Category: History

  • 24th Anniversary of 9/11 Attack on America: A Reminder of Our Connection to Each Other

    24th Anniversary of 9/11 Attack on America: A Reminder of Our Connection to Each Other

    I’m thinking about the upcoming commemoration of the 24th Anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attack on America. There will be the annual event in New York City. In Muscatine, Iowa, there will be the annual Patriot Day ceremonies sponsored by the City of Muscatine and the Muscatine Fire Department. After the morning ceremony, the Memorial Stair…

  • One More Time: Another Ramshorn Journal Editorial

    One More Time: Another Ramshorn Journal Editorial

    This is the 2nd editorial I wrote in 1975 about fraternities during my freshman year at Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University, one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs). There are a couple of misspelled words (“incidence” should be incidents; “altruish” should be altruism). On the whole, it’s a more developed piece than the…

  • I Was a College News Reporter After All

    I Was a College News Reporter After All

    It turns out I was a news reporter for the Huston-Tillotson College Ramshorn Journal after all! I wrote a few of them, including an editorial about Greek fraternity hazing in 1975. I’m including it in this post below. It has an apparent typo in it (“Motherhood” should be brotherhood). It’s typical for fired up freshman…

  • A Little Iowa Hawkeye Cribbage History

    A Little Iowa Hawkeye Cribbage History

    Sena played a couple of games of cribbage solitaire today and came within 8 points of making 121! And so that makes us both fans of this variation on cribbage. There was a little project I set for myself given that DeLynn Colvert’s book, “Play Winning Cribbage” has a section called Cribbage World Publication, which…

  • Cribbage Solitaire Inventor Lost in the Mists of Time?

    Cribbage Solitaire Inventor Lost in the Mists of Time?

    I just played 3 games of cribbage solitaire that I posted about in the last couple of days. I got to 4th street in 2 of them and got to 115 in one. I think getting to 121 is at least possible. You have 6 deals to get there and you need over 20 points…

  • Svengoolie Show: “The Curse of Frankenstein” No Laughing Matter

    Svengoolie Show: “The Curse of Frankenstein” No Laughing Matter

    The Svengoolie show last night was the 1957 Hammer production “The Curse of Frankenstein” starring the 3 stooges. Actually, this film was no laughing matter and this was my first time (and last time) seeing it. That’s not saying it’s a “bad” movie. It’s just tough to come up with anything comical to say about…

  • In Memory of Leonard Tow, Founder of the Tow Foundation and Humanism in Medicine

    In Memory of Leonard Tow, Founder of the Tow Foundation and Humanism in Medicine

    I just found out that Leonard Tow died on August 10, 2025. In humility, I express my gratitude and respect for his creation of the Tow Foundation, a big part of that being the Humanism in Medicine Award, of which I am one of the many recipients over the years. I hope this great tradition…

  • Svengoolie Movie: “Werewolf of London” Comedy Show

    Svengoolie Movie: “Werewolf of London” Comedy Show

    I watched the Svengoolie TV show last night and saw the 1935 Universal Pictures movie “Werewolf of London.” You can watch the movie on the Internet Archive. This film reminded me of another British movie, “Return of the Vampire” in which there was a comedy sketch between two grave diggers. In Werewolf of London there’s…

  • Pondering a Mystery in My Past at Huston-Tillotson University

    Pondering a Mystery in My Past at Huston-Tillotson University

    I found a photo of me in the Downs-Jones Library files at Huston-Tillotson University (formerly Huston-Tillotson College) today. It’s the featured image for this post. I was going down memory lane looking at old pictures of former classmates and teachers at H-TU and—there I was. It’s a photo of me in 1975, and it looks…

  • Big Mo Pod Show: The Yellow Butane Curse and Other Fun Things

    Big Mo Pod Show: The Yellow Butane Curse and Other Fun Things

    I got off my schedule last week on listening to the Big Mo blues show, but as it turns out, he was gone last Friday. I heard last night’s blues show and heard Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Riviera Paradise. So, of course that was not on the list of songs for the pod show today, but…