Modern Love: Two Beds in Motel Natchitoches - December 21, 2004 Doris ShanksBy KATHERINE TANNEY
JACK says I'm behaving like Deirdre. We are facing each other on opposite beds in a motel room in Louisiana. It is after 3 a.m. and all he's wearing are white briefs with upbeat multicolored stripes. This is no Calvin Klein advertisement. This is a baggy pair of cheap underwear on a 34-year-old with a belly. Ten days ago, I would have called him the love of my life.
Deirdre is not someone I wish to be compared to. For Jack and me she has come to represent the intersection of hopelessness and obsession. Quite simply, she would like our friend Nick to marry her, even though their four-year relationship technically ended more than a year ago. She recently bought a house around the corner from his and, as "friends," they continue to eat, shop and exercise together. When the four of us went to see "Fahrenheit 9/11," I noticed his hand on her knee, their fingers entwined.
Wiffle Ball's popularity is in full swing at age 50 - August 12, 2004
Doris ShanksHow many Wiffle Balls did my sons have over the years? And bats. One never considers that such an item taken so for granted was actually invented. What a delightful family story the origination of this staple of toy boxes is!
And the memories the thought of a Wiffle Ball invokes -- most happy, but some not. My boys and their father were playing a hotly-contested game and our beloved cat was running bases with the boys. Amsa didn't know he was a cat. A seal-point Siamese, he thought he was a person. He always had a loudly stated opinion, knew what a jar of baby food, that he loved, looked like and could beat up any cat twice his size who ventured into his territory. He loved children under four years old and would severely punish any one older who teased him.
On the day of the fateful Wiffle Ball game, Amsa overshot second base and went into the street. A car filled with raucous teenage boys hit him and he was dead.
The entire neighborhood was devastated, and the most fearful fact was brought home to bear. It could have been one of the kids. Second base was easy to overrun on that too-short field.
It was the last game played there. The fathers in the neighborhood got out their lawn mowers and cut the grass of a vacant lot across the street and kept it mowed. The Wiffle Ball games were played in a much safer environment. Sometimes bad things happen for a reason.
Click on the blue headline above for the story of how the Wiffle Ball happened. Fighting 'The Big One' - August 26, 2003 Doris ShanksBy THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
In the wake of the bombing of the U.N. office in Baghdad, some "terrorism experts" (By the way, how do you get to be a terrorism expert? Can you get a B.A. in terrorism or do you just have to appear on Fox News?) have argued that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is a failure because all it's doing is attracting terrorists to Iraq and generating more hatred toward America.
I have no doubt that the U.S. presence in Iraq is attracting all sorts of terrorists and Islamists to oppose the U.S. I also have no doubt that politicians and intellectuals in the nearby Arab states are rooting against America in Iraq because they want Arabs and the world to believe that the corrupt autocracies that have so long dominated Arab life, and failed to deliver for their people, are the best anyone can hope for.
But I totally disagree that this is a sign that everything is going wrong in Iraq. The truth is exactly the opposite.
We are attracting all these opponents to Iraq because they understand this war is The Big One. They don't believe their own propaganda. They know this is not a war for oil. They know this is a war over ideas and values and governance. They know this war is about Western powers, helped by the U.N., coming into the heart of their world to promote more decent, open, tolerant, women-friendly, pluralistic governments by starting with Iraq — a country that contains all the main strands of the region: Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
Click on the blue headline above to read more. Media puts war in `real time` - March 31, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Anna Doris Shanks
"The U.S. was planning on walking in here like it was easy and all," a young marine named Jimmy Paiz told ABC News this weekend with a rueful smile. "It's not that easy to conquer a country, is it?
Vice President Richard B. Cheney said he thought it was just that easy. Of course, the veep has never been in combat. He never wore a uniform in service to his country. So it was a pretty simple thing for him to assume that puny Iraq would be a cake walk for the coalition military forces, and to hold forth ad nauseum on any television show who would give him a microphone to voice his uninformed opinion. Probably lack of perception is the result of his watching too many John Wayne movies.
