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Common Thoughts, Common Sense

Education seen in a bigger way

The governor of Missouri in those days, a Buchanan Countian named Robert Marcellus Stewart, had a good legal mind matched by a gift for language. ... Read more

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An image that lives for a while

Leave it to Old Hickory to carve out a pithy line. ... Read more

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Thinking should not go narrow

The old saying goes that “small minds select narrow roads,” and folks usually know something about both. ... Read more

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Lessons on bearing some rings

The circle of life includes an arc or two when you attend a lot of weddings. ... Read more

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Not all plans have intent to steal rights

In the hazy mountains of western Virginia, the United States has an answer for what comes next. ... Read more

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Surprises in moving forward

The unexpected discovery of last week came in learning that Ronald Reagan, that revered Commie hater, had pinko leanings. ... Read more

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Real waste in fighting the waste

In days of yore, when baseball players wore skin-tight, double-knit uniforms and thought they were styling, words of doom came at a cheap price. ... Read more

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Patriotic partying with stars

A man gets to a certain age and learns not to get caught up in imagination. ... Read more

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An allure goes bad two ways

The hangover from showered attention arrives not so much with throbbing temples but an out-of-place silence. ... Read more

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It’s vital, but don’t call it war

National cable news shows have turned civic discourse into a long-running hissy fit. ... Read more

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Invention before it was cool

Those who keep up with news about technology and finance, increasingly a joined interest, know that Facebook bought Instagram last week for $1 billion. ... Read more

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Midwest sinkings get no love

The Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot did what should have been impossible. He crafted a highly charted song that sounded like a dirge, referenced all the Great Lakes and rhymed the words “gloomy” and “Gitche Gumee.” ... Read more

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Ongoing tale that remains worth telling

Joseph Robidoux brought with him to the mouth of Roy’s Branch a pioneering spirit, a knowledge of fur and the Catholic faith. ... Read more

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City adapts to changes in its makeup

Recover for a moment a dust-covered volume from St. Joseph’s past. The study cost $15,000, but that was in 2000. Amazon might now carry a cheaper edition. ... Read more

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Stuff local in your old carpetbag

The late Shelby Foote wrote a 3,000-page narrative history of the American Civil War. Near its end, he describes the post-war views of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, the “old war horse” who served with Gen. Robert E. Lee. ... Read more

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The club that means the most

American culture craves nothing more than a neat category. ... Read more

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Distraction not worth a life taken

Find here the confessions of an eight-track adolescence. ... Read more

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A sketch of modern campaigning

Those who can, draw. Those who can’t, use an Etch A Sketch. ... Read more

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Courting a new wave of lawsuits

Federal appellate judges work in either a bright spotlight or complete anonymity. These very accomplished legal minds serve as the semi-finals of constitutional jurisprudence, a step removed from the higher profile of Supreme Court justices. ... Read more

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Shoving it to the wall of greed

The rock ‘n’ roll snobs of my college years turned up their noses at country music. Too much twang, apparently. ... Read more

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Deferring a problem of schools

My grandchildren bring me great joy. They have also thrown up on me. I have no quarrel with this balance. ... Read more

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Hall that touches off arguments

No person needs doubt America as a place of opportunity after considering the story of Emmett Kelly. ... Read more

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Tough call for freedom of the road

The head snap of the guy in the passenger seat gave me a sick feeling. I thought it meant a bad birthday. ... Read more

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Devil's in the details for schools

Devil’s Backbone looks like it had some disc surgery. At least that’s according to people who know what it used to look like. ... Read more

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Treat each other well, then hope

Schools differ in size and design, in age and achievement. But they have an operational norm that seldom varies. ... Read more

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The world and things not known

Well-known fact: Pirates love a party. Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum. ... Read more

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Old magic that helps exporting

Americans love a list, and the arrival of Presidents Day each year inevitably brings out various rankings of U.S. chief executives. ... Read more

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Stamping a renewal of old days

Memory slips for folks my age, and I lose track at times of what meal I had earlier in the week or my intent in walking from one room to the next in my house. ... Read more

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Bill gives educators border duty

The topic of education turns up the lettered instincts of constitutional authors. ... Read more

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An enduring phrase that fills the gaps

Because news coverage proliferates on the subject and national confidence so clearly wanes, it becomes easy to believe that goofiness is a recent Washington invention. Not so. ... Read more

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All politics all the time in America

Southerners have no exclusive birthright to college football supremacy, fried chicken recipes or colorful expressions. ... Read more

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A metered history on parking

