Author: Vic Socotra

Mombasa, Kenya: Nyali Beach, 1979

08 June 1979 Editor’s Note: The nature of the world is in change. This item first appeared in the Socotra Daily in the summer of 1979 in a place called “Kenya.” What will the powers do next on the world stage? A doctor’s appointment looms here in the Piedmont. Why I accepted a commitment to […]

Arrias: Just War

In an early version of his 2nd Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln wrote of the Civil War that that: “…each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong.” In his eloquent, spare style Lincoln reduced Just War theory down to a single line. There are […]

Not a Bad Game

You may have seen that there was a football game scheduled yesterday. Well, more accurately there were several of them. You saw some of the early anxiety in the column last week after successfully ignoring the impact of new rules and conference allegiance. We do not claim to understand it, so this season has had […]

Arrias: Winter in the Dismal Swamp

Author’s Note: Cold and gray here – winter in the Tidewater – the dogs are looking for warm spots… Cold and gray, a north wind blows, Dry leaves tumble across the yard, A line of gold marks the dawn, But brown and dead the sward. Turn my back to the wind, It’s cold, and hard […]

Gobble Gobble

We have finally arrived at a real, no-kidding national holiday! Yesterday had its moments, of course. On November 22nd, we celebrated: “Go for a Ride Day!” “Love Your Freckles Day!” “National Cranberry Relish Day!” We know what we are doing today, of course, since this is one of Those No-Kidding Nationals, the one instituted by […]

Bravo Foxtrot

It is finally here, like actually today! In our old military parlance, we would term it “Bravo Foxtrot.” We will use that instead of the public term for today, since it has been used already. “Black Friday” seems to have been going on for weeks! You may have experienced the disorientation, since today launches the […]

Arrias: Thanksgiving

If you ever get the chance to visit Plymouth Plantation, the re-creation of the town of Plymouth, circa 1631, that sits just outside of present Plymouth, Mass, I highly encourage it. It has been years since I have been but I remember going late in the year – a raw November day, the wind coming […]

Gremlin Gazette

1944-1945 This is a trial run for some of the sketches Dear Old Dad did while awaiting further transport at the end of the Really Big War, the Second one of them. You will note W. E. continued his fledgling self-training as an artist and tried to capture some of the people and events of […]

Turkey Travel

9,604 cancelled is one of the phrases being worked on this morning by senior officials. That is, Gentle Reader, scheduled jet flights by major carriers for which the Department of Transportation Security is responsible. Not the production of the jets themselves, that being a different sort of thing, mind you. Many of our citizens are […]

“Breaking News!”

From Socotra House LLC! This Just In! Tuesdays are really the first real contribution to the Weather Report sit-down session. That is where we pick the threads unfolding for their continuity across the end of the week. The goals is to collect the stories with the impact to actually affect the course of social and […]