We visited another country last week: Santa Fe.
    Let me explain: A leisurely drive to and in Santa Fe isn’t what it used to be. It’s as challenging as racing around the “glorietas” in Mexico City, in which a curbed circle, filled with flowers, appears in the middle of busy intersections.
     Rather than using on- and off-ramps, traffic in Mexico City stays on one level (or at least it did when we visited): if you want to make a U-turn, stay in the inside lane; to go straight, take the middle lane and work your way around the glorieta, and if you’re turning right, stay on the right.

Continue reading →

    Great minds run along the same gutters.
    In this vein, it’s obvious that my mind got raided Wednesday as Optic Managing Editor Dave Kavanaugh wrote on a subject I had planned, all about how the media get embroiled in politics.
    No, we don’t exactly confer on what’s in the hopper for the week; yet I wonder whether it is possible that as I slept (at work) Dave was able to “read” my mind: or perhaps I talked as I dozed.

Continue reading →

    One hundred twenty-five years. That’s five-fourths of a centennial and five-sixths of a sesquicentennial. I don’t know the term for 125 years but wanted to slip in that overblown sesquipedalian term anyway.
     Saturday, employees of the Optic, dressed in their finest regalia, will observe the celebration, the details of which have been beslubbered over our pages for weeks. There’ll be booths, treats, fun, entertainment, speeches and a chance to meet the Optic staff.

Continue reading →

    Was there ever a busier day in Las Vegas than last Saturday? My family attended an afternoon wedding of a long-time friend, Carlos Lopez, who took Charlene Lovato as his bride, at Our Lady of Sorrows Church. At the same time, a wedding was taking place at Immaculate Conception Church. Earlier that day, throngs turned out to honor our returning guard members. Carnegie Library celebrated its 100th anniversary; the Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation conducted its old houses tours, and about 60 youngsters performed in the evening in the Missoula Children’s Theater production of The Frog Prince.

Continue reading →

    Presidential candidate John Kerry delivered a speech in Albuquerque in July. He was greeted by throngs of enthusiastic supporters and a number of detractors.
     Unobserved at first, anti-Kerry members of the crowd began clacking their sandals together, over their heads. The sound of the flip-flops was emblematic of the protesters’ opinion that Kerry “flip-flops” on issues, in particular first voting to send troops to Iraq, then opposing it. Facing crowd of detractors as well as supporters is the price public figures have to pay.

Continue reading →

    Was it a mistake to have waited so long to have grandchildren? A trip to Salvation Army yesterday to donate a huge load of “stuff” the grandchildren have accumulated in 2, 4 and 8 years, respectively, reminded me that somehow we got by in our youth with much less stuff. Yeah, I know. You’re thinking, “Here he goes again about his childhood deprivations compared to what people have today.” You’re right. But beyond being a “have-not” entering a “haves” society, I want to write mainly about shoes, or lack thereof.

Continue reading →

    “Let’s get that fat guy in the middle.” Splat! Right in the gut! “Now, Fluoride looks like he needs a whacking.” Thunk! Ah, the sound and feel of rubber smacking human flesh!
     Sweating like stuffed hogs, a large number of us filled the mini-gym at Immaculate Conception School to engage in an exciting and exhausting activity.

Continue reading →

    Just like the crew who re-introduce egg nog each year, when it’s seasonally advantageous, or those who re-release the easily melted chocolate treat named Ice Cubes, there has to be a gang of language people who remove certain words and expressions from cold storage for elections.
     A couple of candidate-speak expressions taken off the shelves during the political processes are “You can’t change horses in midstream” and “Stay the course.”

Continue reading →

    What a perfect combination, losing at the casinos and securing a payday loan to cover another payday loan in order to buy groceries!
     The practitioner of this financial schedule is a man I’ve known for about 30 years. His wife I’ve known for less time, and each one sat with me for a couple of hours, on different days, to justify why they feel that way. I state emphatically that I am neither their financial adviser nor confessor. They simply wanted someone to listen, not give advice.
     But we’ll get to the gambler and his spouse in a few paragraphs. Let’s start with some observations regarding games of chance.

Continue reading →

    Recently, several members of the Optic newsroom staff went over a host of government-police-type articles that appeared in the state’s newspapers. It was amazing how many times those mentioned in the articles refused comment. Either police failed to identify the suspect or, more commonly, some school or civic or state spokesperson remained mum.
     Commonly we read, “On the advice of my attorney, I have no comment,” or “I can’t comment because the case is under investigation.”

Continue reading →