Children
When I Was Just a Little Girl
Originally WrittenFebruary 17, 2015 When I was just a little girl I asked my mother, what will I be Will I be pretty, will I be rich Here’s what she said to me…. Que Sera, Sera, Whatever will be, will be The future’s not ours, to see Que Sera, Sera What will be, will be […]
17Feb2024 | Nancy Belle | 2 comments | Continued
A Sketch or Memorandom of Old Mr Thomas Capps
Just a small microcosm of my paternal family history. Only wish it was also audio.
15Apr2022 | Nancy Belle | 8 comments | Continued
When It Feels So Right, But Is So Wrong
We begin to understand the indignity of denial. When we continue abrasive, cruel prejudices in denial of the truth we diminish our humanity. It appears that some people enjoy their prejudice. It only appears so. Those people live in fear. They fear opening Pandora’s Box. They fear the evil that will surely befall them if they abandon their sacred values. The real indignity is in holding on to those values which are negative, hurtful, and unjustified.
6Sep2020 | Gary Clark | 2 comments | Continued
Implication vs Assurance
I’m addicted to Facebook, no point in denying it! All my friends and family see me there everyday. Mostly I’m addicted to sharing my thoughts on anything and everything. Social media has given me an opportunity to not leave this world without showing out. I know you think I said that wrong and it should […]
9Jan2019 | Nancy Belle | 2 comments | Continued
Illegal Immigrants and How to Not To Do Anything About It
I am a hoarder of information, documents, letters, email, etc. Today I was forced to dig into the my archives for information someone wants, someone who had it, but didn’t take care of it. Any who I digress. While digging into the ramparts of my OLD emails, I found this little gem, from May of […]
28Jun2018 | Nancy Belle | 0 comments | Continued
Free Ranging Kids
The Clark Station on Mitchell, this was ‘Our Gangs’ pit stop on the way home from playing at Devil’s Backbone. My cousins and I would spend the day playing dirt clod war at ‘Bird Heaven’ or playing at mountain climbing on the 12th street side or sliding down the grassy steep hill on cardboard or […]
10Jun2018 | Nancy Belle | 5 comments | Continued
Scapegoat Politics…
Just some things rattling in my head this morning…. Today I see headlines about Marco Rubio being booed at a gathering to discuss the recent school shooting. Booed and pinned down to say yay or nay to the NRA, pinned down to say guns were responsible for the recent and past shootings. This is disturbing. […]
22Feb2018 | Nancy Belle | 10 comments | Continued
Why? It’s More Than Guns
I don’t mean to disparage the intent of the Florida survivors who are now passionately pounding the anti-gun message. Yet, immediately after the shooting, I saw and heard several young people who claimed to know the shooter. They, with disdain in their voices, described a person who was off, didn’t fit in, was a juvenile […]
21Feb2018 | Nancy Belle | 5 comments | Continued
Almost a Certainty
William Merritt Scotton, Sr. and Genevieve (Clark) Scotton, were married Wednesday, August 24, 1938 in St. Joseph, MO. She was a few months from 18 years and he was a couple of months into 21 years. They met by chance because he and Dorothy Castile were cousins and Genevieve and Dorothy were best friends. Merritt […]
23Jan2018 | Nancy Belle | 1 comment | Continued
When We Are Filled With Hate And Fear
What are the common denominators with people who are filled with hate and fear? What are the symptoms? What are their political views? What is wrong with them??? They were abused as children. That is the one common feature of the hateful and fearful. Their parents tried to beat them into respectful adults. Or the […]
27Dec2017 | Thomas Franklin | 2 comments | Continued
Name Your Demons – Remove Their Power
The title of this article is not an original thought. My understanding of the concept is new, fresh, and enlightening. It took a horrendously emotional event to break the barrier of denial that held my life captive. Denial is not a bad thing. Denial is an emotional regulator – denying reality the power to destroy. […]
18Dec2017 | Thomas Franklin | 1 comment | Continued
Feelings! Legitimate Or Not
In cognitive behavioral treatment we learn to think, then feel, then act. Some folks get into trouble when they feel, act, then think. My personal notion is that we always think first; the question is why do we think such negative thoughts that result in hurt feelings and thus bad behavior? I did four years […]
15Dec2017 | Thomas Franklin | 2 comments | Continued
Life Lessons, Set In Concrete
