THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Two long-time friends–Sue Gressett and Gary Dyer–regularly post items that are informative, encouraging, clarifying and amusing on Facebook. When I see their items, I read them carefully, knowing I will be the better for it. In recent days, Sue provided an account that invited “been there, done that” smiles. In this post, her “high road choice” shone

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury The State of Texas is known far and wide for its citizens’ love of football. Taken a step further, names of school mascots can cause head-scratching and sometimes absolute disbelief when their plural names are discovered. There are some “doozies.” I don’t know if Trivial Pursuit is often a game of choice these days, but Googling for

 THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Irony’s definition has been stretched to the breaking point for me. Verily, Humpty-Dumpty’s nursery rhyme about his “wall fall” pales greatly when compared to the fall-out of a deposed football coach who had a “falling out” with his employer. The shocker, though, is that deposed Coach Jimbo Fisher will be paid some $76 million to

 THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury “You oughta get yourself an Apple watch,” a friend suggested. I stopped short of suggesting that he should keep time however he chooses. I countered that I will stick with a calendar, sun dial and wristwatch. Perhaps noting an ever-so-faint smile, he blathered on, explaining what Apple watches can do, even hailing an ambulance if

 THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Much of what is making the news cycles these days is borderline UnAmerican, and in some cases, absolutely unTexan. That’s the opinion of my Uncle Mort, an ancient relative who has lived more than a century down in The Thicket of East Texas. He is shocked that iced coffee has become an obsession in the

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury The comparison isn’t nearly as far-fetched as it may seem at first blush. In many ways, though, the Texas Rangers’ unlikely mastery of the 2023 baseball World Series resembles the Apollo 11 Space Mission.  Huh?  We who are long of tooth, gray of hair or bald of head remember the late 1960s. Many Americans viewed our

 THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury A woman described her middle-aged hubby thusly: “He’s 44 inches around the waist, size seven and a half around the head, 95 around the golf course and a nuisance around the house.” Clever, of course, this play on phrases, but under the thin veneer of humor is a rock-hard truth about waistlines. Many men, as

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury An older woman, her age nearing the century mark, deeply desired to attend the recent Howard Payne University homecoming. She received her baccalaureate degree there some 75 years ago, and this was her first trip back to Brownwood since her graduation. “I wanted to see Old Main one last time,” she said, remembering that most

THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Even when life’s storms rage, we Americans are privileged to seek “ports of peace” that are welcoming, even if only for a few hours. There, we re-charge to face another day, with hopes re-kindled. We who admit to being senior adults found such joy recently on a beautiful fall afternoon in Duncanville, Texas, where 500