Looking Over the Lake © 2015 by Vernon Miles Kerr, VernonMilesKerr.com Tired, retired; living on the 401K so diligently saved; Living the American Dream: looking over the lake by our apartments. Year after year, I’m privileged to witness the Canada Geese negotiate Their circumnavigations of the Continent. A chatty
Horticulture
I just returned from a project in Virginia Beach, Virginia. There was quite a contrast between snowy Virginia and Modesto when I returned. Although the two cities are almost the same Latitude, (a little over 36º N) Modesto has a Mediterranean climate thanks to the protection of the Cascade and
America's Team
A Solution to the Washington Redskins’ PR Dilemma As one of Native American ancestry, I proudly carry a card from the U.S. Department of the Interior entitled “Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood.” Although, in my case, the degree certified is a relatively insignificant “1/16,” I cherish the
Christian Love
In 1973 our family first stepped in to a church service of the Worldwide Church of God in the Senior Citizens Hall in Modesto, California. During the more than 25 years we were members of that church, almost every time there was even a minor change in the strict, fundamentalist
My review of Manfred Wolf’s book, Survival in Paradise, has been published in the San Francisco Westside Observer. Before being published in that journal I wasn’t familiar with how interesting the publication is. If you are thinking of visiting San Francisco, going to the Home Page listed in
Childhood Memories
© 2014 Vernon Miles Kerr What was it about those little two-and-a-half-inch model racecars, with their quality German clockwork propulsion systems, that bring back such fond memories? The clickety-click of winding the spring, then placing it inside a used automobile tire… Putting it in gear with a clunk of the tiny
Amnesty
My friend Manfred Wolf writes a regular column for the West Portal Monthly in San Francisco. Yesterday, he sent me a copy of his latest offering, which appears in the August 2014 edition. He has kindly given me permission to print both his column and my return email comments from
Alternative Political Paradigms
©2014 Vernon Miles Kerr Given the thousands of stars recently discovered having planets, it is realistically possible that advanced alien intelligence might well be watching our barbaric, primitive little race of beings. I wonder what they think of our one-dimensional political concept. Are they splitting a gut laughing at how
Politics
What is Patriotism? © 2014 Vernon Miles Kerr Like the previously examined concept, “Love,”[1] “Patriotism”, is one of those emotionally and semantically charged words that can mean many things to many people. In America, however, a few people practically deify the concept of patriotism, raising it to the level of
Agape
What is Love? © 2014 Vernon Miles Kerr What is love? The child’s answer: “The opposite of hate.” Our simplistic opinions of the universe, as children—even though seeming too pat—often contain more than a grain of truth. Maybe this is because much of the subtlety and nuance that
Corporate Bullyhood
©2014 Vernon Miles Kerr Since this is a blog by a writer for writers and the public as well. I thought it might be interesting for you to see how the previous post looked after suggestions made by the Editors of USA TODAY. The differences made the letter more concise
Aviation Safety
Members of my family know how NUTS I’ve been about airplanes all my life. I even had the blessing of having a boss who owned a Cessna 172 and would entice me to better sales performance by offering little rewards of brief flying lessons. I had actually been thinking
911
When we are children, the definition of “reality” is clear cut. It’s the opposite of “fantasy.” When we grow older, we realize that one person’s reality is not necessarily another’s and that the schizophrenic’s bizarre, sometime hallucinatory reality, manifested by socially unacceptable and often tragic behavior
Emily Dickinson
A beautiful young lady I met at a meeting in North Carolina a few years ago is now college age. She asked if I could give her a little jump-start on an assignment to write a poem on the subject of Springtime. Here is my letter to her: Ellicott City,
Baby Boomers
A Moment Called “Ontario” © 2009, 2014 by Vernon Miles Kerr Not long ago, heading home to Northern California from San Diego, I was driving through a new multilevel freeway interchange that connects Interstate 10 and Interstate 15, just East of the Ontario International Airport in Southern California. Ontario was the
Yin and Yang © 2014, 2018 by Vernon Miles Kerr, vernonmileskerr.com writersclass.net As do the Yin and Yang, The black and white Of that ancient Asian dichotomy, The antipodes of Human Nature Revolve in nauseating monotony: Sumos exchanging brooding glares before the lunge. The meth-addicted darkness Rolls its empty