The ‘twoness’ of humanity is all around us. The good and the bad, the yin and the yang, the frailty of human character. My father, as I have said before, was both a great man and a monstrous brute. I do not know if his greatness won the final battle – but I suspect it […]
13Dec2017 | Thomas Franklin | 1 comment | Continued
Poverty And No Birth Control
I have written about the ‘twoness’ of parenthood. The paradox of love versus stress. My parents were not different than other parents. They loved us even when they were unable to express the love overtly. When my father came home from the War in Europe he reunited with my mother, they were promptly married, and […]
9Dec2017 | Thomas Franklin | 1 comment | Continued
Twoness, The Paradox of Parenthood
I am a young Senior citizen. As such one might deduce that my parents were part of “the greatest generation”. That would be correct. My parents grew up during the depression. My father fought in World War Two. Have I mentioned that there were seven children in my family? My mother stayed home to raise […]
7Dec2017 | Thomas Franklin | 0 comments | Continued
Baseball Rebellion
I did not play baseball as a child. I hardly knew such a thing existed. One Spring day, long ago, I was wandering the St. Joseph, Missouri, streets with my brothers. As we passed the Noyes Baseball Field I noticed several of my school mates dressed in uniform and playing baseball on the well manicured […]
26Nov2017 | Thomas Franklin | 3 comments | Continued
Who Pulled Your Chain
Pardon my OCD a moment please. Sometimes I get intrigued (my chain gets pulled) by words and/or phrases I hear or read. The phrase in question “Shut your mouth your mind is hanging out” was spoken by one cowboy to another in a movie my husband was watching yesterday evening and I, by consequence, was […]
25Oct2017 | Nancy Belle | 0 comments | Continued
In Defense of the St. Joseph, Missouri, School Tax Levy 2017
Larry Koch is a member of the St. Joseph, Missouri, School District Board of Directors. There is a levy on the ballot and the following was a facebook post by Mr. Koch. I thought it was well thought out and well written. There are two issues: 1) Does the school district need more money? and […]
22Oct2017 | Gary Clark | 0 comments | Continued
The Moderate White American, Shameful Acts of Cowardly Comfort.
That title represents bold words for a one-eyed-fat-man. I have two eyes. I am also the alter-ego of an old white man – and my fellow white people, intelligent political moderates, have come up short in the advancing civilized struggle for morality and justice. People throughout my life have been weary of any direct confrontation […]
3Sep2017 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Terror Pranks By Brothers
It was 1955. I remember because I was on the receiving end of an older brother prank. (I have said before that I come by my prank-ing personality honestly – this is an example). In previous posts I tried to explain my pranks on my younger brothers in a manner that most excuses my errant […]
31Dec2016 | Gary Clark | 2 comments | Continued
Older Brothers and Pranks
Whether I come by my fascination with pranks honestly or not is sometimes irrelevant. I say ‘honestly’ because I come from a family of pranksters. And my two older brothers often tested their pranks on me. What was I to do, I passed the pranks on to my younger siblings. Like the time when I […]
30Dec2016 | Gary Clark | 2 comments | Continued
A 1964 Christmas Story
It was 1964. Life hadn’t been great. This particular year had been mostly a nightmare. My Mother and Stepfather had separated. Finances were next to non-existent. Me being able to attend school became a burden for my Mother. At only fifteen, I was resigned to possibly, never finishing high school. I was the oldest of, […]
12Dec2016 | Nancy Belle | 1 comment | Continued
My Curiosity Defeats My Timidity
As the title eludes, I like to think I have a defense from fear. Many long years ago, my eldest son was about three. Our yard was fenced in and the best place for him and his sister to be in the summer. Our house was not air-conditioned. This particular day I was visiting with […]
28May2016 | Nancy Belle | 0 comments | Continued
Another Senseless Death from Drug Addiction
Another young man from St. Joseph died this past weekend – apparently from long term drug addiction. I knew him. I knew him when he was about seven years old. I also knew his family. He was second generation drug addict. Not his parents, as far as I know, but many of his aunts and […]
2Mar2016 | Gary Clark | 1 comment | Continued
Does Race Really Matter?
