‘Fixin’ to’

By Joe Rector I’ve been teaching Robert Frost to one of my classes of late. He is my favorite poet because his word pictures conjure up images that are familiar to readers and that help them to understand his work. A search through my vocabulary has recalled some of...

Entitlements

By Joe Rector I listened as Speaker Paul Ryan talked about his tenure as a U.S. representative He regretted that he’d not been able to tackle the problems with “entitlements.” The more politicians talk about entitlements, the more my hackles react. Yes, that means I...

Quilts

By Joe Rector One of the new stained glass windows made by Leslie Little reminds my wife of a quilt. The patterns on it are similar to those used for generations by women who have sewn the covers. I’ve never met a person who didn’t love quilts or who didn’t want one...

Easter Bonnet

  By Joe Rector My, how times change. I haven’t heard the song “In Your Easter Bonnet” in years. A lifetime ago, children sang it in school and companies included it in their marketing strategies. Other things during Easter are much different as well. My brothers...

Think

By Joe Rector Polls show that more and more Americans believe in the theory that the government is being influenced by “the deep state.” Those same polls show that nearly 3 out of 4 individuals don’t know what “the deep state” actually is. The situation is just...

I’ll do better from now on

By Joe Rector Well, March Madness became just that for Tennessee fans. In the span of 24 hours, both of our favorite teams exited the NCAA tournament. During the same timeframe, the Vols baseball team lost two games to Ole Miss. Ouch, it was rough weekend and a...