27 November 2015: BLACK FRIDAY MATTERS.

Being a person obsessed with language in all its odd manifestations, I decided to look up the origin of “Black Friday,” and here’s the best and the worst that the internet has to offer. First the worst:  The day after Thanksgiving was “when slave traders would go into town to show off their best slaves,”…

26 November 2016: POTUS, TOTUS and PUTIN.

TOTUS (Turkey of the United States) was granted a presidential pardon amid much fanfare yesterday at the White House by POTUS.  And now all eyes turn to President Vladimir Putin.  Will he or won’t he pardon a troublesome Turkey shooting down a Russian plane for flying where it shouldn’t?  Or will the hungry Bear gobble,…

11 November 2014: Direct Line to God

Letter: Dire prophecy By Carl E. Burkhead, Lawrence November 10, 2014 To the editor: This prophecy was given to me on the day (Oct. 7) following the Supreme Court’s decision that will likely make gay marriage legal in 30 states including Kansas (Journal-World, Nov. 5). The prophecy is that God will bring a sharp rebuke…

15 August 2014: Alliterative Governors

I rarely write Letters to the Editor, but I was moved to send in this one which was published in today’s Lawrence Journal-World: Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s campaign team reportedly likes to refer to Democratic challenger Paul Davis as “the liberal lawyer from Lawrence” for no other reason than because they like the literate sound…