Outdoor Advertising: From Mail Pouch to Mars

Published October 19th, 2012 by

            ‘Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco:  Treat Yourself to the Best’.           Across the western Appalachians, that motto appeared on barns close to well-traveled roads.   One side would get a…

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Agriculture American Character Appalachians & Plateau Business California Ohio

Change for the Famous Dead: What Gives?

Published December 28th, 2011 by

Bennington, Vermont: Old First Church. 4/3/11 Updated:  Jan. 11, 2012. What do Jack Benny, John D. Rockefeller and Robert Frost have in common? Each achieved greatness in a fiercely competitive…

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California Cleveland, OH Community & Society Jack Benny Modern Life Poetry Pre-1960 Radio Vermont

To Ray Bradbury: Happy 91st!

Published August 22nd, 2011 by

Today is Ray Bradbury’s 91st birthday.  I have admired his writing since I was a  boy – first hearing The Martian Chronicles dramatized on radio, then reading it.  As an…

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California Future Illinois Pre-1960 Radio Ray Bradbury Writing

The Sierra Club’s 119th Birthday

Published May 28th, 2011 by

           This morning, my indispensable – for many more reasons than one – news feed, The Writer’s Almanac, reported, ‘On this day in 1892, John Muir founded the Sierra…

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California Environment Social Change Sustainability

Speaking of Waukegan….

Published August 21st, 2010 by

          This weekend’s celebration of Ray Bradbury in his hometown brings to mind that other great son of Waukegan, Illinois, Jack Benny.           Benny was already a vaudeville star when…

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California Humor Illinois Jack Benny Media Places - N. America Pre-1960 Radio Radio Generally Ray Bradbury