The obituary this week for Eleanor Meek recounts the 98-year-old’s life and includes one line that stopped me in my tracks. “She read the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin every day,” the obituary reads, “and her favorite newspaper writer was David Allen.” Oh my. I might never have known about this if not for a careful reader of our obituary section, who emailed to draw my attention to it. Thanks to Beryl Williams of Corona. It’s a rare thing to find your own name in the obituaries. It’s not like Tom Sawyer attending his own funeral, but you get the idea. I saw my name, then went on with my morning. The next time I’m in the obits, or at least...
There is no way to define what a tough topic is since it can be vastly different for each person, and in some cases very personal. And I am in no way suggesting that someone who has a traumatic trigger should just try these tips to “get over it.” It may help if it’s part of therapy for someone to read a specific book that they find tough, when/if they are ready, to possibly try some of these, but this isn’t about forcing people to read things. For me personally, I have always read dark fiction, crime, and nonfiction and found increasingly since 2016 that some books were getting harder and harder for me to read — or easily reach...
During 1933 and 1934, there was a move to “clean up the movies”. There were those – often affiliated with the laity of the Roman Catholic Church – who felt that Hollywood was irredeemable. A code of conduct had been promulgated in 1930, and was being honored more in the breach than in the observance. There were even threats that the Catholic chuch might declare going to the movies a venial sin. All the executives in Hollywood knew what that kind of a recommendation would mean – especially in the big Northeastern cities. The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) set up new meetings to try to hash things out, and eventually decided to add teeth to the...
It started with a pincushion and a puzzle. In 1921, Washburn Crosby, the makers of Gold Medal flour, held a national contest. If customers completed a jigsaw puzzle and sent it in, they would be mailed a prize: a pincushion shaped like a flour sack. The Minnesota-based company was soon deluged in completed puzzles, along with something they didn’t expect: hundreds of letters from home cooks, asking for kitchen advice. The company took on the challenge gamely, responding to all the inquiries. According to Susan Marks, the author of Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food, “The company felt like they should have a name attached when someone would respond back to them. And they...
During the operation to save Derbyshire-based Daniel's life, doctors had to painstakingly dismantle and rebuild Daniel's skull piece-by-piece and rebuild it like a jigsaw puzzle.
