From the French carrousel, the Italian carosello, and the Spanish carosella “little battle,” the American word carousel or merry-go-round, was an amusement ride usually with horses for seats that were mounted on posts. They moved up and down as if the horses were galloping to the accompaniment of circus music.
Remember when a lot of stuff used to be made in America? Then everything went to Japan, then to foreign countries no one realized actually existed, and now China? We still make some things here. We make the top of lists in yearly deaths from guns, highest health care costs,
Grandpa, My wife surprised me recently. She told me to quit calling her homemade soups and stews “chlamydia chowder.” I have always had pet names for her favorite recipes; Ptomaine Tacos, Shigellas and cheese, coli cake, crypto-casserole. You would think that after all of these years, she would be used
Enough is enough. That was the refrain chanted over and over by the thousands of demonstrators who gathered to protest gun violence in America. March 24, 2018, more than 200,000 young people took the time to march on Washington, D.C. and other cities across the country to demand that their
Penning my previous entry for The Voice in the April 5 issue about working on a television assembly line got me into a 367-jobs-I-once-had mode and the fun I endured performing them. Driving a forklift for Budweiser was one job. Working for a beer company would be a dream come
By Steven L. Aldrich – I joined approximately 100 to 150 residents Saturday to support the national “March For Our Lives” movement at Oswego High School. It was an overcast, blustery, and cold day, but the spirits, grassroots activism, energy levels, were exuberant. The rally was organized and led by
In the long run, society finds a benefit from those who work to make a difference. Included in the fabric of our society are police officers when they properly do their sworn duty and anyone who uses a First Amendment right to peacefully state a case of injustice which needs
Helen entered the kitchen of her home in the small village of Ksawerow, in central Poland. She carried some firewood needed for the day’s soup cooking and for the warmth within the house. She struck matches to light the lamps. It was almost Easter and the family had eggs from
From the vault, May 23, 1997 (revised): Spring has sprung! The trees are budding, the grass is growing, the birds are chirping, the squirrels are scampering, and the days are getting longer, and warmer. Re-birth is with us at last. Unfortunately, there is a downside to all of it. Now
Grandpa, I was looking at various race horses on the internet. I typed in (Grandpa won’t say) to look at some older stud horses. I was very angry when I got locked into an ad for (a men’s personal product). This stuff is for human use and has nothing to
With the recent Parkland, Fla. school shooting, America and some in the world are upset more than usual. Not because of the numbers killed, but the fact that the Parkland shooter legally got the weapons. So why do we need 30 round weapons that only need one bullet to kill
I wasn’t prepared for how fast death came. He only had been mine for six months, but as soon as the drug hit his veins, he was gone. As the vet guided him on his back with her hand, his breathing stopped. I expected to hold it together for him,
I am 17 years old. That makes me a Millennial Generation Z. And although a knee-jerk reaction may be that this article is about gun control, it isn’t. This article is about the U.S. Congress’ not obeying the clear majority will of “We…the people” on a very important issue: Guns
Tolerance cuts both ways. This isn’t an easy pill to swallow, I know, but that’s the way free speech works, especially when it comes to tolerating speech that we hate. The most controversial issues of our day, gay rights, abortion, race, religion, sexuality, political correctness, police brutality, have become battlegrounds
The crowd of more than 100 filled the Batavia City Council Chambers Saturday, March 10 to watch a movie, “Wasted”, about food we throw away or do not find a better use for the extras. It was the Batavia Environmental Commission Green Night at the Movies, an annual presentation which
The poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “I like March. Her shoes are purple.” And so we celebrate the coming of Spring again with thoughts on a wide variety of subjects. Enjoy this smorgasbord of thoughts and ideas in bits and pieces. Bits: Most of the country has quit smoking, which saves
All kinds of goings-on this week in Trumpville, what with firings, hirings, and highly-skilled (not) foreign policy expert Ivanka Trump meeting with South Korea’s foreign minister. If Ivanka screws up, The Donald will, as he does with everyone else working for him, dump her and appoint a new daughter (Stormy?
Grandpa, I have a very good working relationship with a client. We have often met for breakfast to go over various business subjects. It has always been friendly, professional. Today, for the first time, his wife joined us. I knew this woman back in college (many years earlier). She was
Georgina Poole of Aurora offers comments to the Aurora Committee of the Whole Tuesday about postcards that were distributed in the mail last weekend in reference to the Aurora Election Commission (AEC). She criticized the city government for sending out cards which stated the City Council voted to abolish the
Just what we don’t need: More gun-toting, taser-wielding cops in government-run schools that bear an uncomfortable resemblance to prisons. Microcosms of the police state, America’s public schools already contain almost every aspect of the militarized, intolerant, senseless, overcriminalized, legalistic, surveillance-riddled, totalitarian landscape that plagues those of us on the “outside.”
