Send us photos from your Memorial Day weekend activities, and we will run some in the newspaper and some at news-star.com.
Send us photos from your child's graduation, and we will run some in the newspaper and some at news-star.com.
What signs of spring are you seeing in your backyard, your neighborhood, in town?
New Year wishes from area residents.
Christmas traditions and wishes from area residents.
Christmas memories from area residents.
The following is written by a former participant in the Seminole State College Student Support Services program, Georgia Ramsey.
“It’s cancer.”
The words form a tiny sentence but the impact can be enormous — especially when it’s heard over and over again in the same family.
Beauty is everything. Whether it is nature, art or our day-to-day lives. Things are filled with beauty, even if it’s only a small fiber. Beauty can mean anything. Even death can be considered beautiful to some.
Nature is one of the things that I call pure beauty. Nature is filled with life and has seen and survived many things. I consider nature to be the core of life. Without it, we would live in a land and dull world. Without sunflowers, we could not hold the sun in our hands.
I had already written a poem and presented it. It dripped with romance and oozed sweetness. Oh, yeah! It did good. We had eaten at the Chart House for lunch. Wonderful food in an atmosphere of Kona Bay shoreline wafting into the lava and sand. The Hawaiian song birds calling in Valentine serenade.
In 1998 my world as I knew it crashed down on me. I lost my wife, Lesley to breast cancer. After my loss I struggled with my grief. I searched the web for assistance with grief support and an anonymous person told me to check out the Web site, www.GROWW.com.
That evening I logged onto the site to see what it was all about. It appeared to be everything it was made out to be with grief support, including a live chat room.
The average person may find it difficult to remember what he or she was doing on Jan. 12, at 4:53 EST. For those who were on the island of Hispaniola in the country of Haiti, their memories remain quite vivid because of a tragedy that has left our whole world stunned and speechless. This horrific event has impacted all human beings, but for residents of Haiti and Haitians abroad, it is particularly painful.
grew up only a few blocks from my grandparents’ home on North McKinley Street, here in Shawnee. I have been blessed with having a large, close family, which has given me a lifetime of wonderful memories, especially this time of year.
In 1924 our family lived southeast of Tecumseh. My father was a share cropper. It was about December 20 and we were preparing for Christmas. I was five years old and my little sister was four years old. There was a terrible outbreak of diphtheria in our community.
It was the Summer of 1957 when we moved to the old capitol of Thailand, Ayuthaya. It was the capitol from 1350 to 1767 and would have compared with London or Rome in its heyday.
With old temples and foundations of palaces, it is still a mecca for the Thai. The full name is “Pranakorn Sri Ayuthaya,” (Capitol City of Glorious Ayuthaya).
It was August of 1945 just as WWII was coming to an end. Carl Haley had been serving his country for 2 1/2 years in the South Pacific.
Finally, the news came that he could return home to his precious family. His date of arrival was to be December 26.
My most memorable Christmas was 12-25-72. I was only 20 years old and pregnant. I went into labor Christmas Eve. They had to open the labor and delivery area just for me as they had sent everyone home. Dr. Jones made rounds that night. Who would have thought your child would be born on her due date 12-25-72.
My most memorable Christmas was 25 years ago. I was a single mom with two daughters. I became sick at work one day and had to go to the emergency room. I was admitted to the hospital and given a blood transfusion. My doctor said he was pretty sure I would have to have a hysterectomy.
This story is one that I’ve shared with my family each Christmas as we pray over our Christmas dinner and each time it comes alive in my memory.
The time of the story is 1937 and the place is Ralls, Texas. Times were hard for us and we kind of followed the cotton harvest. Yes, I know we were young and should have been in school but things didn’t always work that way for us. I remember the community put on a Christmas party for all the kids and dad took us.
The toll plaza loomed suddenly out of the fog and I realized in that split second before impact that it was too late to correct my error in judgment, and then I hit the steel I-beam head on.
My name is Danny Marshall. I am 19-years-old and a freshman in college. I began my Monday drive back to college in the early morning pre-dawn. My mom, as usual, had hugged me good bye and told me twice to be careful driving. Also as usual, with my mp3 player plugged into the sound system and a super large coffee in the cup holder, I set the cruise control at 75 miles per hour and settled in for the 100-mile drive.