Notes from the city. A vignette that foils the aspiration. ... Read more

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Voting for a national direction

Before he became a county clerk and Missouri secretary of state and member of Congress, Sen. Roy Blunt taught history. ... Read more

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An enduring phrase that fill the gaps

Because news coverage proliferates on the subject and national confidence so clearly wanes, it becomes easy to believe that goofiness is a recent Washington invention. ... Read more

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Room left for mature decisions

My oldest grandson has the demeanor of a good defensive lineman ... he never stops running. ... Read more

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Bootstraps in a world of learning

So few shoes today have bootstraps. Footwear makers should get a sense of the times and fix that. ... Read more

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A lesson in paying for a pizza

The part of my life when I rested my head each night in a university dormitory amounted to about 11 months. ... Read more

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Voting when it's not even a Tuesday

South Carolina holds its presidential primary on Saturday. This seems as displaced to Missourians as palmetto-lined streets. ... Read more

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Who one is and what an ID says

Culture offers an easy acceptance to alias sensibilities. Halls of vital records make other demands. ... Read more

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The inertia of taking a free ride

By now, the world has learned of the ill-starred marriage of Antonio and Rosa, the Italian couple whose 77 years of wedlock ended in a divorce filing last month. ... Read more

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Food arts that trend in our midst

Trend industries exist to track trends. They inform the unenlightened about what’s in and out. ... Read more

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Tinkering on tap for school funds

A moment of confidence must accompany any home improvement project. ... Read more

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Predictions made about predictions

Mayans have gotten more attention in recent days than any time since Mel Gibson made that brutal movie “Apocalypto.” ... Read more

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This year and dust of the ages

Dust and a chilly wind. That memory sticks with me from 2011. ... Read more

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Home fires blaze anew this holiday

No one needed a merry Christmas more than Harry Truman. It had been some year. ... Read more

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Place where generosity shows itself

Charles Dickens had it right, without the scientific pedigree or research as backing. ... Read more

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Leadership requires creativity

Enjoy the season of light ... and lights. Know that you are protected from on high. ... Read more

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A bad time for revealing big ideas

A reader came by the newspaper office not long ago with an idea. ... Read more

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Fruit bias in the line of security

If you see something, say something, goes the modern mantra of security. What I have to say does little to protect our homeland. ... Read more

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Forgiving in an age of floods

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, father of the nuclear navy, served in the military, aboard submarines and on a federal commission. ... Read more

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City’s past sheds light on lighting

Christmas lights that bookend St. Joseph, in Krug Park on the north and Hyde Park on the south, remind me of the Yule seasons of my childhood. ... Read more

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Budgetary compromise no slam dunk

The Magic Johnson-Larry Bird years hold little nostalgia for me, though I remember them well. And Michael Jordan, I saw him play as a collegian and followed his entire career, but it would be wrong to say I pine for those days. ... Read more

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Consumers evolve as new patriots

History provides a source of origin for the days known as Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Final Four Saturday and Super Bowl Sunday. ... Read more

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A reminder of blessings far from home

This pilgrim’s progress planted me in a chair next to a priest from Cleveland. ... Read more

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A coarse course for free speech

Clarence Brandenburg had no known ties to St. Joseph, and that should please the local population. ... Read more

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Invention that grows close to home

Passwords bedevil modern culture. They haunt folks in their dealings with ATMs, with e-mail programs, with wireless routers, with online banking, with iTunes and Amazon and Twitter accounts. ... Read more

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An odd code in a story of no heroes

Schools of my youth did not have hall monitors, not any I remember. I went to small schools, and maybe they couldn’t afford a special sash. ... Read more

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Seasons, but not all on same day

Emigres from the Midwest, those seeking more pleasing climates, have a common lament. They miss the seasons. ... Read more

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Wrecking a marriage for reality

My cultural compass lacks a true north. This doesn’t so much shock my children as disappoint them. ... Read more

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Solidarity in grief, purpose

Smart folks in an office in New York’s United Nations complex have determined that, as of Monday, 7 billion people reside on Earth. ... Read more

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Huck Finn and a gift of the pen

Huck Finn’s river of American discovery put him one day in the company of a couple of con men with claims to royal blood. ... Read more

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Rough road on funding for highways

When Garrison Keillor signs off his news from the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, he always describes it as a place where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” ... Read more

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Innovations that can be done without

James E. Chudars might never be recognized in the evolution of modern campaigning. But he deserves a mention. ... Read more

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Full circle on a dream for the city

The past provides a record of things done. It can also provide a record for things almost done. ... Read more

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A circular argument on occupiers

