We’ve got ourselves another deceptively simple question here. As a journalist, I have a fundamental problem with these closed questions. Queries about “favorite something” or “tell me about your” prompts are great for sparking a lengthy answer or discussion, something which can get to the heart of something bigger, perhaps, but “Did you have a car in high school?” A simple yes or no, followed by what kind (if the answer was affirmative) or maybe what you desired (if the answer was negative) and you’re done. Continue reading “Did you have a car in high school?”
Again, we’re faced with a “what are your favorite X?” type question. This time around it’s movies instead of books, but the storytelling aspect still holds tight. And again, I’m left trying to decide to answer with a straight-up list or to approach it as some sort of esoteric exploration of life and art.
Most of these 
The first, immediate response to this week’s question is ‘which time?’ I think, over the course of 43 years or so, I moved out of my parents’ house a total of six or seven times. Some much more successfully than others.
For me, this question about what famous or important people I’ve encountered in real life is a bit different as I’ve spent most of my adult life involved in various aspects of entertainment, often with people who would get recognized and stopped for autographs while walking down the street. 
Photography has changed quite a bit since I was a kid, so the exploration of today’s question, about the best photograph I’ve ever taken, feels like it’s going to be a bit roundabout and circumspect. I mean, first off, we have to talk about the word “best” don’t we? What does that even mean? “Best” according to whom? 
It’s an interesting question this week. The problem, really, is that I wasn’t so much interested in sports teams when I was a kid. At least not of the big four organized sports leagues (
High school was such a long time ago, I’m not sure how this answer is going to come out. I graduated in 1985, which basically means that most of the folks I graduated with have kids who have also already graduated from their own high schools (and have probably already celebrated their own 10-year reunions and started to forget about their own experiences, so what chance do I have of having actual coherent memories, all of which is just crazy to think about.) Anyway…this is about my own favorite teacher(s) so let’s see what we’ve got. 
I have a feeling this is a deceptively complex question. How has the county changed during MY lifetime seems like it should be easy, I mean after all, I’ve been around for more than half a century, and in that long, things are bound to change, right? 
What’s in a name?
To be perfectly up front here, as I start writing the response to this week’s question, I can tell you the answer is “I don’t know.” In general, when someone says, “Tell me a joke,” I instantly freeze up and can’t think of a single thing. Which isn’t to say I don’t know any jokes, certainly, or have jokes I fall back on (which I’ll get to) but a favorite joke? I just don’t know. 
This week’s question is another one involving travel/vacations. That’s okay, I like traveling and vacations. This one, though, is about vacations as a child which, by default, implies they were family vacations. At least in my case since the folks are still married, to each other, so there’s no inter-family drama involving who gets to claim Disneyland. 
This week’s question gets out of the realm of personal stories and moves into ancestry and personal history: What were your grandparents like? Well, when I was born, I had three of my four grandparents still around, as well as quite a few of my eight great-grandparents. And it wasn’t long before my paternal grandmother remarried the man who I would grow-up knowing as “grandpa” and my maternal grandmother would pass from cancer. 