AN OLD JOKE — A born-again Baptist dies and goes to heaven. He is met by St. Peter, who begins to show him the wonders of heaven: water of life, golden streets, personal mansion, a special pew in the heavenly choir. But something odd happens as … [Read more...] about Memoir: Tent Revivals, Wayward Husbands, and Chicken Dinners
Memoir: What’s in a B-210, anyway?
MY YOUNGEST BROTHER Richard once told me that I should buy a BMW. “It’s your kind of car,” he said. I’ve recently been thinking about his comment, and what he meant by it. So I asked a friend of mine who loves BMWs to explain why it’s such a … [Read more...] about Memoir: What’s in a B-210, anyway?
How to Tie a Necktie
SECRETS ARE FUNNY things. All families have them. Skeletons in the closet. Things you don’t talk about in polite company. Usually, they involve sex. I suppose I was fooled when I was young by the virtual openness in our family. My father hated … [Read more...] about How to Tie a Necktie
Memoir: Learning to Dance
IN AUGUST 1988, I flew out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport, bound for a year abroad on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship. At 24 years old, I was finishing my BA in English, history and education from a small evangelical Christian college in the … [Read more...] about Memoir: Learning to Dance
The Scent of Fear
IN AMERICA, EVERY normal child has the opportunity to watch television. It provides news, instructs, entertains. Often, it babysits. In the 1970s, however — that decade of lame sitcoms, atrocious hairstyles and puke green everything — TV was … [Read more...] about The Scent of Fear