Our culture allows men to cry without apology on only certain occasions. ... Read more

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The audacity of attempting a big thing

Part of my childhood was spent in a town best known for a natural calamity. ... Read more

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You’re great, wonderful, and goodbye

Large companies have found value in talking the talk of good citizenship. Makes for feel-good meetings in the corporate suites. ... Read more

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An insult that cashes like a check

This comes off as one of those arguments that proves insulting on its face but the subjects would be happily offended. ... Read more

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How quaint to imagine cooperation

Folks in these parts have no reason to know the life and works of Chalmers Pangburn Wylie. ... Read more

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Queasiness arrives with flu season

That pesky rotation of the Earth makes a lottery of the dangers in the air this week. ... Read more

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People and a nation and a ‘moment’

The moment sometimes becomes “the moment.” It turns quickly and changes everything. ... Read more

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A precursor for hard talk still to come

A post office operated in Garrettsburg for at least 30 years. ... Read more

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What it takes this sad day to remember

Some mathematics of our security arises from the fine print, a casualty estimate that informs a ledger. ... Read more

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Rural parts that deserve an outreach

Americans can’t imagine such a thing today, two members of Congress from opposing parties doing something grand with the economy sour and unemployment high. ... Read more

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Too shocking for the city’s own good

St. Joseph film connoisseurs, save a couple, never got to learn “the true story of Grace Fleming.” Too shocking, it seemed. ... Read more

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Suddenly, job concern seems sexy

One of my neighbors worked about a quarter-century at Quaker Oats. A great guy. A great neighbor with a great family. ... Read more

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Free will on display Downtown

Free will plays out daily on the streets of St. Joseph. Nothing goes as planned when the people of this city start thinking. ... Read more

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Mobs and the lost art of parenting

Biology nominated me for a lifetime appointment, confirmed on May 6, 1976. On that day, I became a father. ... Read more

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Diminishing the meaning of ‘super’

Feuds come and go without my notice. I blame it on genetics. ... Read more

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Cooperation belongs on supply list

Decades barely change the supply list. It looks the same as when I packed up for a first day of school all those years ago. ... Read more

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Lies travel at the speed of an e-mail

George Washington owned up to chopping down the cherry tree. Every schoolkid knows the story. But George Washington never got to tweet. ... Read more

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Trim sides, find reason in the middle

Americans need some of that Olympic-style judging. You know, the wildly confusing arithmetic meant to neutralize a home-loving Bulgarian intent on giving a perfect “10” to the mediocre routine of a gymnast from Sofia. ... Read more

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Celebrity sightings in our midst

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The money circulates the same

Reasonable souls might rightly wonder which of the recent high-level negotiations matter most to the American people. ... Read more

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Skipping to a first impression

Skipping remains a young person’s game. If old folks indulge, they should stretch first. Might pull a hamstring. ... Read more

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In Atlanta, cheat big or go home

If you’re going to cheat, cheat big. Not just big, but Atlanta Public Schools big. ... Read more

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What never approaches as a shock

Mae West, the actress whose words often carried an electrical charge, once said, “Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.” ... Read more

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Indexing a summer of misery

Even the birds fly slowly. And the ants look groggy. ... Read more

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Shedding light amid some litter

The horse that can be led to water, though not made to drink, has traveled of late on Felix Street. ... Read more

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Debts amass in the wait for a blast

The test took place in a New Mexican desert called Jornada del Muerto. That translates, more or less, to “route of the dead man,” which should tell you something. ... Read more

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One corps that leads to another

Well, lookee here! That big boom broke loose some time travel. ... Read more

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Treading water a bit too adeptly

Astronauts say they can see the Great Barrier Reef from space. Closer to Earth, Australian mariners have a more narrow view. ... Read more

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If money could buy confidence

This sound played in the background of American political life on Thursday, the hum of a credit card machine anxious for transactions. ... Read more

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A difference between can and should

Gail Atwater began her day with no intention of being a petitioner to the U.S. Supreme Court. Probably just had some errands to run. ... Read more

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Warnings of smoke, by and by

An odd thought occurred to me in listening to a Father’s Day homily. I wondered if heaven allows smoking. ... Read more

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Diplomacy for kitchen and tee box

The American vice president boasted of the house affordable on a working man’s salary. The Soviet leader dismissed it as a “Taj Mahal” unattainable to the common laborer. ... Read more

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Rural love with strings attached

Only in the imagination of one man do the places Char-lanta and Dal-Austin exist. They are so-called mega-regions, to hear Richard Florida tell it, and essential for reasons of economy and innovation. ... Read more