Click on the blue headline above to read more. Postscript to Academy Awards - March 25, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Anna Doris Shanks
Hats off to Hollywood! Newspapers called it dull, but I thought it was one of the best Academy Awards shows in recent memory. Steve Martin’s rhythm was as good as it gets. With only one exception, volatile personalities were commendably restrained. Nicole Kidman made mention of the importance of the arts and of tradition. She is right.
Click on the blue headline above and scroll down to read more. Celebrity Opinions Equate Trite Arguments - March 23, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Anna Doris Shanks
My husband and I had a big fight. The discussion started out peacefully enough. Voicing our thoughts on human shields, I said anyone who who throws themselves in front of a tank is as sinfully suicidal as a Palestinian youth who straps on explosives with the intent to blow himself up, along with as many victims as he can manage.
My husband resorted to his Henny Youngman-style one liners, “Send in Barbra Streisand or Alec Baldwin.” I’m just surprised he didn’t drag Jane Fonda’s foolishness into the mix for good measure. What a trite argument, and I took umbrage.
Click on the blue headline above and scroll down to read more. To War; or Not To War - March 11, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Anna Doris Shanks
My aunt is eighty years old. Yesterday afternoon she asked me what I thought of all of the war talk. Such a good question, and I had no answer. I did listen to the arguments put forth by United Nations representatives. I saw President Bush’s press conference. I heard one analyst say the president was obsessed with Saddam Hussein because he ‘dissed’ the first President Bush. The opposing analyst stated that Saddam did not just ‘diss’ the president’s father, he had attempted to assassinate him.
I don’t recall an assassination attempt on President George H.W.’s life. Nowhere on the internet do I find any reference to such an attempt. I could not even find that Saddam Hussein had plotted such action. I did learn he wanted to steal the original Declaration of Independence and burn it on July Fourth.
What is true? Do we threaten war to disarm this ‘world leader,’ or do we intend to effect a regime change and rid the world of an evil despot?
Click on the blue headline above. Scroll down to read more. Television Tortures with Trash - March 7, 2003 Doris Shanks By Anna Doris Shanks
Are Billy Graham’s crusades reality TV? He is making two appearances in our area this week. How the two markets scheduled the one-hour productions is enlightening. Austin’s NBC affiliate went for viewing numbers and pre-empted Wednesday’s
Ed, one of the very few family shows with innovative wit. San Antonio’s NBC station put Reverend Graham on in the time slot of Tuesday’s new show, Let’s Make a Deal. Certainly every SA intellectual is devastated by loss. Both markets viewed Friday’s Mr. Sterling as having a likely audience. Next week Mr. Sterling will air two back-to-back episodes, and neither lists the dreaded ‘R.’
So Reverend Graham replaced Let’s Make a Deal that replaced Dog Eat Dog. We are comforted by the news that Dog Eat Dog will premier at a later date. The good reverend must weep at the company he is keeping on network television these days.
Click on the blue headline above. Scroll down to read more. Demonstrators Mis-Focus - February 27, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Anna Doris Shanks
Demonstrations against a war with Iraq caught the eye of every facet of worldwide media. Photos proliferated, along with endless rhetoric. The United States caught the brunt of anger in the coverage, but what was missing?
Few, if any, posters addressed the evil of Saddam Hussein or called on him to cease and desist his brutality. I didn’t see any desecration of his effigy, or of his flag. And where were the women?
To read more about the silence of women, click on the blue headline above and scroll down. Texas Survival Kit - February 23, 2003 Doris ShanksJohn Kelso writes three columns a week for the Austin American-Statsman. As columnists go, I’m sure this effort is not unusual. As a wannabee, I can attest to the reality that it is an admirable achievement. He makes three deadlines a week!
This column puts perspective on terror alerts, and it struck me as particularly relevent.
