As Hanukkah ends today and the Christmas season is now upon us, I am reminded yet again how much words matter. And I am not referring to that useless criticism that some Christians make when folks, with open and joyful hearts, send cards or tell others, “happy holidays.” What better way to refer to these Read More
The final bell sounded at Oaklawn Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, that Friday afternoon, Nov. 22, 1963, 50 years ago. I ran out to the curb where my father waited for me in our white Rambler station wagon. I was so happy for the weekend, Saturday morning cartoons in the morning, anticipation of Thanksgiving Read More
Because Arlie Scott taught 35 years as a professor of agriculture here at Murray State and because he served his country in such an extraordinary fashion, I thought it appropriate to honor him during this week that began with Veteran’s Day to recall his service during World War II. Every Murray State student needs to Read More
There he stood. Under a basket at Princeton University’s Dillon Gymnasium, in his basketball practice uniform. Still sweating from a demanding workout. Now he caught questions, not basketballs, passed to him by the acclaimed writer John McPhee. On assignment for The New Yorker, McPhee interviewed the Princeton All-American for a long piece centered on his Read More
I always wondered if my father would have wished that my brother and I would follow him in his twin callings of pharmacist and minister. We both, my brother more than me, helped out at the family drugstore during the summers, but neither one of us ever felt compelled to follow in his footsteps at Read More
Perhaps we can tell a great deal about how folks have lived out their lives from their epitaphs. What about our epitaphs? At the end, what assessment will we make of it all? How will your epitaph read? What will my epitaph say? Will it read with comic cynicism like the epitaph of W.C. Fields? Read More
I remember him only vaguely. He was an insurance man with an office just a few doors down from my father’s pharmacy in Arlington, Ky. I can’t see the man in my mind’s eye, but I remember the respect that my father had for him. Murray State student Berry Craig IV could ask his grandmother Read More
One of my life-long dreams was fulfilled last Thursday evening when I was sworn in as a member of Murray’s Architectural Review Board. Now, that might not mean much to most of you, but to me, it meant that I was able to actually participate in a duty – a rite – that Kentucky’s 1891 Read More