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Freedoms and the art of dancing

Fred Astaire regarded his feet as a vehicle only of entertainment. Bless his apolitical heart. ... Read more

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The virtues accumulate amid despair

The old joke goes that a priest, mid-homily, sees a mother carrying her crying son out of Mass. ... Read more

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Slow boil as waters get higher

Rants have their place. Deployed in moderation, they make a point that often can’t be made at a lesser volume. ... Read more

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Grinding toward a dream

Golf has a name for players whose capabilities never measure up to their determination. ... Read more

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Those fools at the top of the world

Weird doings this year on the top of the world. Among mountaineering types, Mt. Everest has become like a tourist trap, overcrowded and with uncertain accommodations. The only things missing are T-shirt shops. ... Read more

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'Don’t know really what to do next'

One thing about a tornado, it gives a person no context. ... Read more

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Many lives commence for graduates

Alphabetical order, that most sound measure of control in the educational system, dictated my last moments in high school. ... Read more

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One balloon not worthy of a trial

What I knew of Southern California came from television, movies and rock ’n’ roll lyrics. ... Read more

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Kid sluggers would make some display

Family pictures lined the hallway of my childhood home, that much I remember. ... Read more

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A kinship in knowing water woes

My father had no formal training in the sciences but a working knowledge of the spawning habits of crappie. ... Read more

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Adding up a prophecy of the end

News from the province of prophecy. The world will end on May 21. ... Read more

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No room left to modify some reason

Catch an adverb and kill it, writers will advise. No less an authority than Mark Twain stumbled in the rocky fields of modification. ... Read more

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The fears that came in from the cold

Numbers littered the St. Joseph map, which had all the embellishment of a stick figure. Still, this crude chart of streets had serious intent. ... Read more

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Separating gimmicks from reform

Never mind the trick-or-treat-sized helping of pretzels they hand out on airplanes. Forget the Caribbean approach to schedule keeping. ... Read more

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Reflecting on mercies in our lives

Rumble strips have been getting some good press lately. Not bad for pavement carvings. ... Read more

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Marriages that survive tough times

Economic hard times have put Americans through the wringer of foreclosures, bankruptcies, downsizings and all varieties of billfold strife. ... Read more

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Fix is in on royal wagering

Some people will bet on anything. Keeps life interesting, I guess. ... Read more

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Tax freedom with no talk about taxes

The Missouri-born comedian Dick Gregory once gave his opinion on American tax policy. ... Read more

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Tapping brakes on civic psyche

Timing, a cowboy once said, has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance. ... Read more

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Continuing a resolution of discord

Members of Congress heap praise on St. Joseph when local folks go to Washington pitching the city. ... Read more

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Tight fists give state a bad name

If a life in public service has disadvantages, it also owns the potential for immortality. ... Read more

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Making an investment in memory

No swelling strings accompanied me on the way out the door. Mostly, I remember sweat and the sinking feeling of something going undone. ... Read more

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Claiming a good share of Shariah

Missouri shares more than about 40 miles of border with Oklahoma. Both states share a deep and abiding concern for the future of homeland jurisprudence. ... Read more

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Offer makes an exercise in theatrics

Barney Dubinsky’s moment of clarity came with a pistol pointed his way. ... Read more

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Partisanship in statistics not shocking

Residents of the high plains dragged chains from the back of their cars and trucks, a way of grounding the vehicle against static electricity. ... Read more

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Real waste, but lyrical in its way

Guys of a certain age will know this trauma. Face the mirror each morning and see dismay staring back. ... Read more

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A balance that declines to move east

Confusion over the origin of a particular quotation adds reinforcement to its substance. ... Read more

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A protest offered with a light glaze

Something you should know. One time, years ago, I had a part in a protest. ... Read more

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In the count, it's a brand that matters

When federal workers fanned out in 1930 to count the nation’s population, the only branding most people knew appeared on a cow’s hide. ... Read more

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Government has one more mouth to feed

My mother worked as a registered nurse in a small town that had no doctor. As such, she became the burg’s primary distributor of hypodermic injections. ... Read more

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Odor arises when issues never expire

Hayseed Americans need never take a lesson in cultivation from the French. Not as long as Le Musee des Egouts de Paris keeps open its gates. ... Read more

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One mishap never goes out of fashion

Young boys, at least the ones in pre-Xbox America, wrote their histories in grass stains. ... Read more

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Preparation that begins at home

Every conscious moment of my 54 years, I have known my sister. She remains one of the best people in my life. ... Read more