Anna Doris Shanks
Click on the blue headline above to read the entire story. At issue: America's role in the world - February 23, 2003 Doris ShanksAmericans throughout the nation are debating the wisdom of President Bush pursuing his obvious obsession with Saddam Hussein. People in Austin, and San Marcos, TX, are no different. We waffle. On one hand, there is worldwide agreement that Sad’em (One of the few triumph’s of Pater Bush was an appropriate pronounciation of Sad’em’s name.) is a bad man. How to properly harness his evil is driving world opinion. The following discussion is a version printed in Sunday’s Austin American-Statesman. It is quite long, and is probably typical of what is being printed throughout the United States. I read every word, agreed with some and questioned others. But it made me take a new look at what I see as a potentially disasterous situation. We want to be very sure sending our sons and daughters into conflict, where many will die, is the right act, at the right time and for the right reasons.
Anna Doris Shanks
The Austin American-Statesman invited five prominent Austinites to discuss America's role in the world, and to talk about how the Bush administration's policy toward Iraq reflects that role. Our panel consisted of historian H.W. Brands; Adm. Bobby Inman, former director of the National Security Agency; author and journalist Bruce Sterling; Steven Weinberg, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics; and Paul Woodruff, professor of philosophy. National editor Jody Seaborn moderated.
To read the entire dialogue, click on the blue headline above
Love, Romance -- Pillars of February - February 16, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Anna Doris Shanks
Valentine’s Day saves February. President’s Day lost its luster when Presidents Washington and Lincoln were factored out of the equation. The holiday has been denigrated to someone’s day off and a shop-til-you-drop day. It lacks posture to give purpose to this brutal month. So Valentine’s Day, February 14, with all the cupids, hearts and flowers, has to carry us through. It represents love and romance. Just what does that mean anyway?
For the entire article, click on the blue headline above. A Personal Thing - February 9, 2003 Doris Shanks By Doris Shanks
A shared joy is twice as much.
A shared sorrow is half as much.
The first week in February was filled with shared sorrow almost beyond bearing, with no joy to dry the tears. Watching Columbia come apart and knowing seven human beings were never to walk the earth again elicits profound sadness not easily dispelled. Media coverage of the Columbia disaster plunged grieving Americans ever further into throes of despair.
Spokespersons commiserated on and on, looking to place blame. Every has-been consultant was trotted out to put mostly negative spin to explain what had gone wrong. A piece of foam; lack of caution; funding cutbacks; all these and many more theories were scrutinized by one talking head after another. Even as the story begins to move down the list of priorities, they gnawed at the bones of tragedy.
Officials at NASA, on the other hand, have projected the picture of professionalism, immediately eliminating sabotage as a cause. They carried on, despite their devastating grief, not only from losing seven comrades, but from having untold hours of preparation and labor disintegrate minutes from successful completion of the mission. While the media commentators focused on, “Is this the end of the space program,” the people most affected started picking up the pieces to find out what went wrong so they could it. They have been forthcoming with information as it became available to them. They are unsung heroes within a program intrinsically knitted into American fiber.
Click on the blue headline above to read more. Do Males Need an Attitude Adjustment? - February 2, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Doris Shanks
Women, we need to pay attention to the sports section of our newspapers, or the opinion page. Anywhere but the lifestyle pages devised by editors to appeal to the female eye.
On the opinion page of the New York Times, a commentary attacking Title IX, written by John Irving, caught my eye recently, What, I asked, did an author have against women participating in sports.
For more, click on the blue headline above. "Indiana" On My Mind - January 24, 2003 Doris Shanks Dave Barry got himself in a world of trouble recently. He wrote a column that trashed the Indiana nickname, “Hoosier.” He said it was a stupid nickname. In his apology written January 12, he dug the hole deeper. He tried to explain that when he said it could be a Native American word for “has sex with caribou,” he didn’t mean to insult anyone.
Obviously he did – insult people, that is. But we have to forgive the boy. He is ignorant, and probably, by this time, has no idea why he ever wrote the column in the first place. He just doesn’t understand that “Indiana” is a state of mind, and getting to that zone frees one to exploit the obvious.
