Inquiring Minds

Learning new things, learning background on familiar stories, adding a reference point to history - I love all that.
My part-time gig as a newspaper reporter, writer, contributor gives me great pleasure. Partly because I like to write but mostly because of new perspectives I gain, new people I meet, and I get the "scoop" I might otherwise miss.
Upcoming is a community guide and I've been assigned stories to accompany the usual "stuff" that goes into such a publication.

So far, I've discovered an "old time radio star" and early television actor who also appeared with Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Akroyd, and Eddie Murphy in "Trading Places." That movie was is final on-screen appearance. He was born in Rector. Maurice D Copeland died in 1985.

Off to Walmart to purchase the last DVD- Band of Brothers HBO made-for-TV miniseries. I've been able to research the 101st Airborne Division, 506 from WWII. Read history, take tests about Battle of the Bulge and D-Day, study, and then put a personal story into the mix and the whole thing changes. My dad was on Guam in WWII. Many of his Marine buddies attacked Iwo Jima. Several Camden folks were "fly-boys," a few survived the Bantam Death March, and one distinguished gentleman took part as one of Doolittle's Raiders. But this man who is featured in Band of Brothers was born in Rector, Arkansas, and I've had a chance to learn more about him. Denver "Bull" Randleman died in 2003.

Then, of course, there's Bill Carter. Not the Bill Carter from Camden, but the Bill Carter from Rector. He's alive and kicking. His autobiography is entitled Get Carter and it'll rock your world. From the FBI and JFK assassination investigation to U of A law school, to Keith Richard with the Rolling Stones to Reba, the Gaither Homecoming productions, and the Nashville music world, this man, too, was born in Rector.





Retirement allows this kind of fun and I'm having a blast.

Like a family pet

Three hummingbirds in aerial attack mode are entertaining me this afternoon on the deck.
The bravest one hovers near me, probably because of my red Coca~Cola shirt. Wanting to talk, the hummer buzzes closer before checking out the red vinca, the best floral container-garden specimen of the season. Friends, the other two hummies, dive bomb the vinca garden and that ends the conversation for a few moments. Then, like a family pet, the first hummer returns and fusses with dramatics at the feeder, which is low of their favorite juice. "So, is your bowl empty," I think, and chuckle to myself, making a mental note to fill the feeder tomorrow.