Columns
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Local Voices From Around the Globe: Adjusting to a new host family has been a bit rough
Happy New Year!!! So to begin with the holidays!
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Local Voices From Around the Globe: High atop an elephant
You’ve read correctly, elephants! At last I’ve come face-to-face with one, and what an experience it proved to be. As a native of upstate New York, a place with no mammal larger than the average hibernating black bear, there was all the room in the world to fantasize about the wonder and eminence of the elephant. That being said, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the residents of Northern Thailand and the hill tribe I was visiting are as familiar to the gentle giants as any upstater is to dairy cows.
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Even more from the email bag ...
This week we offer a selection of "Holy Humor."
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Gunpowder explosion
Died, in Cazenovia, on the 15th ult. [December] Mr. JOSEPH HEWES, in the 19th year of his age, son of Mr. Daniel Hewes of Springfield, in this county. He was a volunteer in his country's service, and was on his return from Niagara, to his native town - but the cold hand of death arrested him on his journey! Thus has a patriotic volunteer met an early death far from friends and relatives.
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Military book provides a compelling read
Norman Schwarzkopf died recently. “Stormin’ Norman� was the general in charge of Operation Desert Storm, the first Iraq war that we basically won in four days once we put boots on the ground. He was a national hero not only for leading the quick defeat of Iraq, but for restoring American pride in the military after the debacle of Vietnam. It appeared that the country finally had an Army it could have confidence in again and trust to do the right thing.
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Local Voices From Around the Globe: A very sandy Christmas
At home, while the majority of my family sat by our very real Christmas pine tree, sipping hot chocolate, wrapped up in warm blankets, sounds of Christmas music filling their ears, and most likely roasting chestnuts over an open fire, I sat in southern Brazil, living a very different kind of Christmas.
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Local Voices From Around the Globe: Exchange has been filled with crazy moments
I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and got ready to head out for my 10 a.m. dance rehearsal with the other exchange students. I was two hours south of my city, in the larger city of Surat. Though I was wearing my usual combination of jeans and a kurta (a traditional collarless long-sleeve top that extends to the knees), the 80-degree heat found me with beads of sweat dotting my forehead by the afternoon.
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Local author's book debunks baseball myths
When I was in elementary school we used to order books through something like the book-of-the-month club. It was a great time to purchase paperbacks that might be of interest to us.
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Local Voices from Around the Globe: I've got a lot of catching up to do
My last few months in Belgium have been a whirlwind. I've been seeing and doing so much!
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Local Voices from Around the Globe: Reflecting on emotional ruts during the holidays
Through the rigorous selection process and several orientations, Rotary does its best to prepare the outbound students for the rollercoaster of emotions that they’ll face during their year abroad.
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'People Like Us' is worth watching
Probably the worst place you can watch a movie is in an airplane. The picture is bad, the sound is bad and usually the movie is bad as well. Even if it's one that you want to see, the sound is garbled and you inevitably have a seat where you suffer a pinched nerve from having to crane your neck. It's the perfect trifecta and then some. How many people actually look forward to watching an in-flight movie?
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Imprisonment of seamen
The Otsego Herald for Jan. 2, 1813, is missing from the file, so I am copying at length from the Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury of the same date:
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From the email bag ...
As we begin yet another new year, we thought we might take a somewhat different tack and start it out with a series of columns by sharing some of the humor and interesting information we have encountered in our email inbox.
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Rolling toward a stop
I’m slowing down, friends, rolling toward a stop for this column. The best way to describe my reason is through an analogy: I want you to think of me as a horse-drawn wagon and driver â€" not just as the driver, but as the whole shebang.
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Voices from Around the Globe: Time is passing by too quickly
Writing this earlier in December, I can't believe it's that time of year already! Because of the holiday season, I have had my fair share of homesickness. I've heard of the new students that were accepted and will be going abroad next year and can't believe that it was a year ago that I found out I was going to Japan.
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Local Voices from Around the Globe: Pig slaughter not the best experience
Last time I wrote I hadn't had much to say, but I feel as if so much has happened since then.
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Local Voices from Around the Globe: The birthday of a king
His photo is in every home, restaurant, school and hotel in Thailand. He was born in Cambridge, Mass., to a prince and a princess. At 60 years of holding the position, he is the world’s longest serving head of state. He is a professional jazz saxophonist, sailor and sailboat designer. His net worth is valued at approximately $35 billion. He is Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the King of Thailand, and Dec. 5 was his 85th birthday.
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Local Voices From Around the Globe: As Crianças da Minha Vida
I stand in a doorway of a modest kindergarten classroom watching 17 children play. There is a charm to their games. Their laughter is like music, innocent and pure. The peace of watching passes after five seconds, when I'm spotted by one of the children. Before long, I find myself smiling at 10 energetic Brazilian children running at me, shouting, "Gracie!" As I kneel down, I am showered with kisses and embraced with hugs. This is my Brazilian welcome.
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Local Voices from Around the Globe: An evening walk through dark and light
Returning home, by foot, through a close neighborhood of joint family homes at dusk, I was, as usual, a point of intense interest by those around me.
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Novel explores college football coaching
Anyone who follows college football knows the trepidations of the sport. The good comes from the pure emotional excitement involved in the game or the thrill of your school beating an arch-rival or pulling a major upset.
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Local Voices From Around the Globe: Adjusting to a new host family has been a bit rough
