• “Literary Hillsborough”

    Out To Pastoral By John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—5/17/10—For a brief time in the 18th century, Hillsborough, pretty much a frontier town in central North Carolina, served as capital of the Tar Heel…

  • “On Top Of The Stack”

    Out To Pastoral By John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—5/3/10—Claude Monet had an eye for haystacks. So did I in my boyhood and teen years. His purpose for looking differed from mine: his, to…

  • “Ferns To The Rescue”

    Out To Pastoral By John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—4/19/10—My hopes of becoming a gardener in retirement, with a yard bursting in color from pansies, petunias, impatiens, roses, hollyhocks, tulips, daylilies, and many other…

  • “Thank You, Fellow Citizens”

    Out To Pastoral by John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—4/5/10—As I reflect on how I came to be a college professor, I realize I owe an incalculably large debt to fellow citizens, including my…

  • “A Fool & His Money Are . . .”

    Out To Pastoral by John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—3/22/10—The story I now share began almost a decade ago in the South German town of Bodelshausen, the birthplace of my namesake ancestor, Johann Eitel.…

  • “Killing Deer With Kindness”

    Out To Pastoral by John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—3/8/10—Over the course of the past few months, devoted admirers of Bambi and her herd of kin in the Triangle Area of North Carolina have…

  • “One For Jim & The Birds”

    Out To Pastoral by John Idol HILLSBOROUGH, NC—(Weekly Hubris)—3/1/10—If not for the quick thinking of my friend, Jim Ray, my service record might well reflect more than a demerit. Jim and I, followed…