David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
Wackjob Wisdom • David Sherman • Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Aquarian Wackjob Air. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take-off. You need not return your trays to their upright position, as a cocktail may actually prove helpful during this flight. Any of you who are running BS filter technology my wish to turn it off now, as the following page is certain to overload it completely. Those of you who’ve flown with us before know this to be... [Read more...]
David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
Ditch Fish • David Sherman • In years gone by, it was common practice for political candidates to hire a wagon with a band to head a parade through town. Bands being rather scarce at the time — even more so bands riding on wagons through the streets of a town — this would invariably draw a crowd. A crowd would follow until the bandwagon stopped, only to find that when the wagon stopped, the band stopped, and the polly-tickin’ began. Most would listen, at least for a little while,... [Read more...]
David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
Dark Reflections • David Sherman • In the wee morning hours of Memorial Day weekend I sit on my balcony looking down on the lake below. Twin lines of golden fireflies mark the lights of the two piers spanning the water and their shimmering reflection. In beautiful contrast, or perhaps compliment, the scattered yard lights shine a brilliant white with a tinge of blue, like ice on fire. They too have their own reflections mixed among the more numerous gold. Even the streetlights, so often... [Read more...]
David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
The Hole in the Fog • By David Sherman • I have lived so long by the Sea that I can no longer even imagine not doing so. I would miss the quiet lullaby of the surf at night, the taste of the salt air, the added weight of that air on my skin, so heavy is it with the very Water of Life. These things are such constants in our lives that we usually take them for granted. Those who are new to the area or just visiting may perceive them as that nagging noise at night, corrosion, and stifling humidity,... [Read more...]
David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
SURPRISE! By David Sherman My college roommate in the mid 1980s had a younger brother who was a member of The Young Republicans. I used to love to throw this line at him: ”So long as a single child has to cry himself to sleep at night, suffering for want of proper medical care in the richest country on the face of the earth, something is woefully wrong!” The effect on my Young Republican friend was nothing short of mind boggling; in that instant, an otherwise intelligent and articulate... [Read more...]
David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
Channel of Darkness Many years ago I read the great biographical work “Murrow: His Life and Times,” by A. M. Sperber. Since that time I have owned six copies — each had to be replaced because I kept giving them to journalism majors. Most of these students were specifically hoping for careers in broadcast journalism, and it was my hope that learning more about one of the first, and still the finest, broadcast journalists ever, might inspire them to focus their careers on the pursuit... [Read more...]
By: David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
The parable: The dear, elderly widow, Mrs. Whatever, dies in her sleep at the age of 93. The coroner says it was a heart attack, her doctor concurs, adding that it was her fifth, the police don’t feel any need to investigate. Her only son, Steve Whatever, inherits her vast fortune. Everyone agrees it’s sad, but no one thinks anything is amiss. Enter Squirrely Yates, a local bag lady whose only outstanding features are her addictions to eyeliner, the sound of her own voice, and the sound... [Read more...]
By: David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
“What is wrong with you? Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?” Everyone has heard this little facetious gem from time to time, some of us hear it quite often; for me, it seems like theme music. It is the “Evergreen” to my “Star is Born;” the “One Tin Soldier” to my “Billy Jack;” the Ba-bah-bump-ba-da-bump-bump to my “Beverly Hills Cop,” and I for one have grown weary of its gross overplay. Thus, I will... [Read more...]
By: David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
The Eyes… By David Sherman Preston looked down at his hands, dim in the flickering light of the lone candle. The water running over them was cool, though he noticed that only the hot faucet was turned. The basin was of antique design, enameled cast iron and chipped on the front edge. He bent to splash water onto his face, and straightening, saw his own reflection in a corroded oval mirror just as ancient in appearance as the rest of the tableau. Sluggishly, his mind tried to make sense of... [Read more...]
By: David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
Most of us have seen “The Matrix.” For those of you who either shun all things sci-fi, don’t watch movies at all, or live in a cave, I will briefly summarize the reference. The protagonist, Neo, is offered a choice between a blue pill, which will allow him to forget his worries and return to an existence of blissful ignorance, and a red pill which will give him the answers to all his most pressing questions. If Bush & Cheney, Inc. can use Jack Bauer to rationalize torture, I... [Read more...]