Transcript from Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, Washington December 20, 1950 Seattle (AP) – A blow on the head with a baseball bat in a neighborhood altercation was fatal Tuesday to Merritt Scotten, 33 year old Seattle pipe fitter. He died of a skull fracture Saturday night. Leon W. Venson 28 a neighbor has […]
25Nov2015 | Nancy Belle | 1 comment | Continued
Ladies and Gentlemen, Germans and Gents….
Another song from childhood: Ladies and gentlemen, Germans and gents, Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bowlegged ants, I come before you because I am not behind you to tell you something I know nothing of. One bright day in the middle of the night two dead boys got up to fight back to back they faced each […]
6Sep2015 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Ladies and Gentlemen, Germans and Gents…. | Continued
A Horse, A Flea, And Three Blind Mice
I learned this song as a child, taught it to my children and some grandchildren. A horse and a flea and the three blind mice were sitting on a tombstone rolling dice, the horse fell down and landed on the flea, oops said the flea there’s a horse on me. Boom Boom aint it great […]
6Sep2015 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on A Horse, A Flea, And Three Blind Mice | Continued
When Sadness Overwhelms Us
All of us experience grief. As children we see our grand parents pass. We lose our pets, great aunts and uncles. We lose games of school sports. We fail to make the team. These are the experiences that help prepare us for the more grave loss of parents, siblings, spouses. Sadly some of lose our […]
11Jun2015 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on When Sadness Overwhelms Us | Continued
Emotional Disturbances of a Friend
My friend is having emotional disturbances in his live – again. I recognize this as his problem – but still I feel sadness. He has lost his family over bitter disagreements about child raising. He attends a therapy group where he can talk about what happened. He reports his findings. There are several in the […]
28Jul2014 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Emotional Disturbances of a Friend | Continued
Surrender – Man’s Eternal Conflict
Surrender is personal. Every day we are faced with decisions that concern surrender. We surrender to traffic laws, to office protocols, to the School Evening Program of our children, to the irritable clerk at the grocery store, to unwritten codes of conduct spelled out by our particular culture. Sometimes we surrender to our base instincts […]
27Mar2014 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Surrender – Man’s Eternal Conflict | Continued
When My Mind is Racing
Most of the folks who read my posts recognize my natural inclination toward self-righteous sarcasm. I know that sarcasm is toxic – Mr. Clark (the Editor) tells me almost every day. Sarcasm does serve to drive home a point. But there is a cost to being the negative reflection of the world around us. And […]
24Mar2014 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
Mr. Clark and Ohg Rea Tone
Last year Mr. Clark, the Editor of this magazine took away my writing privileges because he said I was too caustic. I got it. I am sarcastic – and I understand sarcasm can be toxic. I was told that I rant and rave too much. He likes my witticisms. He thinks I am clever. He […]
7Mar2014 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
A Personal Fight With Social Injustice
Most of my adult life people have treated me as if I am particularly intelligent. Some have openly called me intellectual. My thought was usually that they were mistaken, that I am well read and speak well. When I take a shower and dress in a suit I present pretty well. I did not receive […]
5Dec2013 | Gary Clark | 3 comments | Continued
Suicide – The Burden of the Village
Most of us have some experience with suicide – someone we know has taken their own life. Such a death is difficult in every possible manner. Families cry together. Distraught disbelief overwhelms us. Our emotional system is shocked to the core. We feel personally defeated. We often feel we have failed, failed our loved one […]
25May2013 | Gary Clark | 3 comments | Continued
The Cruel Hoax of Fanatics
Our dog is something of a rescue dog – she was turned over to a veterinary clinic with a gash on her head and one eye-ball literally hanging out. We took responsibility for the dog ($800 over two years). We do not know her age. Obviously we know she suffered some trauma in her life. […]
18May2013 | Gary Clark | Comments Off on The Cruel Hoax of Fanatics | Continued
Nostalgia from the Left and the Right – Shallow Thinking Prevails
The baseball player was right about one thing – Nostalgia is not what it used to be. Rewriting history to favor any particular opinion is not new or unusual. What is different is the opportunities of expression. Social media, for example, allows for immediate dissemination of whatever nonsense is popular at the moment. Little effort […]
9May2013 | Gary Clark | Comments Off on Nostalgia from the Left and the Right – Shallow Thinking Prevails | ContinuedBearing the Sword of Justice
