I don’t know whether my childhood friend remembers any of this, but for what it’s worth, this lesson is on redundancy.

Tony Lucero, about whom I’ve written before, was a fine baseball player. He made his way up from high school player to the Las Vegas Merchants, a local team composed mostly of out-of-high-school athletes like Nick DiDomenico, John Burns, Loyd Anderson, Chris and Adam Trujillo, Tony Serna, Casey Martinez, Ken Ludi and others (Sorry! I don’t have a ‘50s roster with me, and the risk of offending someone by an egregious omission often negates the good will one intends by mentioning others). I trust some reader will soon send me a complete roster.

And, in my circumlocutious way, I’ve given the impression that the column will be about baseball. No, it’s about redundancy. Here goes:

Back in the ‘50s, I joined the Merchants on a trip to Española for a baseball game. I went as the scorekeeper. After the game, the team manager treated us to hamburgers at a local restaurant. Continue reading →

It’s about a subtle facial expression, sometimes barely perceptible, but we all know it’s there. And it’s potent.

I’m referring to the raised-eyebrow syndrome that seems to have afflicted the Trujillo household. I’ll explain through the following narration:

My wife, Bonnie, was brought up reading Victorian novels, and now as a senior citizen, she enjoys various offerings on Channel 5, the PBS station, which shows “Masterpiece Theater” on Sundays and a complement of classical movies and mini-series based on the works of George Eliot, Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. An extremely popular series, Downton Abbey, also occupies my wife’s time — and sometimes even mine. Continue reading →

An experiment years ago on how children perceive worth yielded some interesting results — results based almost solely on the children’s economic status.

Here’s how it went: Children in the intermediate grades were asked to estimate the size of various coins, using a device that projected an image on a screen. The students were to adjust the aperture of the device, much in the same way a camera lens reduces and enlarges.

Is it any surprise that the kids from lower socio-economic backgrounds perceived the coins as larger than did those children whose families were better off financially? The lesson revealed, among other things, that money was dearer to the poorer kids.

But before we go too far into this numismatic foray, let me provide some disclosures: In my years in a parochial school, I resented those kids, usually from the more opulent parts of town, who flaunted their status; I seldom went to school with even a single coin in my pocket, even though I didn’t hesitate to ask Dad for “spare change” as I left for school; and finally, to me, money was worth so much more in those days. Continue reading →

It was in the early 1950s when then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower pushed through an act that created our Interstate Highway System.

With any new construction there are fears — usually economic — that whatever project is being undertaken, things will change. Not convinced? Read out-of-town newspapers that frequently contain articles of this group, or that group opposing the construction of a new Wal-Mart.

Fifty years ago, this newspaper published a full-page ad with the bold letters: What Would A Bypass Mean to You?” And an even bigger font used the word “Think,” followed by “About What A Bypass Would Do To Las Vegas’ Economy.” Continue reading →