Tom Purcell stories, Page 6
Tom Purcell: The pitfalls of Daylight Savings Time
Be extra cautious when you “fall back” on Nov. 7. That’s the date we must set our clocks back one hour in honor of daylight saving time. But watch out. The jarring shift to our daily sleep patterns and routines each fall — and each spring — is linked to...
Tom Purcell: The rise and fall of the shopping mall
My buddies Ayres and Klingler and I walked its crowded corridors for hours on Friday nights, hoping to meet girls. That’s what we did at South Hills Village Mall in the late 1970s, when we were teens and the American mall was in its heyday. Built in the mid-1960s, and...
Tom Purcell: Is it autumn for America?
The autumn leaves are expected to be extra vibrant this year in Pennsylvania, though they are changing colors a week later than is normal. That’s fitting. Very few things are “normal” this year. According to Merriam- Webster, “autumn” is “the season between summer and winter comprising in the northern hemisphere usually...
Tom Purcell: Let them eat Kix
I never parted with a $20 bill faster. It happened at one of my favorite diners. The western omelet and Diet Coke I often get wasn’t the 11 bucks it had been for as long as I remember. It was 16 bucks. That expense, with my tip for the excellent...
Tom Purcell: Save water, shower with a bureaucrat?
If you’re like me, you enjoy few things more than a long, hot shower. Nothing loosens the muscles or washes your worries away better than gradually turning up the hot knob until you’re red as a boiled lobster. Unfortunately, the Biden administration intends to reenact a federal regulation that will...
Tom Purcell: A revival of horse sense?
Here’s another interesting covid-enabled trend to ponder: More Americans are leaving big cities and the suburbs to live in rural communities, according to nextavenue.com. I hope the trend grows, because it would be good for the American psyche. As it goes, the move to the country makes a lot of...
Tom Purcell: Praise be to the family potato salad
I face a huge responsibility this Labor Day weekend: I’ve been tasked with making my mother’s sacred potato salad recipe. According to “All About Potatoes,” it is widely believed that Germany is where the American version of potato salad originated. The potato, which is native to South America, was brought...
Tom Purcell: Service dogs help heal trauma of war
Our botched withdrawal from Afghanistan is hard to witness, but hearing the reports of Taliban brutality is even worse. The U.S. Sun reports that “women face having ‘fingers cut off for using nail varnish’ ” and that the Taliban “reportedly shot a woman dead in the street for not wearing...
Tom Purcell: Three cheers for us ‘middles’
You ignored Aug. 12 didn’t you? That’s when the world celebrates National Middle Child Day every year, but you ignored it just as you have ignored us “middles” our entire lives! I’m the third-born child in a family of six — an only boy with five sisters. As a tyke,...
Tom Purcell: Pets can solve our national empathy shortage
My Lab puppy, Thurber, makes me laugh out loud every day. The writing life requires you to sit still for long periods of time, but those days are long gone. As I write this column — attempt to write it, that is — my 7½-month-old buddy keeps dropping his ball...
Tom Purcell: America needs a beach vacation
August long has been the best month of the year to escape the daily grind and forget our worries. It’s been a great month to hit the beach or take a long road trip and forget, for just a little while, the inanities of our increasingly angry and divided politics....
Tom Purcell: Croquet could strike up some Olympic ratings
Maybe croquet could improve the ratings for the 2021 Summer Olympics? Please allow me to explain. The covid-delayed 2020 Olympics are on track to be the lowest watched games of the 21st century, according to marketing research firm Zeta Global. The company has found that “More than 60% of Americans...
Tom Purcell: Haggling over cars another tradition killed by covid
Car buyers are getting crushed by the rapid increase in the cost of new and used cars, but my dad’s old-school negotiating techniques might offer some relief. Thanks to the rippling effects of the pandemic and the lockdowns, it’s harder to find a new car to buy in the first...
Tom Purcell: Home on the road
It’s an old dream of mine and I just may do it: Buy a travel trailer and live on the American road for weeks at a time. Recreational vehicle living is a growing trend, particularly for younger people, who, post-covid, prefer to work from home instead of commuting to their...
Tom Purcell: Thanks, Jack, for the wonderful days
Every night, just before bed, he’d thank his bride of 70 years for giving him another wonderful day on Earth. That was the sweet-hearted nature of Jack Krieger, my family’s next-door neighbor for more than 30 years. I first met him as a very young boy, shortly after my growing...
Tom Purcell: Civics lesson for the Fourth
You become an American citizen by being born in the USA or you can become one by getting “naturalized.” Becoming naturalized is a heck of a lot harder. It not only means having to meet all the legal and residency requirements Congress has established, it means passing a U.S. civics...
Tom Purcell: Learning dignity for $1 an hour
They called me “The Trail Blazer,” Good Buddy. That was my citizens band radio handle in the summer of 1977, when the hit movie “Smokey and the Bandit” created a CB craze and millions of kids like me dreamed of getting one. Much to my surprise, my father permitted me...
Tom Purcell: My dad taught me how
Need to learn how to unclog a shower drain, jump-start a car, shave your face without bleeding to death or successfully address dozens of other practical adult daily activities? Rob Kenney offers this kind of basic “dad advice,” and millions are tuning into his YouTube channel “Dad, How Do I?”...
Tom Purcell: The dying art of conversation
Texting is replacing talking as the preferred form of communication? According to a recent survey by OpenMarket, 75% of millennials chose texting over talking when given the choice between being able only to text versus call on their mobile phone. To be sure, the powerful digital devices almost everyone is...
Tom Purcell: The end of the handshake?
After more than a year of strict covid mandates, our state has triumphantly reopened. But, we better think twice before we offer a celebratory handshake. On Memorial Day, Pennsylvania began allowing restaurants, stores, sporting events, schools and other organizations to once again operate at 100% capacity. However, some are telling...
Tom Purcell: Beefing about price of beef
There are few things I enjoy more than grilling up tasty steaks for a group of close friends, but red meat isn’t going to be on the menu this summer. The cost of beef is higher than ever. According to Bloomberg, “Food inflation has been inching up for months, driven...
Tom Purcell: Fighting off the digital scam artists
Everyone is at risk of being scammed now. The recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline was a wake-up call for everyone in America. Ransomware is malicious software that cyberscammers use to encrypt a company’s or individual’s data and block access to it — until a hefty sum of money is...
Tom Purcell: Why it makes sense to play in the woods
The retired science teacher jumped up from his hiding spot in his garden and grabbed my arm before I could escape. It happened in the mid-1970s when I was playing a game we neighborhood kids invented called “Fugitive.” Each summer night 15 or 20 of us would participate. Whoever drew...
Tom Purcell: A mother’s comfort
Scientific American describes my mother to a T. An article titled “The Incredible Importance of Mothers,” by social scientist Melanie Tannenbaum, lays out the argument that a mother’s comfort — not just meeting basic needs, such as providing food and shelter — is essential to the development and well-being of...
Tom Purcell: A hunger for normalcy
My recent trip to Florida was glorious for one simple reason: it was normal. You see, I had been hungering for a friendly social gathering for months — any gathering involving family, friends, business colleagues or old classmates would do. I had been hungering for the simple ability to freely...
