. I saunter in where angels fear to tread–this needless mixing make believe with reality in the same paint can–but serious news folks do so all the time, so why not? Once asked about
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Describing the onion as a “lowly vegetable” didn’t set well with the late Othal Brand, for 20 years the McAllen, Texas, mayor who cleared many hurdles during his 90-year earthly pilgrimage. His beloved Rio Grande Valley is now a world center for vegetables in general and for onions in particular. Ever restless and ever persuasive,
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It’s a parental directive virtually all of us have lodged in our minds dating back to childhood days when our memories started to take root. “Look both directions,” they implored, emphasizing dangers posed by passing cars. Often, they’d throw additional dangers at intersections, thus providing more dreadful statistics that made us even more fearful of
Read moreIDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury Push Americans into a corner, and they’ll either start painting or enliven the crunched space with creative juices soon to spill over. Superintendents and other school “brass” have greatly expanded committees planning commencement ceremonies, realizing that “same old” plans employed historically since the earth started cooling are “no more.” For many reasons–some understandable,
Read moreIDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury “No one is an idol to his valet.” historian/writer Thomas Carlyle so contended two centuries ago. In one case dating back 60-plus years, Carlyle would have been “dead wrong” about a couple of Brownwood High School athletes. Lawrence Elkins –the “idol”–re-wrote dozens of records in four sports, dazzled at Baylor in football and
Read moreIDLE AMERICAN Commentary by Dr. Don Newbury A few days ago, my wife and I enjoyed a short road trip. Typically an hour’s drive to Stephenville, this day it was twice that. It took 40 minutes to make it through Granbury, where folks–weary of “sheltering”–seemed happy to be in their cars again, perhaps looking for “essential places.” Stephenville friendships were
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