Columns

David Cargo, the former Republican governor, was honored last week in the state Roundhouse with the unveiling of a bronze bust in his likeness. The crowd that gathered for the ceremony included Gov. Susana Martinez, out of respect for one of her predecessors, and a host of friends and relatives out of loyalty to this man and the mark he made on New Mexico.

Interestingly, Cargo observed that there were probably more Democrats in the audience than Republicans, which illustrates a sad reality to politics today.

HANNIBAL, MO. — “Tom! No answer. Tom! No answer. What’s gone with that boy, I wonder?” Is there a person in America who can’t place that partial exchange?

It comes from the opening lines of “Tom Sawyer,” a classic of American Literature, whose author everybody remembers as Mark Twain, The Mark Twain, the one-of-a-kind storyteller, humorist, observer of American life along the Mississippi.

Remember those looping, joined-up letters that for centuries have stood as signs of education and sophistication? We used to call that bit of artistry penmanship, or, so as not to offend anyone, let’s call it “penpersonship.”

This world that I live in is changing so fast I really can’t keep up. A visit with some of the family I don’t see very often brought that home in a big way. Seems like every time I turned around, someone had a phone/camera/Ipod type device aimed and shooting at either one of us or something that was of interest at the time. My question is, what do they do with all of these pictures?