Click the blue headline above to read more.
Organizing just complicates life - January 12, 2003 Doris ShanksBy Doris Shanks
Reorganizing every two or three months does not make one an expert. I’m so surprised to learn, with all the experience I have, I’m still an inadequate organizer. I can’t even think why we attempt to organize our lives. Is it to instill as sense of harmony? Or, is it an attempt to take control. I’m inclined to veto the first and vote for the second. Oh, we make sounds about our desire for a peaceful life harmonious with our surroundings and with the people living within our sphere of reference. But if the experts who write interminable articles, books and even websites are correct, we really want a world where we have a small army to be general over. Every expert advises creating schedules and delegating duties. Uh huh…
For more click on the blue headline above. Fat -- You Make Your Own - January 5, 2003 Doris Shanks By Doris Shanks
Get in shape! Get organized!
Click on the above headline to learn the facts. Mom and Dad Were Right - December 1, 2002 Doris ShanksSaving Habits Span a Lifetime
By Fred Barbash
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 1, 2002; Page H01
Conventional financial planning advice has never made an impression on me and millions of other boomers.
"Set goals. Cut spending. Be a good boy." It's so obvious and so easy to ignore. Most people I know who have money got it by making it, not saving it -- or so it has seemed.
Plus, the allure of a "comfortable retirement" has lost some meaning with so many people insisting on working well into their retirement years.
Recent events, however, have convinced me that if I can't do financial planning for my own sake, I should at least do it for my children. Specifically, my 88-year-old mother has inspired me to see the errors of my ways.
Click on the blue headline above for the rest of this article
And you thought the Pilgrims did it! - November 22, 2002 Doris ShanksBy Doris Shanks
From the time women began reseeding growing fields to harvest, there has been a celebration in appreciation for the bounty Mother Nature provided. Harvest festivals and thanksgiving celebrations were held by the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Hebrews, the Chinese, and the Egyptians.
(http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/story.htm)
Click on the blue headline above for the story. Mommy's Home - November 19, 2002 Doris ShanksDoris Shanks note: In the early 60's I had a neighbor who had three little girls and an interesting outlook on marriage, parenthood and live.
"We are partners," she said. "His job is to make a living to support his family. My job is to make a home within the boundries of his paycheck."
She cooked from 'scratch.' She sewed clothes for her daughters. She picked beans and tomatoes from the garden. And she took me along with her. She didn't see anything as a division of labor. She saw marriage as a cooperative.
Click on the blue headline above for a look at modern women struggling with balancing their children's needs with their own needs to "have it all." Salute Veteran's Day by researching your family of soldiers - November 10, 2002 Doris ShanksBy Jane Greig
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, November 10, 2002
Monday, Nov. 11. Armistice Day? Or Veterans Day?
Until 1954, Nov. 11 was recognized universally as a time to commemorate the end of World War I and was known as Armistice Day, a national holiday. President Eisenhower declared Nov. 11 a day to honor those who have served the United States in all wars.
Compulsively Funny Seinfeld
'Comedian' Reveals the Stand-Up's Drive - October 25, 2002 Doris ShanksBy Ann Hornaday
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, October 25, 2002
Dying is easy. Comedy's hard.
That adage is proved over and over again in "Comedian," an absorbing if frenetic documentary about Jerry Seinfeld's return to stand-up comedy after a two-year hiatus. Having retired his eponymous comedy series in 1998, Seinfeld clearly doesn't need the money he makes schlepping from Comedy Cellar to Comedy Stand. "Comedian" ostensibly follows Seinfeld over a year-long period of honing jokes and working out new material in tiny clubs, but it's really the chronicle of the restless, fearful, even pathological spirit that animates the most gifted comedians. What begins as an indulgent vanity piece (Seinfeld was a producer of the film) ends up as a fascinating portrait of creativity at its most compulsive. Bill Moyers talks to Naomi Shihab Nye - October 13, 2002 Doris ShanksBILL MOYERS: Eight years ago, recovering from heart surgery I found deep comfort in poetry, especially the poems of Naomi Shihab Nye. Her poems speak of ordinary things, gloves and forks, button hooks and onions, things we take for granted until it's almost too late.
