Duolingo Ponies

by Ray Ball, PhD My horse does not eat rice. I admit the horse  is the horse I have only  ever had between outwitting advertisements. I can’t omit to tell you  the horse drinks milk.  My ponies probably have flanks, shiny with sweat,  but I don’t know  the words for shiny or flank yet.  For pony either. Is it the Read More

Your Arms Close Around Me

by J. Bradley Mitch asks mom what animal she’d want to be and I punch him in the arm for asking. The last thing mom needs right now is to think about being in a body other than her own. Mom answers though by shifting her body into a lime green raccoon. Why a raccoon, I ask. On our honeymoon, Read More

July 4th

Happy July 4th to all the people and pachyderms of the United States of America! We don’t often feel united these days, and protests seem to happen more than parades. Indeed, to find a song that really moves my patriotism, I look to a musical number from the 1940s. Elephants never admit, but that image of America as savior, guiding Read More

Sustainability

Elephants never admit, but I confess the picture above oversimplifies things. In fact, I don’t know what kind of factory that is. I grabbed it from a stock photo. Moreover, water vapor could make up the bulk of the smoke. None of those points, however, invalidate the need for sustainability. Earth Day may have passed, but we can continue our Read More

Credit Without Controversy

Elephants never admit when people surprise them. But even critics of Colin Kaepernick should take a moment to applaud the results of his Million Dollar Pledge. Now, I know the Kaepernick brand has generated a mix of strong opinions recently. For some good deeds, however, we ought to give credit without controversy. And giving a million dollars to charity? That’s do-gooding we Read More

Admit

Phuoc stepped back and surveyed the field, taking in the neat, orderly rows of plantings. Slowly, a smile peeked out from under his trunk. It was finished. Phuoc and his father had put a lot of work into cleaning up this rocky plateau. Phuoc’s forehead felt raw from the trees he’d pushed over, and his tusks ached from prying up troublesome Read More