Skip to main content

Blog Restart

Nudged.  I’ve been nudged.  Sometimes the nudging is subtle; sometimes it’s plainly said, “I wish you’d start writing the blog again.”  I always enjoyed writing the posts that appeared in my blog (www.inthecigarbox.blogspot.com) but the time required bumped up against life's other demands and I had to cut way back on the blog.  

 

The nudges worked and time demands have changed. I’ve decided to give the effort another go.  

 

Originally, the blog was built mostly around memories or odd observations.  It included lots of family stories.  The stories grew out of my own memories regardless how flawed those memories may have been.  Some stories may have been fictional in the details but were always true to the feeling or the motivation that drove the writing.

 

In this restart there will be echoes of stories already told.  There will be new stories of real people and real events that cross my path or that I observe.  I’m neither a news reporter nor historian but my search is for meaning and subtle truths.  In this restart, I’ll occasionally share opinions – mine and those held by other folks as best as I understand them.  Also new, I plan to comment about the lessons I think are embedded in current events.  I do not intend for these comments to be partisan but I acknowledge that my leanings will likely be obvious.   

 

Now here is the biggest new wrinkle.  I really want input - the good and the bad.  First, I’d like to hear about your reaction to any post.  Second, I’d like to know any subjects, ideas, events or people who you think would be good for an upcoming post.  (Finding the time to discover new subjects while also trying to research, write and publish the blog is what made my earlier attempt unsustainable.  So, I’m asking for your help.)  


You can comment two ways:  First is to use the comment section on the blog page.  These will be available for anyone to read.  And second, you can send comments or suggestions or just ask a question by sending an email to:  inthecigarbox@gmail.com.  

 

I’m looking forward to getting back into writing and posting stories and essays “In The Cigar Box”.  Having each of you collaborate in this effort will make the blog better and more meaningful.  Let’s give this thing a whirl and see where it takes us.  Thank you all very much.


 

        (NOTE:  During the early years of "In The Cigar Box", I noticed that 58 people from Ukraine became readers.  To honor them, the next essay will be posted very soon. I had planned to ease into the restart with softer subjects but I cannot do that now. The softer subjects can wait.  Ukraine cannot.)

 

                                                                                                                        --td

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome.

Followers

Contact Form: inthecigarbox@gmail.com

Name

Email *

Message *

Popular posts from this blog

Covid Sax

Every week begins on Friday.  Remember when Fridays were the cusp of the weekend, two days free of work, for time at home, for sleeping in, for social gatherings, for honey-do projects, for golf or tennis or swimming with the kids?  Now every week begins on Friday because it was a Friday some twenty-one weeks ago that COVID-19 began to inkle its demands about staying in, staying apart, and changing everything.  Bubbles used to be something kids created with a plastic ring and a bottle of soapy water.  Now bubbles are the safe spheres of each person’s world.   Confronted with life in a tiny bubble of two human beings, I did the obvious thing.  Decided to teach myself to play the saxophone.  I did fail, however, to consider the potential effects on the other beings living in our bubble – our two labradoodles.  Winnie, my wife, has ample capacity to bury her head between two pillows in the room furthest from my office bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

L-Bo

Time ran out.  The score board hanging above the center of Norm Stewart Court showed 93 to 63.  A few minutes passed but the victory was ours.  Three seniors had played their final game in Mizzou Arena and everyone present knew it was the best team victory of the year. Over half of the crowd lingered.  Wee's favorite was standing in the center circle following his final game.  He's the player who wanted to say the words that would do justice to the emotions welling inside him.  Participating in athletics creates such moments.  Last night Laurence Bowers, L-Bo, would complete his five year journey.  It was a time when a young man would become a man, when a student would complete his degree, when an athlete would experience the cost of injury and the price for rehabilitating and rebuilding his body. He learned the power of mental fortitude.  In excellence, he never lost humility. The words he spoke were drenched in praise, thanks and ...
3 comments
Read more

You've Got Mail

As teenagers, we thought such antics were great fun tinged with the danger of getting caught.  Most years in the lead up to Independence Day, lots of creative energy was given to how to destroy things through the use of fireworks sold from tents scattered along every major thoroughfare.  Money may have been tight but a package of firecrackers and a few M-80s topped the list of spending priorities for mid-teenage boys whose hormones were rising while their judgment was ebbing. I’ve never seen a rural mail box with the concentric circles of a target painted on it, but rural mail boxes, whether located on country roads or suburban streets, have long been targets for boys who’ve been kidnapped by their lower angels.  A band of boys compete to imagine the look of a mail box after an M-80 is tossed inside and the door slammed shut.  Little thought or discussion is given to the length of the fuse, how far to run, or what to hide behind when the explosion occurs. ...
1 comment
Read more