By ROD WILLIAMSON NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Sept. 27, 2019 — From 1983 through 1994, I selected the National Anthem singers at Vanderbilt University athletic events. On the surface, this might appear to be a mundane task, but when your school’s home base is Nashville – “Music City USA” – the National Anthems are more scrutinized than…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Jan. 27, 2020 — I have often said, cancer is a curious friend. And I still believe that – but sometimes it can feel like a friend has turned on you and causes you more grief than you deserve from a friendship. This is what I’m feeling right now with…
Chuck Offenburger’s college pal Tom Bailey and his wife Hunter, of Charlottesville, Virginia, have been on a cruise ship in the Persian Gulf during the recent time of high tensions in the Middle East between the United States, Iran and Iraq. The Baileys have shared the following observations and photos. By TOM BAILEY STRAITS OF…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Dec. 30, 2019 – We were talking politics in the living room of our west central Iowa farmhouse here the other day with our longtime pal Mary Riche, who is a very active Democrat in the Des Moines area. “We are living in very historic times,” Riche said. Indeed we…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Nov. 25, 2019 – For those of you who are seriously thinking you might caucus and vote for Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren or any other presidential candidate age 70 and older, really, you should know better. I was contemplating that over the weekend after seeing that…