It’s a Thing!

I pick Noah up from school every day at 2:45 pm, except on Friday, then it’s 1:30 pm. I customarily ask him how his day was. Today I asked him, and he said, “OK, except for one thing”. “Oh, what’s that?”, I asked. He paused for a few seconds and then said that he didn’t want to talk about it. I let it go then because that is not an abnormal response for him, also, somethings he will talk about more comfortably with mom than me, and I knew that she would be asking the same question when she got home from work.

About an hour later she called from work. First question out of her mouth was, “How was Noah’s day?” So I told her what he said. She replied with, “I wonder if it has anything to do with yesterdays issue.” “What was yesterdays issue?” I asked. “He got pantsed.”  “What?!!” I was floored. (I’m thinking, why wasn’t I told, I’m only the father.) So, mom tells me what happened. In the end Noah didn’t want her to say anything to the school because the boys involved were, “My friends”, and he didn’t want them to get into trouble, and besides, Noah said, “They were just fooling around and having fun.”

So sad, Noah is so desperate for friends that he would think that these guys were just being “friendly”.

When Holli got home she went to Noah and ask him how his day was. A short conversation revealed that he had been pantsed again. It was time to take action. Holli contacted the school through his teacher and the principal, informing them what had happened and demanding answers and resolution. She was told that they would look into it and informed her that “pantsing had become a thing on campus”.

Meanwhile Holli tried to explain to Noah that these guys were not his friends, and that pantsing is not a sign of friendliness.

Written April 2025

Published in: Uncategorized on September 14, 2025 at 5:31 PM  Leave a Comment  
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Growing up in the 60’s

I was seven years old in November of 1963, second grade, when the news came across our black and white, very modern television set, President John F. Kennedy has been assassinated. It was Friday, just after noon, six days before Thanksgiving. We were let out of school early because of the assassination. Due to the difference in Alaska time the official announcement of the president’s death came just before noon. The whole nation, including our family, were glued to their television sets and radios, waiting for any news of the president’s well-being, praying for the best. When the news finally came, mom sobbed. I’d never seen mom cry before that day. At my age, I didn’t know much, but that day I knew that our president had enemies, and because my mom cried for him, I also knew that he was loved by many. How does a nation celebrate Thanksgiving under those circumstances? The assassination was followed by accusations, conspiracies, the assassination of the alleged assassin, more conspiracies, investigations, and then the nation was left in the dark; the books were closed. The government declared the case closed, they had gotten their man, Lee Harvey Oswald, and he was dead, killed before he could answer any questions.

No one believed them, no one at all. If it wasn’t Oswald, then who really fired the shot that killed the president of the United States of America? People want to know the truth, and they will never stop asking, “Did our own government kill the president?” The truth would be hidden for decades, maybe forever.

It Didn’t End There

The Swinging Sixties, a decade that will never be forgotten. It was both my youth and my emergence into adulthood. I was surrounded by iconic moments, both personal and external. It was ten years of constant defining moments for me and my siblings.

Published in: Uncategorized on September 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM  Leave a Comment  
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