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A One-Man Recession Killer
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—9/12/11—“He’s gotta do something to turn this country around, to get us out of this mess and back to work again.” Of course, the…
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The Greatest Generation & Their Plutocratic Heirs
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—8/8/11—The jeremiad that follows flows from my sorrow over what a zealous minority in American life and politics has done, and is doing still,…
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Playing Championship, Slow-Pitch Softball at Clemson University
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—8/1/11—My fellow columnist, Skip Eisiminger, and I played intramural softball for more than two decades at Clemson University, first for a Charlie Brown imitation…
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Becoming a Pal of Huck . . . and Jim
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—7/25/11—For all their dedicated efforts, our teachers at Deep Gap Elementary School couldn’t rid us of our non-standard habits of speech. Imagine our delight…
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Surprising Finds in a Heap of Books
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—7/4/11—Except for the King James version of the bible, textbooks for classes at Deep Gap Elementary School, and several tracts published by Jehovah’s Witnesses,…
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Leaf-raker: A Case Study in Monomania
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—6/27/11—Before retiring, I taught American literature at Clemson University, my nîche being the 19th-century novel. When I wasn’t pushing Moby-Dick as the great American…
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Hatfielding & McCoying Osama bin Laden
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—6/29/11—In our more temperate moments, we solemnly claim to be a nation of laws, that justice must run its course, that every man deserves…
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Remembering Bob Hope & Satchmo
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—5/30/11—Three bright spots shining vividly in my aging mind from my days in the US Air Force date from my time at Keesler Air…
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The Silence of Lazarus & My Near-Death Experience
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—5/16/11—Apparently, Lazarus took a leap beyond a near-death experience (NDE). I say this because those of us who’ve had one like to share, and…
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And Still I Gladly Teach (Plus a Little Tribute to Chapel Hill)
Out to Pastoral by John Idol BURLINGTON North Carolina—(Weekly Hubris)—4/25/11—I had no intention of giving up teaching when I left Clemson University after 31 years of mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in the…