Category: reminiscence

  • 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…

  • What Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Said

    What Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Said

    While yesterday’s post on Dr. Melvin P. Sikes was mainly about my personal impressions of him as a teacher, there are a couple of web resources which gives a little more texture about him apart from my imperfect memory and limited experience. One of them is a formal course outline and evaluations he and another…

  • Pride or Rhetoric? What Would Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Say?

    Pride or Rhetoric? What Would Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Say?

    I noticed the headlines about the DEI flap at The University of Iowa, the one with the official apparently spilling the beans about University of Iowa’s DEI program not going away despite being illegal while maybe being unaware of being filmed. I’m not going to retell the story. However, it does remind me of a…

  • Shout Out to Dr. George Dawson for Post “The Autocratic Approach to Homelessness”

    Shout Out to Dr. George Dawson for Post “The Autocratic Approach to Homelessness”

    I want to give a shout out to Dr. George Dawson for his post today “The Autocratic Approach to Homelessness” in reference to President Trump’s most recent executive order, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” As a retired psychiatrist, I look back and remember seeing the problem of the homeless mentally ill a lot.…

  • A Small Update to a Pseudo-Rap YouTube Video and a Big Tribute to Dr. Robert G. Robinson

    A Small Update to a Pseudo-Rap YouTube Video and a Big Tribute to Dr. Robert G. Robinson

    I just noticed something about one of my YouTube videos that I made sort of as a combination gag and educational piece about pseudobulbar affect. It needed a couple of updates—one of which is minor and which I should have noticed 10 years ago when I made it. It’s a pseudo-rap performance (badly done, I…

  • The Big Mo Pod Show: “In the Pocket”

    The Big Mo Pod Show: “In the Pocket”

    Here’s something fun, try to explain what the phrase “in the pocket” means. The song selections in the pod show led up to a short discussion of what it means—which I didn’t get at all. I don’t think it matters for the ordinary listeners, although former music teachers like Big Mo obviously know what the…

  • The Hummingbird is a Blur!

    The Hummingbird is a Blur!

    Yesterday I noticed a hummingbird hovering about the flower pots on our porch. I hurried to get my point and shoot camera and shot video, through a window as usual and it was getting a little late in the evening too, so light was low.   Can I blame the bird for always looking like…

  • How Will I Get to Heaven? Rounding at Iowa Podcast: End of life Doulas

    How Will I Get to Heaven? Rounding at Iowa Podcast: End of life Doulas

    I listened to the Rounding@Iowa podcast “End-of-Life Doulas” twice because I’m at that difficult age when I think about my personal death. I don’t think about it at great length, mind you, but when I think about it, I feel afraid. Early mornings tend to be the time I wonder how much time now until…?…

  • Big Mo Pod Show: Music of the People

    Big Mo Pod Show: Music of the People

    I caught the Big Mo Pod Show today, “Music of the People” and of course, I listened to his Friday Blues show last night. Big Mo is a bottomless pit of blues music knowledge (as well as other genres) and that takes me back to my wasted youth when I had a short conversation with…