Bluegrass
Opinion
Not making cents

Not making cents

Columnist John Moore has collected pennies all of his life. Including this 1934 Lincoln wheat penny. He’ll miss the penny when it’s gone. Courtesy John Moore There’s a scene in The Grapes of Wrath when two children ask for candy in a store and it costs more than the...

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The bread winner

The bread winner

We called it light bread. Others called it white bread. Regardless of what it was called, in my hometown of Ashdown, Arkansas and most of the rest of the South it was the foundation of the Southern food pyramid. And it was found aplenty at our home on Beech Street....

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True Grits: part of a balanced Southern diet

True Grits: part of a balanced Southern diet

Folks who aren’t from the South invariably aren’t familiar with grits. When they come for a visit, they often twist their eyebrows into a John Belushi-type look after they spot them on their breakfast plate. I have kinfolk who live somewhere up close to Canada....

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Pay phones, rotary phones: pieces of the past

Pay phones, rotary phones: pieces of the past

The Jetsons got a lot right. Flying cars are now a reality. Zoom meetings. Robot vacuum cleaners. And video phones. One thing that was absent from that cartoon show was something that’s been around for well over 100 years. Something we still use today, and I think...

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Take the fall

Take the fall

One of my most vivid memories of fall happened during junior high. I was standing in the end zone prior to the start of a game. I could barely feel my fingers and toes. It was October, but it was unusually cold (Al Gore had yet to invent global warming). My shoulder...

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A product of our generation

A product of our generation

If we’re honest, some products aren’t that different from each other. But during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, our moms were extremely loyal to the ones they liked. And advertising had a lot to do with mom’s loyalty, and ours. Growing up in front of a large, RCA console TV...

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Name that town

Name that town

If you grew up in a town with a unique name, there are likely many stories about how the name came to be. Also, you know the struggles of trying to explain them. If your town is small, few folks have heard of it and they have no idea where it is. “What’s the name of...

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Ya’ll come back now

Ya’ll come back now

He left me a message, so I called him back. It’s funny how, even if you haven’t talked to a childhood friend in a long time, the conversation picks up as if you had just spoken earlier in the day. “Remember that location you always said you’d like to buy one...

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