https://chestertownspy.org Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown Tue, 06 May 2025 11:30:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/06/boking-gloves-by-jmaie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/06/boking-gloves-by-jmaie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 06 May 2025 12:00:21 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=184035 My memory is increasingly suspect these days, but this really happened. At least, I think it did… It was the summer of 1966, the months between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college. I was heading north, part of a group of young volunteers organized by what was known at […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/06/boking-gloves-by-jmaie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 5 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/29/183900/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/29/183900/#respond Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:00:14 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183900 We see from afar. If we’re lucky, maybe we catch a brief glance, a quick peek, a first impression of something truly wondrous or beautiful, and sometimes that’s all we get. But what if we took the time to really focus our attention and inspect the details, to absorb all that there is to see […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/29/183900/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/22/spring-cleaning-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/22/spring-cleaning-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 22 Apr 2025 13:00:55 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183779 It’s that time of year: some atavistic impulse kicks in and we all go off on a cleaning tear. Maybe we’re just shaking off the winter doldrums, or maybe it’s all that green pollen that coats everything, our noses and throats included. Or maybe it’s just that we want a clean, fresh start, and what […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/22/spring-cleaning-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/15/masterful-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/15/masterful-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:00:37 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183607 I admit it: I spent most of last weekend watching The Masters. I assume most everyone is familiar with The Masters—the first of the golfing world’s four annual “major” tournaments. It takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club, a storied property in Georgia, and it comes at a time when those of us who […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/15/masterful-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/08/night-talking-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/08/night-talking-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2025 12:00:29 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183471 One of the many reasons I like this time of year is that it’s when we emerge from our winter burrows and begin to sniff spring. We’re tentative at first; we know how ephemeral, how quirky, spring can be. All this talk about lions and lambs, April showers and May flowers leaves us wondering if […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/08/night-talking-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/01/april-fools-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/01/april-fools-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:00:01 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183307 Harry Truman was my first President. I don’t remember much about him. After all, I was only two months old when he held up that newspaper headline that said “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN,” so not much about the little haberdasher from Missouri made its way into my infant skull. Ike was next. Like everyone else, I […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/01/april-fools-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/25/jaded-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/25/jaded-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:00:50 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183162 Words are strange beasts. Take ‘jade’ for example. It can refer to a brilliant green gem or stone, revered in China for its durability as well as its propensity to bring good luck. Or it might refer to the jade plant, flora’s manifestation of fortitude and fortune. Go to any Chinese restaurant worth its MSG […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/25/jaded-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/18/the-hat-by-jamies-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/18/the-hat-by-jamies-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:00:17 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183043 For three hundred and sixty-four days every year (three hundred and sixty-five in a leap year), the hat hibernates (and estivates) in the gloomy nether regions on the top shelf of my closet. It only comes out on that one day when all of us are some shade of green, You know the day I’m […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/18/the-hat-by-jamies-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/11/phil-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/11/phil-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:00:56 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182893 Last month, America’s most famous rodent, Phil, emerged from his den, turned around, and went right back to bed. I think I know how he felt. I want to go back to bed, too. Not for a few weeks, mind you, but for the next three-plus years. Phil lives up on Gobbler’s Knob, near Punxsutawney […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/11/phil-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/04/clutching-pearls-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/04/clutching-pearls-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:55:43 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182775   My friend the Professor recently ran an idea up the flag pole of his social media that included the phrase “clutching their pearls.” I hadn’t heard that phrase in years—“limousine liberals” yes, but nothing about “clutching their pearls.” It got me thinking… When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, my Aunt Addie lived with […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/04/clutching-pearls-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 3 