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How ‘bout them Brew Boys! They made my old heart skip a beat. They reminded me of the first fib I ever told. It was on the morning of Game One of the World Series. I was in fourth grade, and Little League Baseball was my life. The Series was
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In an attempt to better understand a terribly complex world, I just finished reading books about Iran and Russia. Within an ebb and flow of imperialism verses anti-imperialism, there seems to be an ebb and flow of clerical power verses secular power. Hierarchy imposes its laws and rules, and
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Anyone who knows me knows I’m devoted to Bacchus, and to my pet jay, Huckleberry, who comes to Twain Haven every afternoon at Happy Hour for a Beer Nut. Yes, Huck has been my daily Happy Hour pal for nine years now, and I’ve made arrangements for him
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I have this idea, let’s call it, “Operation Stairwell,” whereby a private in the United States Marine Corps breaks bread with a Seaman Recruit in the Iranian Navy. They carry on a 10-minute conversation, airing personal feelings about the lingering war… The conversation is recorded in full, and
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We all crave our father’s endorsement… Heart surgeon Dr. Kelly once acknowledged to his toxicologist daughter, “Honey, you have saved more lives than I could ever heal.” That became the young Dr. Kelly’s culminative day… When I was attending the University of Oregon, one of our track stars,
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It becomes my good fortune to team up with the inimitable Tina Cole in presenting Mark Twain’s Extracts from the Diaries of Adam and Eve. The performance is scheduled for April in Lincoln, California, so we might be calling upon you, our gentle reader, to help move Adam along,
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Just when I thought I must surely have read everything Sam Clemens ever wrote, I stumbled onto a speech delivered in Boston away back in 1888, when Sam described the sleeping habits of Siamese twins: “While one sleeps, the other snores.” Yet again, Samuel brings a smile to my weathered
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Forty years ago or so, I recorded portions of a Nevada textbook, Battle Born Nevada, for the blind. That excellent little book by Don Lynch and David Thompson, surfaced today, and I took great delight in reviewing the inspiring words of Sarah Winnemucca, as she described a courting ritual of
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In August, we welcomed a statue of Mark Twain to the water’s edge at Lake Tahoe, where he looks ever so relaxed and satisfied. Gary and Susan Clemons, members in good standing of the Never Sweats literary society, arranged for the bronze likeness to be placed in the front
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It never concerned me that there were so many people smarter than I was, because I always knew I had just enough smarts to appreciate and enjoy this crazy world of ours. But when a machine demonstrates that it is smarter than I am, well now, that is disconcerting… Just
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Composing a pictorial essay to promote the performing artform of Chautauqua ain’t easy. But I’ve had the capable hand of Nevada author and all-around good guy, Michael Archer to help get it done, and we’re almost there… First we had to learn how to spell Chautauqua,
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Glancing back upon my 10 years of living on the Island of Maui, the best party I can remember was thrown by a Russian guy, Rodonovik. And here's how it came to be… The 1981 San Francisco 49ers made it to the Super Bowl, and I thought it