Reading by Flashlight

1
The Ghostly Hand and Other Haunting Stories

These are two books I have early memories of reading cover to cover. (There are a couple more I will share later, they are even earlier.)

Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Däniken was given to me by my father; he brought it home with him after work one day when I had been home sick. He worked like dog, but stopped at a bookstore just for me. I would have been in 5th or 6th grade. This was a huge bestseller at the time, and occupied a special place in conversations that included ghosts, the Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, and other wonderful things that occupy the minds of children.

I bought The Ghostly Hand and Other Haunting Stories with my own money from Scholastic Book Service back before there was a gold mine called Harry Potter, and children's books cost less than a dollar. That would have been around 6th grade at Vernondale Elementary School in Millcreek, PA.

The monthly Scholastic orders arrival was like Christmas for young readers. Each orders was rubber banded with our original order form which bore check marks next to what we'd ordered and our own printed name in thick black #2 pencil, familiar but as ancient as cuneiform.

I read The Ghostly Hand and Other Haunting Stories by flashlight in Mom and Dad's bed.

Going to bed early was a treat. I meant I got to read and listen to the radio.

I still l have these books because of the great sentimental value they hold. I hope Charlie or Dee Dee or Mimi keeps these and a few others if only for that reason.

[2012-08-31]

2
The first step toward consensus...

... is understanding that just because we disagree doesn't mean we dislike each other. Unfortunately, this sometimes accounts for why two parties can't come to agreement; indeed, why they often can't even enter the same room, and why one party must withdraw, even if they are nearer the solution.

Which is to say we are sometimes the biggest part of our own problem..

[2012-08-11]

3
Heroes on the Half Shell

NPR: "There's a whole generation that still remembers the theme song to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." This was followed by a bunch of 30-somethings singing the theme song and the narrator referring to the turtles as "heroes on the half shell," which IIRC was a promotional tag.

You know you're getting old(er) when your yesterday is someone else's childhood.

BTW, "heroes on the half shell" is inaccurate, if clever; oysters are served on the half shell. Just because turtles have semi-spherical shells, and "heroes" and "half" both start with "H," doesn't make it a better fit. It sounds instead to my ears like George Bush saying "They misunderestimated me."

Then again, we are talking about crime fighting turtles. It's not like a millionaire dressing up in a bat suit or something. Seriously.

[2012-09-28]

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