tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42759210505765618232024-03-12T21:09:33.340-04:00Cotter PenCotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.comBlogger254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-50648325251971287092019-07-04T13:37:00.000-04:002019-07-04T13:37:59.450-04:00The Madness of King George
George III was King of England on July 4, 1776. He is the one referred to in
The Madness of King George, a fine film based on a play by the
same title.
George III is well-known in children's history books as "the mad king who
lost America."
He habitually talked until the foam ran out of his mouth. Sometimes he
had convulsions, and his Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-67570308005463708962019-05-10T10:44:00.000-04:002019-05-10T11:10:11.491-04:00First Daze
On the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day, I will be 75. Happy Birthday to me.
Some things I remember. Still, I forget the name of the star of my all-time favorite movie, just when I am trying to recall it in a conversation. It is not an easy name to forget: foreign and exotic as a Bedouin Sheikh. I just can not find it in the daze of my mind. He had a very nice wife, Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-70841308374694176672015-11-26T17:22:00.000-05:002015-11-26T18:04:07.673-05:00Thanksgiving 1978
Over the river and
through the woods to Grandmother’s house.
Maybe. Maybe not. Sill, Thanksgiving memories range from
misbehaving relatives to overeaten feasts.
Probably my most memorable Thanksgiving was 1978, We lived in Brussels, Belgium,
where I worked for the U.S. Department of State. Of course, Belgium did not celebrate American
Thanksgiving, but my employer Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-5641972301383378042015-08-11T09:39:00.002-04:002015-08-11T09:39:15.622-04:00Annette Powell Cotter b. 8/11/40I celebrated 40 birthdays with Annette on August 11 in Atlanta, Ga., Cairo, Egypt, Brussels,Belgium, Poolesville, Md., and Nashville, Tn.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday, dear Annette.
Happy Birthday to you.
Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-88814879847752740912015-07-25T20:00:00.002-04:002015-08-05T01:14:53.346-04:00It's a Sin to Mock a Mockingbird, Opus 2
(Spoiler alert: If you're planning on
reading one of the three million copies of GO SET A WATCHMAN already printed by
its publisher, you may want to save this blog for afterwards, as it could
possibly be at odds with your enjoyment of a historic best-seller. Fair
warning.)
Based
solely on reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (more than once, more than half a
century ago), I thought Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-44559358918905844772015-07-15T08:54:00.000-04:002015-07-15T08:54:53.480-04:00It's a Sin to Mock a Mockingbird
(This article appears in the current issue of The Republic --The Republic of East Alabama Artists; Republic for short)
By William Cotter
One personality quiz game on the internet invites the fantasy: What famous character from literature are you?
My wife of 40 years had earned two degrees in English from Georgia State University in Atlanta.&Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-81680819892273428462015-06-11T08:05:00.000-04:002015-06-11T08:05:01.151-04:00Birthdays and Beyond
I gave myself a birthday
present, a roll top secretary, not a person but a small writing desk. I
took some cast offs to the Goodwill and was irresistibly attracted by the desk,
in great condition, needing only a little wax on the wood slides for the drawers,
maybe a touch up here and there on the exterior stain.
My age now is three score
and eleven. The things that Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-67804091320137477552014-10-12T08:27:00.000-04:002014-10-12T09:01:27.723-04:00Lady Macbeth
After Shakespeare wrote MACBETH, maybe there was not much else left to say about ambition, power, guilt, lust. Then along comes Giuseppe Verdi. Now Anna Netrebko.
Verdi's MACBETH opened the 2014-15 season of the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD, its ninth of high definition broadcasts to 2,000 movie theaters in 69 countries.
The first encore of the season is Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-76535690199272647962014-08-14T10:50:00.000-04:002014-08-14T10:51:08.425-04:00Out Where God Is
Joshua Thompson, grandson of my sister Ouida, took this wonderful photograph of the old growth forest nave in Seward Park, Seattle, Washington, where we scattered some of my wife Annette's ashes on her birthday, which is Joshua's birthday as well. I chose this sight, because it reminded me of a song Annette had written years ago, when we lived in Nashville, and she was a staff Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-17993732317463100692014-07-04T15:40:00.000-04:002014-07-04T15:40:13.145-04:00Pursuit of Happiness
I fired up the grill for my Fourth of July cookout. Ground lamb patties, turnips, Portobello
mushrooms. Maybe that is what you’re
having, too. Maybe not.
The Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate:
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united
States of America,
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equalCotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-32458905147780195262014-06-14T09:22:00.000-04:002014-06-14T09:22:42.912-04:00Fragile as a Butterfly’s Wings
My wife of 40 years died four days after my 70th
birthday. Maybe I am old enough so that I
can almost stand it. Almost. Still, it is the worse thing that has ever
happened to me, so far. She had lung
cancer. “Winstons taste good, like a cigarette should.” Fifty years of them will kill you, not
necessarily before your time but painfully, slowly, with mixed memories Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-9832725346599525742014-05-10T11:50:00.000-04:002014-05-10T11:50:50.241-04:00Why Argue?
I try not to argue with people who:
--Know less about the subject than I do.
--Vote against everything I vote for.
--Have not lived long enough.
--Do not know the difference between a fact and a wish.
--Need to watch horror movies to experience fear.
--Are still learning the basics.
--Have more money than I do.
--Have less money than I do.
--Are taking Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-64922720914200011842014-03-30T18:05:00.002-04:002014-04-03T04:52:32.877-04:00Sevastopol on the Black Sea
I have traveled outside the United States just enough to have little
or no excuse for ignorance of world geography and history. My first ride on the Paris Metro from Gare de
L’Est or perhaps Gare du Nord en route to Left Bank destinations Boulevard St.
