Sting-Rays and Summer Nights - 1974

Elmira, 1974 We shouldn’t have been that far from home. That’s what I understand now. But that summer the air was thick and bright, and Mom said, “Just around town,” which in Lincoln Street language meant anywhere the road kept going.

Bruegger Pauses at the Stair

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe" - An Essay

A rumor can outrun a man’s own footsteps, yet it’s the living breath of truth that finally catches up. I read  Nathaniel Hawthorne ’s “ Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe ” this morning.  And though it isn’t one of the stories folks usually brag about reading, it’s got a certain hometown flavor to it, the kind of tale you might hear from an older neighbor leaning against his truck in the driveway, telling you a story he swears is true even though the details keep sliding around on him.