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Diluting revolution for the ages

Not long ago, I watched a movie called “Cairo Time.” In it, the actress Patricia Clarkson portrays an American woman whose diplomat husband strands her in Egypt while he takes care of some crisis. ... Read more

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Real threat disguised as funding

The Department of Homeland Security announced last week the scrapping of its color-coded terrorism alert system. ... Read more

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Pressure that eludes the simple

One wire and happiness. A guy named Rich called this a weekend. ... Read more

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Freshmen lawmakers get no view

If travel on state planes required TSA-type security searches, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon would be the most groped man in the nation. ... Read more

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No weather relief comes from space

One cure for self-seriousness rests in the heavens. (No, not heaven, but that’s another cure.) ... Read more

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Ignoring the sound of a 'no'

The word “no” packs a lot of punch. Some people do good by never accepting the word. ... Read more

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‘Oneness’ gives way to advantage

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Finding joy in a world of outrage

King Solomon has had it right for going on 3,000 years. “A cheerful glance brings joy to the heart,” says the Book of Proverbs. “Good news invigorates the bones.” A straight shot off the tee also pleases the soul. ... Read more

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Simplicity in dealing with Feds

Birds fall from the sky in Arkansas. Why? Well, they died. That’s not a smug answer, just the simple one. And simple sells. ... Read more

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Uncertainty flourishes in economy

Portfolio might be an extravagant description for the stock holdings that will define my future. ... Read more

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Year ends with echoes of gunfire

Curious as it sounds, I can’t hear a story about shark attacks without thinking of Osama bin Laden. ... Read more

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Cheapening the advice to 'man up'

Our republic looks to survive another year, this one marked by repeated admonitions to live up to the responsibilities of gender. ... Read more

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This season finds tears of lawmaking

The Kansas City Chiefs play today with a quarterback 11 days removed from a surgical table. ... Read more

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Doing good in a season built for that

Nothing changes, at least not the big things. The same motivations that drove people in ancient times drive them today. ... Read more

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A wonderful life and Sasha’s petals

Leave it to the British to hold Christmas in their hearts and paint bombs in their jackets. ... Read more

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Mailing in the season of discomfort

As a Hallmark moment, nothing beats the mailbox during this season of Christmas. My record with greeting postal delivery proves spotty. ... Read more

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Hush-hush in a world of secrecy

My mother’s people, as the ancestral tree was known, came to Missouri from Tennessee. And they brought with them the region’s gift of whisper. In the South, secret-keeping stood as recreation and art form, like the blues and just as entertaining. ... Read more

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A country exceptional in its words

Thomas Lanier Williams, the product of a Missouri education, created some of the most memorable and heart-breaking characters in American theater. ... Read more

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These days and reasons for thanks

When the clock strikes midnight this New Year’s Eve, I will have been alive 20,000 days. That’s 480,000 hours. Or 28.8 million minutes. Put that way, I feel a little tired. ... Read more

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Will, Kate might think about Vegas

The Beatles, who came to the United States nearly 47 years ago, sold some more music last week. Apple’s digital music store, iTunes, began offering the band’s formidable catalog after decades of corporate squabbling. ... Read more

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Once bold, now ideas are simpler

Sixteen-hundred miles away and ages removed, the tour of community engagement moves ever onward. ... Read more

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Secession and its lure in dollars

Residents of St. Joseph had a big time last week with news of a de-annexation petition. ... Read more

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Big results come from small things

Within big things, a calculus of small things always exists. Run this math by the Kansas City Chiefs. ... Read more

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Cashing in on the craze for zombies

Zombies can never just be undead. They always bear the weight of being metaphors. ... Read more

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Property has weeds but no luck

The old saying goes that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” but that seems a little harsh. ... Read more

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Stories
- Late notices, May 22, 2012
- Mother charged for son’s tardiness
  School is out for children but not for a mother who received some education Monday.
- Fire strikes vacant house
  St. Joseph firefighters were dispatched at about 3:10 a.m. Tuesday with a report of a one-story house on fire.
- Katherine Ann Nigro
  Katherine Ann Nigro, 59, St. Joseph, passed away Saturday, May 19, 2012 at the local hospital.
- It's your call May 22, 2012
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- Fire breaks out in Maryville
- Obama: 'You're The Source Of Inspiration'
  Calling the students an inspiration "to me (and) the world," President Barack Obama urged Joplin High School graduates Monday to heed the lessons they've learned and spirit they've shown to rebuild not only their tornado-ravaged Missouri city, but also their nation.
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