Michel, Saint-Germain des-pres, or Jardin du Luxembourg, the Metro station with
the un-Francophonic name of Sebastopol caught
my attention.Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-83977741428571237672014-03-08T17:29:00.000-05:002014-03-08T17:29:53.516-05:00Je Ne Regrette Rien
“La vie en rose”
were the first words I ever heard in the French language. It was love at first hearing. Those were lyrics of a song, but to me words
in the French language are always musical.
The word for “song” in French: chanson.
I turned 21 in France, courtesy of the U.S.
Army. I should have taken more advantage
of the opportunity. Years later, I lived
in Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-11947163802641552622014-03-02T20:13:00.000-05:002014-03-02T20:19:45.918-05:00Foreign Service Memorial
The American Foreign Service Association maintains a
memorial at the west end of the diplomatic lobby, the C Street entrance to the U.S. Department
of State in Washington, D.C.
On plaques are the names of Foreign Service personnel who have lost their
lives in the line of duty. The latest
listed include Ambassador Chris Stevens and his telecommunications officer Sean
Smith: “TerroristCotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-34251292770697815862013-12-14T09:38:00.000-05:002013-12-14T09:38:33.331-05:00Paw Paw Bill, Sr.
My sister
Jacque’s daughter Mandy asked me, “Do you have any pictures of Pawpaw in his
Marine uniform?” Her son Michael has
recently completed Army training at Ft.
Jackson, S.C. Mandy’s father was an Air Force NCO, a
20-year career.
I replied,
“I certainly did once upon a time. A
handsome devil he was, too. It may take
me a couple of days to put my hands on the Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-14864755033585024252013-11-28T06:24:00.000-05:002014-02-04T07:22:11.052-05:00Thankfully Flannery O’Connor: Art Begets Art
A good girl like Flannery O’Connor was easy to find. In Milledgeville,
Ga., she attended morning mass daily
at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where she was a devout parishioner. Somewhere else, on somebody’s Victrola or
Philco, she heard Sophie Tucker or Bessie Smith sing the blues: “A good man
nowadays is hard to find.” Flannery
O’Connor transformed that lyric into the Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-59613579117200251802013-11-22T04:17:00.002-05:002013-11-22T04:21:02.060-05:00November 22, 1963, Not-So-Golden Annversary
Chris Matthews, formerly of The San Francisco Examiner and currently host of MSNBC's Hardball, may be the closest thing remaining to the sort of old fashioned journalist I grew up wanting to be. As he has mentioned several times on his television show, he has written a book about John F. Kennedy. He avoids using the term "Camelot," but his memory of President Kennedy is Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-39744845674729377162013-11-13T11:31:00.000-05:002013-11-13T11:32:12.024-05:00Cameras Prohibited in DeKalb Farmer's Market
By Annette Cotter
To the goon who sashayed into the restaurant of Dekalb County Farmer's Mkt. yesterday with an ammo belt and gun strapped to his waist...and sat down two tables from me: So you felt it necessary to demonstrate here at lunchtime, that at any moment you could take out that gun and kill anybody in the room. Me. The little girl in the princess dress who ate everything on Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-90432629871472121682013-09-15T12:16:00.000-04:002013-09-17T06:46:39.931-04:00I'm Deaf, Not Stupid
Most expert advice is not as insightful or useful as the
first article I read in 2006 after I was hospitalized with meningitis, in a
coma for three weeks, and woke up 100 percent deaf in both ears. “So you’ve had meningitis and now you’re deaf,”
the article began. “Boy, are you lucky!”
First person accounts of being deaf are scant enough that if
you Google the subject, you may Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-87067613281057434782013-08-31T06:36:00.001-04:002013-08-31T06:46:16.381-04:00Drum Beat
I can not remember myself ever before in 50 years defending
the Warren Commission Report. This is
the one that was supposed to explain the assassination of President Kennedy as he rode through downtown
Dallas in an open-top convertible on November 22, 1963.
President Johnson appointed the Warren Commission, which was
headed by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and included&Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-48280943543862468742013-07-06T10:30:00.000-04:002013-07-06T10:30:54.412-04:00Mozart Yodel Nº 1
If you spot a white station wagon, late 20th
Century model, on U.S. 78 between Stone Mountain and Athens, with paint cans, scrap lumber, and
tools in the back, it could be me. If you
hear singing in fractions of keys, sometimes matched, even yodeling, it
probably is me. But I am just minding my own business. Which is more than I can say for the cop who switched
on his flashing Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-70150436609112555972013-06-23T06:34:00.000-04:002013-06-23T06:34:23.952-04:00Digital Magic Lantern
I miss gainful employment, music, and going to the movies. I got hooked on movies in the 7th grade at Clark Howell Elementary School, formerly on 10th St between Juniper and Piedmont, now the site of a City of Atlanta fire station. Clark Howell Elementary housed the Atlanta Public Schools film library. An audio-visual license available to 7th grade boys entitledCotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-41460703313321774212013-06-09T10:35:00.000-04:002013-06-09T11:03:06.784-04:00Cool Summer Encores: Live in HD
Watch this!
Enjoy select summer encore performances from the award-winning Live in HD series of shopping mall movie theater presentations from the Met.
All encore performances will be shown at 7 pm local time. Summer HD Encore
dates vary by location near you, so please check with your local movie theater.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· &Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4275921050576561823.post-31978274154532876902013-05-25T10:41:00.002-04:002014-05-24T06:44:47.176-04:00TapsLong, three-day holiday weekends lose some of their appeal when you are retired, or as I call myself, semi-retired, which I have learned means not getting paid much, if any, for work. Still, here it is Memorial Day Weekend.
When I worked at 2201 C Street, NW, in Washington, D.C., parking was available for the midnight shift in the basement. However, daytime parking was reserved Cotter Penhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13244583549014981929noreply@blogger.com1