Naomi Shihab Nye, is an American, an Arab, a Poet, a parent, a woman of Texas, a woman of ideas. The daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother, she's lived in old Jerusalem, in St. Louis, and now with her own family in San Antonio, Texas.
We first met at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey eight years ago where we talked about the power of the word.
The best and worst of the Web - October 7, 2002 Doris ShanksAnyone with a stake in the Internet has got to admire this: Beginning next month, America Online will transmit Amber Alerts containing information about abducted children across its network of 26 million subscribers. The Eye of the Reporter, the Heart of the Novelist - September 23, 2002 Doris ShanksBy ANNA QUINDLEN
There's always a notebook in my purse. I learned my lesson one day many years ago when I found myself at the scene of a crime, taking notes on the back of checking account deposit slips. Before I was a novelist, I was a columnist; and before I was a columnist, I was a reporter; and the reporter is always there, jumbled amid the Altoids, the keys and the lipstick, there forever in the notebook. The Treasures of the Ransom Center - September 20, 2002 Doris Shanks By Michael Barnes
American-Statesman Arts Writer
Sunday, February 17, 2002
A feeling of reverence overwhelmed Alan Tannenbaum. Alone in a gallery on the University of Texas campus, the IBM software engineer ran his eyes over a glass case containing a small, red book.
"There's always something people would die to have," said Tannenbaum. He was looking at a first edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," part of a Ransom Center exhibit about Lewis Carroll, the author, mathematician and photographer. "I knew this priceless book was somewhere in the center, but to be alone with it was more than I could absorb that early morning."
The object of Tannenbaum's affection, an 1865 edition of "Alice" in very good condition, survived suppression by Carroll and his illustrator, John Tenniel, who disliked the printing quality. Donated to a children's hospital by Carroll, the book traveled to India, where it was purchased for the equivalent of 30 cents, and finally was sold at a London auction to an American mathematician, whose library landed it in the middle of Texas.
Barbie's creator died in Los Angeles - May 1, 2002 Doris ShanksBy Elaine Woo
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Handler, 85, an entrepreneur and marketing genius who co-founded Mattel and created the Barbie doll, died Saturday in Los Angeles of complications following colon surgery about three months ago. Toilet Technology - May 1, 2002 Doris ShanksAncient Romans cleaned their bottoms with stick-sponges. French royalty once wiped with fine linen, while the Vikings used wads of wool. Now, a museum examines the history of the toilet.
By Buck Wolf
Wolf Files
(ABCNEWS.com)
— It's hard enough for cat lovers to clean a litter box. Would you do that for your spouse … or even yourself?
Is Nothing Sacred? - April 23, 2002 Doris Shanks
The Mideast violence and the Catholic Church’s crisis only seem unrelated
By Patti Davis
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
April 16 — When I was a child and used to watch old Westerns on television, there was a frequently repeated scenario: the bad guy would race into a church to hide, knowing that the men pursuing him would not violate that sacred space by coming in with guns blazing. It was a house of God, of worship, and there was a common understanding among everyone—bad guys and good guys alike—that the space between those walls was sacred. The church was, in a sense, removed from the outside world, from whatever conflicts existed “out there.”
'Joshua' is first of billionaire's family movies - April 23, 2002 Doris ShanksWhat would Jesus do if he returned to Earth today?
Call of Wild Rice - March 11, 2002 Doris ShanksTexas native's delicate tendrils have great pull with Flo Oxley
By Pamela LeBlanc
American-Statesman Staff
Monday, March 11, 2002
If it's done to music, it's not a real sport - February 14, 2002 Doris ShanksCommentary
By Ken Herman
Thursday, February 14, 2002
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