When the Vietnam War came to a small town in Illinois

When the Vietnam War Came to a small town in Illinois.
 
This is one of my more moving essays about growing up in the Illinois Valley back in the 1960s/1970s.

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The world’s most dangerous jobs

I was surprised when I read in a Korean newspaper today that more than 700 workers fall to their deaths at construction sites each year. I thought that number was quite high; however, construction work it is not the most dangerous job in the world. Indeed, some of the world’s most dangerous jobs might surprise [...]

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100,000 Page Visits and Counting

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit.
When I visited my blog this afternoon, I was in for a pleasant surprise: I reached the 100,000 page visits milestone.
It’s nice to know that my blog has received as much attention as it has since I started keeping one a few [...]

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The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster

One of America’s deadliest mining disasters occurred in the small town of Cherry, Illinois one hundred years ago on November 13, 1909 when 259 miners lost their lives.
Located in Bureau County Illinois—approximately 90 miles southwest of Chicago—Cherry was a newly erected town built near the mine named after James Cherry who was superintendent of the [...]

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Lincoln’s New Salem Historic Site

When I was a young boy growing up in the 1960s, my grandparents took me to some cool places in Illinois including Ulysses S. Grant’s home in Galena, Illinois and New Salem, Illinois where Abraham Lincoln lived for six years.
One of Illinois’ more interesting and historical travel destinations is Lincoln’s New Salem Historic Site that [...]

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Cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla shake

Friends and other people who know me have often been astonished with my good memory—the way that I can remember specific dates, events, and other reminiscences.
I don’t think my good memory is anything to get excited about—though some people seem to think so. Perhaps a lot has to do with where I am at—you know, [...]

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MTV in Goose’s Basement — A work in progress

There was a time when MTV was cool. I mean really cool, like a long, long, long time ago in another galaxy far, far, away cool. Back when the only thing you saw and listened to on MTV were videos. And if the videos programmed for any particular hour or block of time came up [...]

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When a taxi ride becomes a mini history lesson

After I finished teaching two teacher training classes in the Solbridge building (the building houses an international school of business associated with Woosong University) near Daejeon Station this morning, I caught a taxi outside to go to HomePlus—about a ten-minute ride away—to pick up a few things.
As soon as I told the sixtysomething driver in [...]

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Summer of the Moon

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
John F. Kennedy, Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961
“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed”
As a young boy [...]

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Corn Detasseling: A summer rite of passage

For many teenagers growing up in America’s Midwest their first summer job is often not working at some fast food restaurant or other service-related employment, but instead detasseling corn.
The neat thing about corn detasseling was that you didn’t have to be 16 to work, but instead only 13.
Back in the summer of 1971, my friend [...]

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