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| A Yankee in a Southern Karaoke Bar
Patricia Sheasley Sicilia
© Copyright
2008 by Patricia Sheasley Sicilia
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Okay, I admit it -- I'm a junkie. A hard core, incurable, "gotta have it, get out of my way or I'll deck ya" disciple of Karaoke. And that's how I found myself in a country bar on a lonely southern back road one warm southern September night.
Hubby and I were on vacation but, you must understand, Karaoke junkies never go on vacation from Karaoke. Whenever we're traveling, I have one eye on the map and the other searching for Karaoke banners. While my husband has learned to accept this insane obsession of mine, he's not happy when I don't leave it behind when we go away. So it was no surprise when he told me "NO, I am NOT driving to Winston-Salem so you can try out your country songs on a southern crowd."...
| When I Went to the Moon with a Wink and a Prayer
Kay Harper Sons
© Copyright
2008 by Kay Harper Sons
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My Aunt Blanche and Uncle Joe were one of Shelby County’s original power couples. Joe Harper, my grandfather’s brother, was the dedicated Office Manager of the county’s ASCS office for nearly 30 years. Joe’s wife, Blanche, who started out as his secretary back in the late ‘30’s, eventually became his assistant, then, when he died in 1965, succeeded him as Office Manager. Not only did they come to the aid of the farmers of Shelby County in a multitude of ways, they were a major force for good in Memphis for over 50 years.
Of course, as a young girl I knew none of this. They were simply the best Aunt and Uncle a girl could ever have! I dearly loved them. My affection for them grew even stronger, when, at the ripe old age of 9, they invited me to visit them in Memphis for a whirlwind weekend which proved to be not only fun, but highly educational as well....
| Fulfillness Final Finale
Increasing Personal Fulfillment by Decreasing Cyber Cafes Stephen Joseph
© Copyright
2008 by Stephen Joseph
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Writing his first non-fiction work, Stephen Joseph explores the theme of fulfillment by reducing his professional workload in order to undertake his newfound love – writing.
It has been ten long years since I started my first cyber café in 1998. Back then, the Internet was just taking off in India. Wanting to latch onto a sure bet way to make lots of money, I opened a small cyber shop in Bangalore with six public access systems. Computers were very costly in those days, costing upwards of Rs. 50,000 for a slow P3 machine. Getting a slow dial-up connection in the home was expensive and time-consuming: the deposit alone was Rs. 10,000 and it took anywhere from one to six months to get a Net connection. In those early days, the only Internet Service Provider throughout India was the very inefficient Department of Telecommunications (DOT). That is where my shop came in to fill the gap. I provided the public with access to the Internet that they would otherwise not have. In spite of the slow speeds of dialup service and the frequent drops in the line, business for a cyber café owner was excellent in those nascent days. When I opened Cyber Vision Number 1, I charged Rs. 60 per hour, which worked out to one rupee per minute per system. I was not only making bank, I was making Citibank!
With the business flourishing and the demand for Internet among Indians exploding exponentially, I opened Cyber Vision Number 2 in 2001. I kept five staff members to run the two shops as I shuttled back and forth between them. The business was simple: log in the customers as they come for browsing, take their printouts, do their scans and CD-writing, do some typing for them. Business was great!
| Mom 101
Megan Anderson
© Copyright
2008 by Megan Anderson
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It’s a vacuum commercial, it’s a sitcom, it’s a maid—no, it’s Super Babysitter! She cooks, she cleans, she kisses boo-boos. And with a mind that translates and speaks four year old faster than a speeding bullet, she’s a regular bargain at five bucks an hour! Well, that’s about how I felt after two straight days of baby-sitting…
I had received a call the previous weekend from a lady.
“Hello? Oh, hi, how are you? That’s good to hear. Baby-sit your children? Next Friday and Saturday? Sure, I’d love to. Do you mind if I bring my little sister along? No? Great, we’ll be there. Thanks. Bye.”
| He Has Gone
Margie Hofman
© Copyright
2008 by Margie Hofman
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| Polebrook and
The Death of a Flying Fortress Wally Hoffman
© Copyright
2008 by Wally Hoffman
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Polebrook
The picture is the Memorial to the memory of the 6,000 members of the 351st Bomb Group who dedicated their lives and time from 1943 to 1945 during WW II. The monument is fittingly located at the end of what had been the main runway now silent from the roar and thunder of the Flying Fortresses so many years ago....
| Magnificent Maggie
Patti Iverson
© Copyright
2008 by Patti Iverson
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“Maggie! Get down from the top of the refrigerator right now!”
“Now where is that little imp? Oh? You found her in the baptistery?”
“Please don’t kick my baby out of the nursery. She’s not even two....”
| Paper Moons
Jerry Vilhotti
© Copyright 2008 by Jerry Vilhotti
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The whole family joined, like a knot in the stomach, that morning: the morning of Thanksforthegiving; also known as turkey day in honor of the women-plowing founding father who truly believed in a somewhat democracy.
Papa watched his eldest grandson intently ready to capture a throwing arm in mid-air or to use a mighty stare to paralyze the six year old boy's movements.
Mama stayed in the kitchen as the large fist of people jabbed their way into the parlor as she put her two hands to her head while looking up to the ceiling....
Yum, Yum...Dig in for More...
| Tales of Only-ness
Stacey Small
© Copyright
2008 by Stacey Small
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I should have had a brother. An older brother—maybe by eight or nine years. A brother who, whether he liked it or not, would become the object of my parents’ affection for many moons before the thought of conceiving me (whilst surrounded by the croons of Bob Marley and the Whalers) had even crossed into their heads. This brother of mine would be the apple of their eyes, the spring in their steps, and other bullshit phrases alike. My brother would grow big and my brother would grow strong. He would burst out of his baby clothes with skyrocketing measurements, proving that he would be the All-American Child (despite such handicaps as my father being 5’5 and having ‘Small’ for a last name)....
| Fraternity and Neruda at Lake Llanquihue: One Day in
Chile
Rich Conley
© Copyright 2008 by Rich Conley
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Of the many men whom I am, whom we are,
I cannot settle on a single one.
They are lost to me under the cover of clothing
They have departed for another city.
-from We Are Many- Pablo Neruda (Chilean poet, 1904-1973)
Lake Llanquihue is like any other lake at first glance yet events occurred during one day in my life that subsequently changed or should I say, enhanced my life perspective quite dramatically. My sole reason for visiting Chile was to briefly experience the essence of a country called The Land of the Poets. Poetry and its residing beauty came late to me in life and Pablo Neruda was one of the handful of poets who accompanied me wherever I traveled. How fitting that I would start my trip in The Land of the Poets in Temuco, the northernmost town in the lake region, the site of Neruda’s childhood. I traveled with Neruda’s poems by my side every day, reciting aloud the lyrical verses of times past as I breathed in the power of the lake’s surreal essence. Neruda’s words accompany this article for I would be remiss if my memory of that day was retold without Neruda’s abiding spirit. After all, his poems formed a central part of that unforgettable day. The reader may ask why an article on only one day in Chile yet the day, with all its unpredictable moments, seemed to expand and engulf me in a broader context....
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