Author: Bulletin Board

Then & Now
Funny (?) Business Division — including: Know thyself! (responsorial) — plus: Joy of Juxtaposition

Gregory J. of Dayton’s Bluff writes: “Subject: Why Clowns Got Scary in America (responsorial).

“First of all, I would like to thank Tim Torkildson for his many stories of what it was like being a clown. Having never had much contact with clowns myself, I find his tales of clownhood to be fascinating, funny and sometimes frightening, but always interesting.

“His latest entry, about how clowns were scary long before Stephen King’s ‘IT,’ got me thinking about why I was never afraid of clowns as a child even though I grew up at the same time as Tim. I came up with a few reasons.

Continue reading “Clowns — scary? They weren’t always! Clarabell wasn’t. Bozo wasn’t. T.N. Tatters wasn’t.”

Then & Now
Funny (?) Business Division — including: Know thyself!

Veteran clown Tim Torkildson writes: “Subject: WHY CLOWNS GOT SCARY IN AMERICA.

“Clowns didn’t get scary in America all of a sudden because of Stephen King’s ‘IT.’

“No, they began to terrify children long before that.

“Case in point:

Continue reading “Clown testifies: “Clowns didn’t get scary in America all of a sudden.””

Our theater of seasons
And: It takes all kinds!

Rusty of St. Paul (seasonally) writes: “I have lived in Minnesota most of my life and have always marveled at our seasons. I would dearly miss how they change if I lived in an area with homogeneous temperatures. Plus, my wife and I don’t tolerate heat. We live on Lake Superior for half the year — and if it gets too hot, we jump in the lake. We winter in St. Paul.

Continue reading “How to handle a Minnesota winter: Like it, lump it, or leave it!”

In memoriam

The Divine Mum of Crocus Hill has sent us her husband’s ‘Little League Coach’s Diary, Vol. X, Ch. 1′: “’And they’ll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon . . . . And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.’ — Terence Mann to Ray Kinsella, in ‘Field of Dreams’

Continue reading “What can possibly take the place of Midway baseball on St. Paul’s “perpetual play ground”?”

What is wrong with people?
And: What is right with people (Juvenile Division)

Rusty of St. Paul writes: “We are up to our yin-yangs in snow, making travel down some of our St. Paul streets into one-lane affairs.

“Whenever somebody pulls over to let me pass, I give them a thank-you wave as I pass by. Whenever I pull over to let someone pass, my guesstimate is that fewer than half of the people give me a thank-you wave (fewer still among the pickup drivers). This has been going on for a number of years, actually.

Continue reading “How hard can it be to lift your hand for a friendly little thank-you wave?”