An over-flow crowd at Two-Dees listening to a presidential candidate on the stump brought back memories–not of elections past, but of places and things. It’s fitting that the rally for Gen. Wes Clark was at Two-Dees, which used to be Siders, which used to be Floyd’s, which used to be the Vegas Bowl.
   Sen. John Kerry, eat your heart out! This week, I’ve felt like a politician, rubbing elbows with dozens of locals in my quest to reach a consensus on Sunday’s Super Bowl.
    Armed with cell phone and reporter’s notepad, I stopped strangers on the street and invaded the working areas of Luna Community College, Highlands University and Carnegie Library.
    I expected a number of partisan fans, each one pulling for either the New England Patriots or the Carolina Panthers. Instead, the most common response to my question, “Whom do you predict will win the Super Bowl?” was “Who’s playing?”
I’ll be cheating you, in all the tests that I’ll be taking,
I’ve become adept at making crib notes too.
In my small watch case some verbs in French I’ll place,
the Gettysburg Address, a Shakespeare play and more I guess.
I’ll hire planes to skywrite notes outside my window too . . .
I’ll be looking at the sky and I’ll be cheating you.
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    Carly, on her way to age 3, caused some consternation and alarm at a recent family reunion in announcing that she “throwed the ball.”
    Her extended family, with more than its share of English majors, let out a gasp. “Did you hear her say ‘throwed’”? one of them asked.
Whereas recessions tend to wreak havoc on other communities, we, it has been written, don’t notice it very much because, well, we’ve become accustomed. Mom used to tell of the time one of her sisters, in a family of 16 siblings, left the family comb at school overnight. The brouhaha quickly followed, as brothers and sisters needed to comb their hair with their hands, or perhaps with a fork or a whisk broom.
During a pre-Christmas party, a neighbor challenged me to a game of Casino.
    Casino is an innocuous game in which, by pairing and adding cards, we acquire more than our opponent. It’s fairly simple; it has nothing to do with Casino (as in Las Vegas) except for the fact that it uses cards. This isn’t a lesson on card strategy (by the way, I beat the sap out of my challenger), but a discussion of the very word “challenge.”
Las Vegas has close to a dozen mini-marts, places where motorists can make a pit stop, get some gas, a soft drink and a burrito.
    Working at a convenience store involves much more than simply tallying the purchases. A key part of any employee’s job is giving information.
    So we set out to interview clerks and cashiers at convenience stores in the area, and posed the following question: “What do customers ask you about the most?”
What were they thinking?
    Many people have sounded off on the Michael Jackson sexual abuse charges, so why can’t I?
    It’s impossible to turn on the tube or pick up a newspaper or magazine without being assaulted by saturation coverage of the charges against the 45-year-old icon, who 10 years ago paid an out-of-court settlement for several million dollars. The charge? Sexual molestation of a minor.
It seemed certain. There was no way he could lose.
    He had all his “ducks in a row,” and he was destined to leave with much more money.
    The event was a round of roulette at one of the carnivals that used to arrive in town. This one, located in the Independence Street area, brought its share of carnies and more than its share of suckers.
    Let me explain:
    One event which all of the country knew we would remember forever was the assassination of President Kennedy, 40 years ago. In an Optic feature, “Quote–End Quote all participants provided a precise account of where they were when they heard the news. If reporter David Wesner had asked that question of 500 people, surely they would all have provided not only their location, but their reaction as well.