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HOLLENBECK: Demise of favorite soap leaves void in daily TV life

August 8, 2011

Since “As the World Turns” concluded its daily rotations last fall, I’ve been off the soap opera circuit.
Can’t say I like it that way. I didn’t usually see the show live, but taped it for later viewing — after I had finally collapsed from that day’s fun and frivolity.
I miss that part of “life” as the soap moguls portrayed it. Although the plots had gotten really far out at times, it still had some elements of the ordinary life-death-and-everything-in-between struggles of the Hughes-Stewart clans that started the world turning a long time ago.

HOLLENBECK: Life without a dishwasher: It isn’t the best way to go

July 30, 2011

Loading the dishwasher is high on my “don’t like to do it” list.
That sounds so petty even as I write it because I remember many periods when we washed the dishes by hand and didn’t die from it.
Before getting an automatic dishwasher, washing/drying the dishes was a routine activity. It had to be done, so we did it.
You’d think putting the dirty stuff in the automatic contraption wouldn’t be something to irritate me, but it is.

HOLLENBECK: No more redheads? Study says the hair color will fade into obscurity

July 26, 2011

Courier Editor Brent Davis recently made a startling statement in my presence. He said he had seen a TV piece that claimed in a hundred years or so, redheads would fade out of existence.
Wow! That was scary news to me. You can be an endangered species and not even know it.

HOLLENBECK: Newspaper life brings many sobriquets, but Brenda Starr is favorite

July 19, 2011

Nicknames are as much a part of Southern life as biscuits and gravy.
I ought to know. I've lived in the South my entire life and I've been the recipient of several of these after-birth monikers. The most frequent, of course, being "Red." That's a given for any redhead.
Jokes about the flaming tresses started early in life and still go on, even though it takes a little loving care (pun intended) to keep them that way today.
Later on, being compared to the most famous of redheads, and coupled by the fact that my middle name is Lou, I wore the "Lucy" tag for a time.

HAHN: Looking for treasure

July 18, 2011

A couple of weeks back, CNN news carried a story about a man who found an estimated $45,000 hidden in the attic of a house he had recently purchased. The bills were wrapped in bundles of $100.
There was another story at the same time about the finding of a treasure trove of gold coins at a building site in Albany, Australia. The coins were dated 1800 and one of them was appraised at $16,000 Australian dollars.

DAVIS: We are entering ‘The Twilight Zone’

July 18, 2011

Every year on certain holidays, one of the networks, I believe the SciFi network, runs a marathon of “The Twilight Zone” episodes. Back-to-back, hour after hour the shows continue with limited commercial breaks. By the time the fifth or sixth hour rolls around, any enthusiasm the viewer may have had tends to fall by the wayside. The novelty of the programming has faded. The anticipation that was once strong dwindles to a basic irritation. The buzz turns into a pesky gnat we swipe our hands at when we hear it humming around our ears.

HOLLENBECK: Newspaper life brings many sobriquets, but Starr is favorite

July 18, 2011

Nicknames are as much a part of Southern life as biscuits and gravy.
I ought to know. I’ve lived in the South my entire life and I’ve been the recipient of several of these after-birth monikers. The most frequent, of course, being “Red.” That’s a given for any redhead.
Jokes about the flaming tresses started early in life and still go on, even though it takes a little loving care (pun intended) to keep them that way today.
Later on, being compared to the most famous of redheads, and coupled by the fact that my middle name is Lou, I wore the “Lucy” tag for a time.

HOLLENBECK: Blueberries: When did they enter my life?

July 12, 2011

The other night I was enjoying a dish of peach cobbler that was sprinkled with some fresh blueberries. In the midst of this delightful summer dessert, it suddenly hit me that blueberries are relatively new in my life.
Blueberries now are a favorite fruit at our house, yet there’s irony there. As a kid, I don’t ever remember eating them.
Fruits — fresh and canned — were always part of our diet. Regardless of the season.
My mother saw to it that we ate healthy foods, which, of course, meant the inclusion of fruit.

DAVIS: Disagreement not required

July 12, 2011

I have worked at several places over my 53 years. Even though they were in different industries, they all had one thing in common. I didn’t see the warts until after I started working there. All of my jobs had them. But let me make one thing very clear from the start: I came to this job knowing full well what I was getting into. Warts and all. And I am loving it so get used to it. I’m not going anywhere.

HAHN: The myth of the silent rattlesnake

July 12, 2011

Urban legends have long been a favorite study of mine. Before the advent of the computer, there were fewer such stories circulating, but they were much more likely to be accepted for truth. Now most people know about the Snopes website and so they are less likely to believe such stories.
You would think that as a student of folklore and someone who knows a great deal about urban legends, I would recognized them for what they are, but I don’t. Why? Because they seem believable and they are always passed on in good faith. People want to warn others of some danger, be it large or small.

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