Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is a comedy far outside of the trodden path. The story of Bill Murray’s “Phil” and his journey to free himself from an eternity reliving the same day echoes the wisdom of the ages. It is with great pleasure that I bring you precisely this review before my well-deserved hiatus.
Headed for Punxsutawney
Phil is the weather man for a local Pittsburgh-based TV station. Now time has come for February 2nd again, and with that: Groundhog day in Punxsutawney. Phil despises the ritual that the common folk of the tiny Pennsylvanian village find so elating and he is not afraid to voice it.
An initiation by fire
by Spencer Sherman
The fire that started in the ninth floor records room became the largest commercial building fire in Philadelphia’s history. When 1,500 of us were evacuated, the city’s firefighters poured more than 12 million gallons of water onto the blaze.
I panicked. My records! I thought. My lists of prospects! My customer profiles! Deal reports! Transaction data! These were the tools of my trade. Their destruction, as I saw it, meant the destruction of my livelihood. I was a nervous wreck.
The forgotten language of fathers and sons
by Peter H. Putnam, Jr.
In April 1998, my father is lying in a South Carolina hospital with a ventilator plugged into his throat. He has no voice. He once sang “Impossible Dream” in an impossibly deep bass voice, now this man has no voice. He lay prone, a child. He is no longer 6 feet tall, no longer the frightening, booming, hair-cutting, wisecracking, story-telling giant of my childhood. He is a a dying man in a hospital bed with no voice.
Dark waters and the dark night of the soul
by Brad Nixon
I’m eighteen, working in the British Columbia bush with a bunch of guys. Wild and carefree, full of crazy and adventurous energy, we worked hard and played hard.
Late one evening, following a trip to the local bar, on our way back to camp someone suggested a swim — skinny-dipping. Being the height of summer in the interior of BC, despite the lateness of the hour, everyone agreed this was a truly excellent idea.
The day my mom died
by Forrest Arnold
The hospice nurse sweetly touched my mom’s fingers and toes, checking the color of her skin, then patted her cheek gently and said, “Today’s the day, Rosie. Today’s the day.”
When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was full of fear. She said, “You know I’ll be dead in five years, don’t you?” I think it was her certainty that shook me up the most. That was 19 years and several surgeries ago. She had enjoyed many positive life chapters since that first scary diagnosis. But now, we were close to the end.
A Devastating Despair
by David Wolff
Nine years ago in the deep jungles of the Orinoco River Delta in Venezuela, I was working as a family practice doctor with a team of volunteers. The indigenous people we served had never before seen medical doctors. I met a young woman who never spoke a word to me, yet our encounter changed my life forever.
No paisley tie for me: What if you are not a father on Father’s Day?
by Edmond Manning
I’m not getting a Father’s Day card from my kids this year. No necktie to go with the shirt they gave me at Christmas. No new TV remote. No weeding tools for the back yard. Why not? I’m not a father.
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