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/25/the-new-normal-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/25/the-new-normal-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:00:31 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182653 After some serious thought, I’ve come to the sorry conclusion that the new normal, oxymoronic as this may sound, is chaos. I’m not talking about the weather, or the stock market, or the price of eggs, or even politics—I could be, but I’m not—I’m talking about advancing age. Not your age, mind you; my age! […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/25/the-new-normal-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 4 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/done-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/done-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:00:32 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182536 Now, I don’t know about you, but I, for one, am done with winter. Especially this one. To begin with, winter is overrated. After the December holidays, New Years Day (forget its Eve; sometimes I do), and a few college Bowl games, there’s really not much to warrant all the trouble—the cold, the snow, the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/done-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/11/your-side-of-the-bed-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/11/your-side-of-the-bed-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2025 13:00:33 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182396 You’re probably aware that we—that is to say, my wife and I—have a small home in Chestertown, so small, in fact, that we call it SRO: Standing Room Only. One of the by-products of our housing situation is that when anything new comes into the house, the question one of us inevitably asks is, “Where […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/11/your-side-of-the-bed-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/04/happy-birthday-by-jamie-kirkpatrick-2/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/04/happy-birthday-by-jamie-kirkpatrick-2/#comments Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:00:40 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182224 Today is my ninth birthday. OK; so I’m not counting in human years, not even dog years. No; today marks the beginning of my ninth year as a columnist in this space—that’s 417 consecutive weeks of Musings, thank you very much. I’m not bragging, you understand, just multiplying. Since that first Tuesday back in February […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/04/happy-birthday-by-jamie-kirkpatrick-2/feed/ 10 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/28/resilience-by-jamie-kirkpatrick-2/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/28/resilience-by-jamie-kirkpatrick-2/#comments Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:06:21 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182117 So maybe your team didn’t win the big game on Sunday. Or perhaps your preferred candidate didn’t win the last election. Whatever might have happened, we know one thing: life goes on, and if you—we—are to survive disappointment and loss, then we must somehow embrace a modicum of resilience. Defeat is one thing; capitulation is […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/28/resilience-by-jamie-kirkpatrick-2/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/28/resilience-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/28/resilience-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#respond Tue, 28 Jan 2025 15:02:42 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182115 So maybe your team didn’t win the big game on Sunday. Or perhaps your preferred candidate didn’t win the last election. Whatever might have happened, we know one thing: life goes on, and if you—we—are to survive disappointment and loss, then we must somehow embrace a modicum of resilience. Defeat is one thing; capitulation is […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/28/resilience-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/21/181980/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/21/181980/#comments Tue, 21 Jan 2025 13:00:07 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181980 Twenty-four hours ago, my wife got the phone call no one ever wants to get. One of her oldest and dearest friends, Betsi, aka Boo, had died suddenly. What do you say? How do you console? Her grief was overwhelming. We’re all just passengers on this journey. Life is so full of twists and turns; […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/21/181980/feed/ 3 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/14/eudaemonia-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/14/eudaemonia-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 14 Jan 2025 13:30:41 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181845 For more than twenty years, I worked in an all-boys high school as a college counselor, teacher (Middle Eastern Studies) and coach (baseball). I’m still engaged in education as a resource to students who are sorting their way through the college admissions process, primarily as a reader and editor of their college essays. One thing […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/14/eudaemonia-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 5 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/07/the-shift-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/07/the-shift-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:38:28 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181722 Horror stories about holiday travel abound. Spoiler alert: this is not one of them… I hope you all got my postcard—the one I sent last week from Montana. Well, we’re back home now, and I’ve been thinking about our time up on the mountain. First things first: kudos to United Airlines. It’s easy to squawk […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/07/the-shift-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/31/postcard-from-montana-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/31/postcard-from-montana-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/#comments Tue, 31 Dec 2024 12:00:13 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181623 I’m sitting in front of a cozy fire. Everyone else is out on the mountain, either skiing or snowboarding. It’s cold and the visibility is limited, probably not more than forty or fifty feet. There is fresh snow on the ground and it’s the weekend, so the lift lines are long and the slopes are […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/31/postcard-from-montana-by-jamie-kirkpatrick/feed/ 3