Childhood Memories

Growing up in Milwaukee in the 60s   was ..... fun and interesting. Girls really did go around with curlers and matching scarves EVERYWHERE! Unlike now, we wouldn't be caught dead in curlers, the few that actually use curlers!  Big hair was really in too, the bigger the better, looking back now, it's kind of scary!!  So's this picture! Mini skirts, paisley anything, skinny pants - sounds like today - hmm, I wonder if the poodle skirt will be coming back anytime soon.     My friends older...Read Full Story

Photo Courtesy History.Naval.Mil | William Sims Jr., wears a pea coat, 1919 We used to talk about all kinds of things, but especially about a subject which interested me above all others: myself.  -- From Simone de Beauvoir's  Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter Sometimes, I think I've written all there is to write about Generation X. I've written about Pac Man, the Space Shuttle, the Berlin Wall, Michael Jackson, John Hughes and every other cultural touchstone of my generation. I've...Read Full Story

The Riddle of the British English In June 1949, my mother the former singer Miss Ann Watt became Mrs Ann Halling through her marriage to my father Patrick Clancy Halling, thereby substituting a Scottish surname for a Danish one.  In Ireland, the Watt surname is exclusive to Ulster, home province of my grandfather James Watt, having been carried there by the Scottish and English planters of the late 1600s. It's common in the Scottish Lowlands, especially in the counties of Aberdeenshire and...Read Full Story

We held them in our hands, the smell of pulp and ink rising from their pages. Exciting adventures and the antics of little kids, friendly ghosts and funny animals. The wild west, World War II and the Korean War exploded right before our eyes. Caped crusaders flew through the sky, battling enemies with powers just as mighty as their own. There was horror, there was humor, and there was war. Our friends were teenagers and cowboys, super heroes and detectives, and we could have them all for a...Read Full Story

I don't care much for parades. I have never been fond of them. They seem so pointless unless you are fortunate enough to be where a band is playing and not just marching. One thing I will admit: a parade should be seen in person and not on a TV screen if you wish to get the "full effect" of it all. Yes, a parade should be experienced and not viewed. I've been in a few parades. It's more fun to be in the parade rather than standing on the curb watching it pass by, at least that's how I feel...Read Full Story