Adolf Hitler, Lee Oswald, Charles Manson, Pol Pot and Idi Amin have all earned the civilized world’s enmity. We loathe der Führer et al. for good reason, but it must be kept in mind that early on they were their mamas’ darling boys. Only later...
I have written elsewhere of my deep admiration for Michael Jeffrey Jordan. It started when, as a freshman at North Carolina, his picture-perfect jump shot beat Georgetown to win the 1982 national championship. Every inch a star with the Chicago...
Eighty years ago yesterday, after the playing of Kimigayo (the Japanese national anthem) in a pre-recorded 4-minute and 36-second statement via the nation’s broadcasting company, Emperor Hirohito lamented that “the Empire’s efforts to liberate...
My older brother, Randall Evans Pennington, died of a heart attack in late April. It is reflective of our broken and dysfunctional family that I was not informed until three months later. I will withhold further comment on that, preferring to...
I have said too many times to count that I am ambivalent about my alma mater. Rather than the University of Texas, I could have matriculated elsewhere in 1971. A different school—a smaller school, most especially—might have suited me better. But...
Dr. Victor Hugo Limpias Ortiz, mi gran amigo boliviano, once made an interesting comment about Americans. He said that we pay too much attention to people who commit horrible crimes and not enough to their victims. It’s cultural oddity that I...
When I took up residence at the Yeoksam Single Livingtel in late November 2023, I did not expect to be here long. For a variety of reasons, however, I have yet to move out; perhaps soon. In the meantime, I want to give a verbal description of...
Eight years before he became commissioner of the National Football League, Pete Rozelle served as a public relations specialist for the Los Angeles Rams. A PR guy is not a scout, and yet he somehow found the ultimate diamond in the rough when he...
When I attend services at nearby Choonghyeon Presbyterian Church, I usually sit in the balcony where two rows are given over to foreigners. Seventeen-plus years after moving to Korea, I am still learning the rudiments of the language, so a...
What in the world have I wrought? I never anticipated that my two-part homage to Blackie Sherrod would have such a far-reaching and profound impact. My opinion is now sought on every subject from geopolitics to submolecular biology, a lengthy...
• A Book of Travelers’ Tales by Eric Newby, Penguin Books, 1985 [July 2011] • A Brief History of American Literature by John Huh, Shinasa, 2001 [May 2008] • A Brief History of American Sports by Elliott J. Gorn and...
Public response to the paean I wrote for Blackie Sherrod has been overwhelming. A veritable tsunami of praise has rolled in, leaving me deeply humbled. On the basis of such plaudits, I am here with a second go-round. While doing research that...
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