Tag: riff raff

Riff Raff: Recipe support

Dr. Seidensticker, a college professor, made me a cassette tape of recordings of music by composers Haydn, Stravinsky, Wagner, and others, although he said Wagner could be tough to follow…

Riff Raff: A note about David

A specific item is why most attend a voting or study meeting of the Fort Smith Board of Directors. A zoning change. Proposed policy opposition. Or support. A not-in-my-back-yard issue….

Riff Raff: The dumb cycle

The television ad for an Arkansas GOP candidate for a federal office blasts, “Babies, Borders, Bullets.” The complex is oversimplified because, you know, don’t think; be enraged. Be alarmed. And…

Self-recognizing a hubris-induced mistake and turning to humility-driven corrective collaboration often results in a better outcome. So it is with the Fort Smith Board of Directors and their collective pivot…

Riff Raff: No public, no problem

The who-drew-the-map? game a few folks have played with Sebastian County Quorum Court redistricting is disturbing, disappointing and would be comically clumsy if transparency weren’t such an important part of…

Riff Raff: Local problems

The Fort Smith Public School Board on June 22 rejected a bid recommendation by a Texas-based company managing the district’s $120 million millage construction and instead gave the work to…

Riff Raff: Starting from tourism scratch

Moments presenting an opportunity for change are maximized when considering all options to change opportunities. Which is why we should assess new directions for the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors…

Riff Raff: Dear John

It wasn’t supposed to get to John. With little guilt, a subdued conscience and the shallow anger of the bitter, I’d submit the names of others this goddamned coronavirus should…

Riff Raff: Hallelujah

“Maybe there’s a God above but all I’ve ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew ya. “But it’s not a cry that you hear tonight….

Riff Raff: Let’s put the caucuses out of our misery

Dear caucus states: Yes, that’s you Iowa and Nevada and North Dakota and Wyoming. We’re finished with your form of counting, which, frankly, is to counting what counting is to…

Riff Raff: Color me impressed

Not sure if he created The Unexpected to change how we look at downtown Fort Smith or how we look at ourselves; that maybe it was less about murals on…

Riff Raff: Thanking the academy …

(Portions of this essay were first posted on Facebook. Apologies to Facebook friends for the partial plagiarism of myself.) It doesn’t take long. When the awards shows – Oscars, Grammy’s,…

Riff Raff: Life, Luck and –30–

Editor’s note: What follows is an updated version of a commentary about Jack Moseley first published Oct. 16, 2005. Moseley passed away Nov. 15. It was August 1992 when, against…

Riff Raff: The return of Jerry Mack

There were several hundred folks at Jerry Mack Garrison’s funeral. Few there knew him. But he was a Lamar kid and most of us grew up there and we know…

Riff Raff: The company you keep …

One might credit the crushing defeat of a sales tax funding the U.S. Marshals Museum to an impressive grassroots opposition. Also easy would be claiming a broad anti-tax sentiment for…

Riff Raff: Finding an Arkansan to stand with Bates

His music was patriotic and subversive. He told us “The One On The Right Is On The Left.” He talked social justice for Native Americans and minorities and folks in…

Riff Raff: Let’s put the ‘public’ in Public Facilities Board

An initial response from the Fort Smith city administrator reflects the city’s persistent and puzzling tone-deaf default setting, but the city has an opportunity to pivot from past practices and…

Riff Raff: Still on the watch …

Editor’s note: This essay first appeared Dec. 28, 2008, on The City Wire, now Talk Business & Politics. It continues to be an appropriate note to begin a new year. …

Riff Raff: Ironically, medical marijuana is not a valid prescription for incompetence

Christians may consider sending their thoughts and prayers to fix the LSU football coach’s mouth. His speech seems to be a series of consonants, puffs and grunts, mixed with the…

Riff Raff: Remembering Raymond

This week we are to remember the military men and women who served this country — especially those who saw combat and those for whom combat was the last thing…