Unanswered correspondence To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under Heaven. • Ecclesiastes 3:1 As the calendar rolls past the "aughts" into the tens and teens of a new decade, it is difficult to realize that ten years have passed since we were holding our breath about the disasters looming in the Y2K frenzy. You know, computers flaked out, store scanners on the fritz, air traffic bumfuzzled by cranky radar controls. None of those things affected what I've been doing, except that in ten years my desk has accumulated even more "piles." The "Now" pile is struggling to keep up; the "Tomorrow," the "Later," and the "Maybe Someday" piles are hopelessly, well, hopeless. So, as the world turns, the clock ticks, the calendar calends, this is the season to take a dive into the piles and start over. I do this at least once a decade, and, as the Koheleth says, now is the season. In no particular order--order? on this desk? Come on--I find the following unanswered correspondence. Jim Walker of Bienville Parish writes, "Twice lately I've had to get in the road to find my own copy of PWJ. Wynell always gets it first. It takes her forever to read it. About three years ago she was reading your column. Gave me a real mean look. "Mr. Kelly knows how to cook." So for the last three years, I've been learning to cook. I always enjoy reading your paper. Thanks, Jim. I learned to cook as a boy of 13 or so when my mother returned to college while Dad was away in WWII, and deputized me to feed my younger brother and sister while she attended classes. Completely hunger driven. Mrs. Margaret D. King of 130 East Purser St., Pineville writes: I was wondering if one of your "old" readers could remember about a primary reader that was used in the 1930s of Bob and Nancy, by Rae Peterson, or the McMillan Company. I would surely enjoy hearing from your readers on this issue. Please reply. Mrs. King, I, for one, remember the 1930s Bob and Nancy reader, from which I read "Bob and Nancy can ride. Clippity clop, clippety clop . . ." The text and drawings were about life on Grandpa's farm, and were very familiar to me while going through First Grade at the Live Oak School on Seventh Street in New Orleans, after spending my first five years of life on a real farm in Winn Parish. As long ago as July, 2008, Walter C. Farmer of 773 Olive St., Alexandria LA, wrote: Ruston is my home town. I attended Louisiana Tech 1965-1967, and graduated from LSU in Baton Rouge in January 1970. I drove through Dodson on Hwy 167 travelling to and from LSU. I'm interested in energy and pollution issues, and like that you had articles on carbon trading which I've heard much about on C-SPAN cable TV. I liked the article on 4-Ho which showed me the skill and work required to grow food in a garden though I did not live on a farm as such. My family often travelled on Hwy 167 and other roads in Jackson. Bienville, Winn parishes enroute to fishing at lakes Kepler, Clear, Saline, and Black. My fraternal grandmother's brother worked for the Rock Island Railroad in Hodge until he retired about 1965, and another of her brothers was a sawmill man in Winn Parish, and lost a son in the Navy in World War II. Mr. Farmer, I know you wrote more, but time and space will prevent using everything here. Your special request will be granted, however. Another letter writer, a "faithful reader," who is "purr-terbed" that I used her name in an earlier column, will remain anonymous. She writes, in part: My faith is the most important thing in my life, but I had to agree with the man in the column (from another newspaper, clipped and sent to us)--not all he wrote, but parts about we were never intended to be a Christian nation, etc. You believed it, I think, as I do, that the founders intended a nation so we could be believers in whatever we decided, or believe in nothing whatever. I do wish you'd write a cooking piece every so often . . . Faithful reader, I read all your letter, and we agree on just about everything you mentioned. I think a column on cooking just might interest more readers than one on the Founders and the "Christian Nation" debate. Now my "piles" are up to date, and my conscience is clear, mostly, for another ten years. |