In Praise Of Mexico, Lettuce And Billy Joel

by Kevin Burton    On a tip from a new friend, I knocked on the door of Interlingua language school one day, and asked the good people there to employ me.    Shockingly, they took me up on it.    This was in the Reagan 80s. I was in somebody else’s country, Mexico, and somebody …

“Love Will Keep Us Together” Is Pop Perfection

by Kevin Burton     Did you know the 1975 smash “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennile is actually a breakup song?    Hey, I was there. Yes it is, a breakup song!    Well, sort of.    Fifty years ago today it was in the beginning of a four-week run at the …

How I Rode Cold Notes Straight To The Top

by Kevin Burton    Today we finish up the Dictionary Scoop website’s list of jargon phrases used in journalism. As I did yesterday, I will add to the list.    “Above The Fold” is a term that refers to stories and pictures that appear in the top half of the front page. It’s the part …

Deflated Wichita State Program Limps Offstage

by Kevin Burton    Well, at least it’s over.    The 2024-25 version of Wichita State basketball bowed out yesterday, when the Shockers lost an American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal game to Memphis 83-80.    The team went 19-14 this year and will not go to a post-season tournament. They were far from sublime, not …

Of Sir Elton John And Seeing Things Clearly

by Kevin Burton    What would you say to Sir Elton John if you could have a moment’s conversation with him today?    Now that question may be absurd, or at least rhetorical. If you’re like me and grew up with Elton John in his prime all over the radio, as part of the fabric …

Catsongs: Music And Cats, Memories And Love

by Kevin Burton    Had I had the mind to write this while she was still alive, my late sister Pat would have loved this series.     It has been more than five months since she died, and reading that “late sister Pat” line above is still jarring and surreal. This is visceral.    Nothing …

Remembering The Man, Jimmy Carter

by Kevin Burton    Classes let out on the day of Jimmy Carter’s inauguration as the 39th President of the United States. So I watched part of it in the library at the Ohio State School for the Blind in Columbus.    Carter and his wife Rosalynn famously got out of their limousine and walked …

Comfort Food: Filling Your Stomach And Heart

by Kevin Burton    You think about going home during Christmas season and you think of packed airports and busy highways.    But what if you could gain all the comforts of your childhood home via your own kitchen?    Well you can!    What many call comfort foods open a portal directly to that …

Old Technology Before TV Had Its Tubes Tied

by Kevin Burton    Technology doesn’t march on anymore, it flies.    Actually, flying seems to pedestrian a concept to describe it. Teleports, is that the word I am looking for?    Today we’re looking at old technologies, finishing a list from the Dictionary Scoop website that we started yesterday.    Number 9 on the …

Old Tech: Not Forgotten And Not Even Gone

by Kevin Burton    The Dictionary Scoop website illustrated its list of old technologies with a picture of a cassette tape, but then didn’t see fit to include cassettes in its discussion.    There’s an oldie but a goodie, right?    Well I just bought some cassettes! I have a lot of music on cassette …