'John Gladden'
Medina County Fair is an all-year event
What comes to mind when you think of the fair?
Do you see the Ferris wheel? The bright lights of the midway spiraling off in all directions like a fallen chandelier? Hear the roar of concert crowds and demolition derby cars?
What do you smell? What do you taste? Cotton candy? A sausage sandwich? A chocolate milkshake …Read More
Of all body noises, stomach is oddest
The list of audible bodily functions is relatively short.
There’s the one you’re thinking of right now, of course, as well as its little cousin, the burp. While discouraged in polite society, they remain widely admired in some families, including the one I am related to by marriage. Their forceful impact on the ears and nose, …Read More
Dusting off old column ideas
It’s mid-summer and time to recycle the crushed pop cans of ideas and sweep the dusty sentences out of the column garage.
Question authority
Is it just me or do half the posts on Facebook seem passive-aggressive?
Ever notice an icing cookie tastes better if you eat it upside-down? Not you upside-down, of course, but the cookie? Calls …Read More
Extolling the virtues of the little-appreciated bucket
I give you: The five-gallon bucket. Put your stuff in, then you can truck it.
That’s the beauty of it, the charm, The necessity for home and farm.
Oh, the Bucket of the Big Shoulders! King of all the handy holders!
Best of all, they’re practically free — Which is quite an impressive mpg.
You may find them discarded …Read More
Those from any century would find today’s noise maddening
Sometimes I think a person from the 19th century would go mad after living in our world for about 15 minutes.
I live in the 21st century and it almost makes me go berserk sometimes. What would do them in, as The Grinch might say, is: “All the noise, noise, noise, noise!”
Some people take comfort in …Read More
Our freedom really is not free; everyone has the right to speak
Soon we’ll be celebrating Independence Day — complete with fireworks, picnics, parades and fabulous sales at every car lot and furniture store.
At some point — likely at several points — you will encounter a popular contemporary expression: “Freedom isn’t free.”
Mostly, it’s used in the context of thanking U.S. military personnel, past and present, for their …Read More
Glowing memories of lightning bugs
“I loved being outside. We’d hold lightning bugs in our fingers and pretend they were diamond rings.”
— Loretta Lynn
Lightning bugs and wild berries — two of summer’s great gifts to a child growing up in the country. Snacks and entertainment — free to all. No batteries, no money required.
Like the coal miner’s daughter, I loved …Read More
Observations during vacation of a certain Sunshine State
Here we are on family summer vacation, following the route of fellow Ohioan William Tecumseh Sherman on our march to the sea.
It’s probably best not to bring Sherman’s name up in the South when we stop for dinner or swing into gas stations for my secret long-haul energy food — orange circus peanuts and coffee. …Read More
Keep the flame burning in marriage
By John Gladden
We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.
That’s what I remember about our wedding day. It was hot. One of those humid late-August days with air thick as beef gravy.
John Gladden
I also remember the pastor, who didn’t like the one small change we requested in what was otherwise a …Read More
A sampling of cycling stories
By John Gladden
Last week, I invited fellow cyclists to share their best bicycling memories in honor of National Bike Month. Their stories included everything from falling down to falling in love. Regrettably, there wasn’t enough space to include them all, but here’s a sampling.
John Gladden
‘Howdy Doody’
Tom Boruvka: “When I was a lot younger, about …Read More