Perhaps Americans are not contentious enough

Letter from Slim Wolfe

American Life – September 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Central:

Editorials (a/k/a “Letter from the Editor” ) by Martha sometimes cite smallpox eradication as an indicator of human progress. Fair enough, assuming one has the funds to access a doctor and the multiple long-distance carriers required to call one. So here’s the new m

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Here’s to an honest man

Essay by Todd Wilkinson

American Life – February 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

CHANCES ARE you’ve never heard of Jim Alderson, and I’m willing to wager that no toy company is going to model an action figure after him. He’s more than a little balding on top and he’s working on a middle-aged paunch. You won’t find charisma to match that of California’s movie-actor Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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What would happen if we really had a new year?

Column by George Sibley

American life – January 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

2004: Another year starting, an important year. Here in its dark early days, dare we hope that it turns out to be a truly “new year”?

Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you’ll say that rather mindlessly over the next few weeks. But, if you’re really like me, you’ll think, as you walk away from those encounters: Does he or she really want a new year? Or would he or she be happy enough with the same old year over again?

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Words not found in the dictionary

Letter from Slim Wolfe

American life – November 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors,

Some time back, I wrote a few words about the sort of verbal currency found in these parts (and elsewhere, as well): People, not finding dollars and cents sufficient, are always trading “youcant’s” and “yougottas” in the endless struggle to get a leg up on other folks. I have since realized that my list was woefully incomplete.

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Wearing out the welcome

Letter from Orville Wright

American life – June 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Mr. Quillen:

Enjoyed the follow-up piece about the Klan on page 6 [of the May edition]. It appears that my mother worked in the “Dragon’s Den,” so to speak.

My Grandmother Wright attended the First Christian Church. I knew the minister as Mr. George. He kept a large number of bee hives and sold honey as a rather lucrative sideline during the war when sugar was rationed.

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Facts have never prevented a war or a scandal

Letter from Slim Wolfe

American life – October 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine

Martha,

History teaches that those with the most toys may wind up at the guillotine.

I felt a bit queasy and dizzy as my brain tried to accommodate the shifting scene before my eyes: it rolled, flipped, and flickered at will. Was my face in a paper bag, sniffing cheap model airplane glue from a tube? No, the tube was called a computer, and editor Martha Quillen was attempting to show me where she gets her information. Bah, humbug.

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Keep the land bumpy

Letter from Slim Wolfe

American life – May 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

First, thanks to Colorado Central for sparking a dialogue about war. I have enjoyed all the letters which have been printed. Though I am not the religious sort I trust you will all join me in this fervent hope (prayer, if you wish):

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Let’s quit improving ourselves

Essay by Martha Quillen

American Life – April 1996 – Colorado Central Magazine

As the 1996 elections commence, there’s one thing everyone seems to agree upon: America is headed in the wrong direction.

Even more surprising, both parties seem to agree about what should be done to right things: Slash the budget. Cut the entitlements. Employ more police officers to war against drugs and crime. Protect our children from portrayals of sex and violence. Stop illegal immigration.

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What would Jefferson say?

Essay by Martha Quillen

American life – March 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine

One of Ed’s friends, Clay Jenkinson, is a Thomas Jefferson impersonator who talks at schools, meetings, and book fairs. As Jefferson, Jenkinson is frequently asked how he feels about modern America. The answer?

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Real Heroes for the West

Essay by Ellen Miller

American Life – August 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine

The nation is agog at the O.J. Simpson saga. All the news shows, the sports shows, the tabloids, and the trash TV “productions” are full of it. Whether he killed his ex-wife and her buddy remains an issue for the court. If he did it, the district attorney will have the evidence. Simpson has the capability of hiring the best lawyers in the country, and he has, and so the long court stuff will just, well, go along.

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