Showing Tag: " history" (Show all posts)

FAMILY STORIES BECOME LEGENDS IN THE RETELLING

Posted by John Allen Small on Thursday, July 28, 2022, In : Reminiscence 

If there is one thing that each new generation has in common with the one that immediately preceded it, it is the tendency for members of the older generation to rant and rave about how easy the current crop of youngsters has it compared to the days of their own youth. 


We all grew up with the stories about how our fathers had to travel for miles in the snow to get to school and back - walking uphill both directions, naturally. 


Or how their favorite toy one Christmas was a stick that had f...


Continue reading ...
 

THE KLAUS PROTOCOL (A Review)

Posted by John Allen Small on Monday, April 27, 2020, In : Review 

I have been a fan of Frank Schildiner's tales of Frankenstein's Monster and Napoleon’s Vampire Hunters for some time. Recently I was given the opportunity to read an advance copy of Schildiner's latest novel - an historical novel entitled The Klaus Protocol, and I have to say this this his best work yet.


Opening in 1938 (the year my late father was born, which made the story all the more interesting for me on a personal level) then flashing back to incidents that occurred two years previou...


Continue reading ...
 

TIME FOR A HISTORY LESSON: OUR FAMILY'S BEST KNOWN BLACK SHEEP

Posted by John Allen Small on Tuesday, July 30, 2013, In : History 
(Above: Illinois Gov. Len Small and the newspaper page announcing his 1921 indictment)


Every family has its "black sheep." Sometimes while researching family history on various occasions over the years, I've often wondered in perhaps my family hasn't had more than it's share. 


But none of them can hold a candle to the man who served as Illinois' Republican governor during the same period that saw Al Capone establish himself as the King of Chicago. Indeed, I often wonder if my familial kinship...


Continue reading ...
 
 
blog comments powered by Disqus
blog comments powered by Disqus
blog comments powered by Disqus

About Me


John Allen Small John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996). Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.) John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something. In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems. He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.

Tags

blog comments powered by Disqus
blog comments powered by Disqus
 
 
 
 
blog comments powered by Disqus
blog comments powered by Disqus
blog comments powered by Disqus