I am Aries, born under Mars. I swing a heavy sword, the heavy sword of justice. The sword strikes at ignorance, at injustice, at human frailty. A child is threatened. Captured by the rogue of the closed mind. The child, once destined for greatness, becomes the rogue. Small town America, a bastion of self righteous […]
17Jan2013 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Bearing the Sword of Justice | Continued
The Coming Culture of Mean-Spirited Dissent
Mean-spirited dissent has replaced statesmanship as a guiding principle. The maddening downward spiral of political retribution has become the norm. The madness is magnified and given inertia in direct correlation to the speed of modern communications and the unleashing of vast amounts of money in SuperPacs. There is no time for thoughtful reflection. Every encounter […]
29Jan2012 | Ohg Rea Tone | 4 comments | Continued
A Father Reflects on Father’s Day
Father’s Day. A day for celebrating our fathers, and a day for fatherly reflection. I am in the later category today. I was not a particularly good father when my children were small – and that gives one pause for reflection. Young and foolish, temperamental and energetic, smart and dumb-as-nails, motivated and selfish, educated yet […]
19Jun2011 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on A Father Reflects on Father’s Day | Continued
Hunting For Jesse James Gold
When I was a child my parents would often take our family on picnics at Houston Wyeth Park in St. Joseph, Missouri – we just called the place Wyeth Hill. Wyeth Hill runs along the top of the Missouri River Bluffs in northwest St. Joseph. The hill overlooks downtown St. Joe to the south, the […]
25Aug2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | 14 comments | Continued
Seichel – The Fourth Dimension
Seichel – a Yiddish word with a variety of meanings, a variety of definitions – but essentially implying wisdom. That may not help much in understanding seichel because the word “Wisdom” is not universally understood. My take is this: Wisdom is a state of being, a state of being that adds the fourth dimension to […]
15Jun2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | Continued
Summer Camp For Grandchildren
Folks, readers of thefiresidepost.com, I am busy. Three of my grandchildren are coming every day for two weeks. I am relearning some things, and learning some things for the first time, about raising children. One thing is certain – I am busy and have little time to think grand thoughts and write witty posts – […]
8Jun2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | 6 comments | Continued
Do Mother’s Day Cards Really Describe Your Mother?
How did you find the energy, Mom To do all the things you did, To be teacher, nurse and counselor To me, when I was a kid. Does that little diddy describe your mother? For years I wanted to honor my Mother on Mother’s Day (as defined by Hallmark Cards). I went shopping at all […]
9May2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
What Would Peter Think of Wendy At Victoria’s Secret?
One of my favorite stories is the tale of Peter Pan. As an actor, I have always wanted to play Peter, but I grew too tall. I loved the way Peter was committed to remaining young, not following the establishment and becoming a man. His conviction of youth impacted his relationships with everyone, especially Wendy. […]
7May2010 | Dawn | 1 comment | Continued
Good Children Vs Insurrectionists
My husband and I were discussing our children the other day and how they behave or not during church. Our 18-month-old prefers to wander the pews rather than sit quietly on my lap, and when the nursery is closed, it can be quite difficult to “make her behave.” First of all, let me comment on […]
26Apr2010 | Dawn | Comments Off on Good Children Vs Insurrectionists | Continued
Sense Of Inadequacy Follows Us All The Days Of Our Lives
Any self concept, any value, any perspective, learned in youth – through osmosis – follows us all the days of our lives. We often have a sense of right and wrong, which we sometimes call this our conscience, based on prejudiced childhood learning.
21Apr2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Sense Of Inadequacy Follows Us All The Days Of Our Lives | Continued
The Paddle: Using Fear and Force in Public Schools
In an article for the Associated Press yesterday, contributed to by the Washington Post and published on the website chron.com (a Houston area online resource) Temple, Texas is reported to have reinstated corporal punishment.
19Apr2010 | bryan | Comments Off on The Paddle: Using Fear and Force in Public Schools | Continued
Scarface School Play – I don’t get it
What in the world is going on? If this play had been done in one of my grand children’s schools I would be up in arms – people would think I had joined the radical right, that I was a card carrying member of the Tea Party. Anyway, make of it what you will.
30Mar2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | Continued
The Mis-Use of MAP Testing
My Taxi service is employed every morning – I give two of my grandchildren a ride to school. This morning my third grade granddaughter told me she was wearing her lucky shoes because they were to take the MAP test today. She said, “I am scared to take this test.” I asked her why she […]
29Mar2010 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Mis-Use of MAP Testing | Continued