If you’ve pulled off your campaign stickers and need to cover up old gummy-marks, check out the famous Northern Sun company from Minnesota. Long before they had a Web site, their catalog was the kind that would lie open for days in households across the U.S., provoking gales of laughter, squabbles, new thoughts and vexation.

My parents did not teach me to be prejudiced. I learned it on my own. I graduated from high school and college in Birmingham, Ala. The Magic City also had the claim to shame of being the most segregated city in the nation. The KKK brazenly stood at intersections collecting money in buckets from sympathetic motorists. They dressed in white with hoods, hiding their identities but not their maniacal purposes.

“An American Christmas,” now playing at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre, is like receiving a gift from out-of-state grandparents. Beneath the socks and underwear there are few nice surprises.
Hailed as “back by popular demand” must mean there were no new or fresh ideas for the seasonal offering. The original musical revue is attributed to artistic director Michael Stanek who conceived and wrote the jumbled mess. Apparently, Stanek was under a table in the beer garden when he got the idea.

Lifelong citizens of Rural Retreat, Greg and Cheryl Hash have considered community hospitality to be of the utmost importance when it comes to running Duke’s Bar-B-Q.  As owner and operator of Duke’s since its conception in 2004, Greg and Cheryl say that one of the keys to the success of their business is making sure their customers feel at home in the restaurant, as if they were eating at the home of a family member.  That is expressed not only through their excellent home-style cuisine and exceptionally friendly, accommodating staff, but also through the nostalgic memorabilia that covers the restaurant walls.  Generated by items given to Greg by his mother and grandmother, this collection includes many old photos and newspaper clippings depicting the community over the last several generations. 

    She caught the phone on the second ring. 
    “Hello, this is Reedy Arnold speaking,” she said.
    “Need to buy a dozen chickens,” a man said.
    “We don’t sell chickens.  You have the wrong number,” Reedy said.

As an avid yard saler, I was disappointed with the 2008 season offerings.  I got few bargains, and even fewer “steals.”  While I found a pair of suspenders that perfectly matched my favorite pair, otherwise there were no highlights.  I even went to yard sales that did not offer the two required items that every yard sale must have: 1) a Christmas tree stand, and 2) a useless kitchen appliance that makes its way from retailer to wedding to yard sale in four months, e.g. the Hamburgler.

Sunday afternoon, because I have season tickets, I was supposed to go to Kingsport to hear the Kingsport Symphony’s latest presentation, “A Tribute to Veterans.”  For various reasons, that didn’t happen, and I stayed at my house to watch the sky get grayer and the leaves redder. 

“Thank God, free at last!” I heard people shout with joy, last Tuesday night.

If we’re lucky, we know the name of the president-elect this morning.
If we’re unlucky, as we suspect as of this writing, we’re mired in a debate that will, if it hasn’t already, made the dangling, pregnant and other adjectival chad look like minor league stuff. In fact, lawsuits were filed before the first Virginia votes were even cast. The McCain team sued the state, saying all military absentee ballots should be counted even if it means extending the deadline. Lawyers argued that some servicemen and women in Iraq had received their absentee ballots less than a month ago, more than two months after they had been requested.

Having seen the local Christian rock band, COR 13, perform live, I have seen first-hand that spirit-filled energy that their live shows can generate.  I discussed the last of such performances I attended in my March 11 column, in which I mentioned that the band was in the process of recording their debut CD.  Well, I am happy to report that, after a long period of anticipation, the first COR 13 CD is finally available for purchase.