Opinion

Don’t tell my husband, but I think I’ve fallen in love.

Now don’t get too excited. It’s not that juicy.

I haven’t met some tall, dark stranger on the midnight train to someplace exotic. If I did, I’m pretty sure he’d keep walking. The minivan and excess baby weight are kind of a turnoff. Can I really call it baby weight if the baby is ten?

Oh, right. I’m getting off topic here. I won’t leave you hanging.

I’ve fallen in love with ... American literature. Wait. Stay with me here.

My 16-year-old, 25-inch Sony TV went on the fritz in January after it made a loud popping noise.

The picture quality afterward had a greenish hue and the sound crackled with static.

I had been longing to own a new high-definition, flat-screen TV, so I wasn’t particularly upset by my old model’s timely demise.

I was sure a 31- or 32-inch set would fit easily inside my entertainment armoire, the focal point of my living room.

Hattie's Recipe Box

Hi, readers. Welcome to my recipe box.

I have had many requests for more recipes since I began my Meals, munchies and more column last fall.

The Talon staff and I have created this special online column to accommodate those readers hungry for more recipes.

I guarantee each published recipe to be one I have chosen from my own personal recipe collection compiled over the past 35 years.

Each recipe is going to be one I especially like and have prepared more than once.

Hear, ye! Hear, ye! All University professors hear the pleas of your suffering scholars.
Only you can give students a much-needed vacation by not assigning homework or projects during spring break.
Spring semester is always a bittersweet bite of freedom and burn out.
Since August, students have been in class for seven months with only three days for Thanksgiving and three weeks between fall and spring semesters.
Week after week students attend classes, complete homework and projects, balance jobs and have home lives. A social life must fit in the mix as well.

I have a confession. I’m an imposter. I realized this about ten minutes into a certain English class. It’s kind of a sinking feeling.

I should have known something was up when I went to the bookstore to buy the textbooks for the class. About $5000 later, I walked out and practically sprained my arm trying to get the books into my car. One of the books I bought was about the size of the Magna Carta.

I knew I should have kept my thoughts to myself; at least while I was inside. The house does not like it when I complain. In fact, I don’t believe the house likes me at all.

It began when I signed a six-month lease to my cute rent house. The neighborhood seemed quite, the landlord was nice and a married couple I know had lived there before. They had nothing bad to say except for a one-time water leak that resulted in a high water bill. Overall, their experience was pleasurable.

The first week I moved in was nothing short of a renter’s nightmare.

The recent opening of student parking in front of the new University Center is the source of much joy here at the Talon. The new parking eliminates the old 10-minute trek from Old Omen’s street curb to class.

Obvious advancement is being made in the UC and skeptical students can now witness progress. Gone are the once familiar chain link fences. A great decline in construction workers can be seen. And only a single Port-A-Potty remains.

Everyone has some kind of phobia, yet no one has fears as irrational and unyielding as mine.

The problem is, I seem to be retaining the fears I thought I would grow out of. Fears of clowns, thunderstorms, the dark, and diving off the diving board were supposed to subside and be replaced with adult fears of lack of money, being alone, and general failure in life.

Unfortunately my childhood fears still exist and my adult fears have set in earlier than expected.

Just three weeks ago an earthquake left a country devastated. I feel like it has been three months since then.

As each day passes, I’m reminded I have done nothing to help the people in Haiti, even though I have practically nothing substantial to give during their time of need.

I feel guilty even though some might say I have some sort of guilt complex. Some may say I should not take the aftermath of the earthquake so heavily upon my own shoulders.