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Ah, but I was so much older then, I”'m younger than that now!

Written by editor on 07 February 2012

Carl Peterson

By Robert Albee

Our good friend Carl Peterson turned 100 years old this year on January 6th! Happy 100th Birthday, Carl!

It got me to thinking”¦ If my father were still alive, he would be 101 now. He suddenly departed at age 66. And his father passed even earlier, yet to my eyes, he seemed much older than my father ever did or than myself now. At age 68, I”'ve outlived my father by two years despite the fact that I smoked heavily for 40 of them. With diabetes and having a heart attack some years ago, I count every day as a blessing! Yet when I think of Carl, I”'m still a pup! I don”'t think of myself as an old person, a senior citizen, or an elderly person. In fact, I hate those terms, because they seem to pigeon-hole us into frail, helpless beings just “fixin”' to die. Far from it! Look at Carl, our Phillips role model! Look around at elders not rocking in a chair, but rocking the boat! Or engaging the younger ones in the community. And not just dusty old stories of past victories.

I realize there”'s a sunset sometime ahead for each of us; yet I want to do as many things as we can before that time comes.… Read the rest “Ah, but I was so much older then, I”'m younger than that now!”

Top 10 Movies of the Year 2011

Written by editor on 07 February 2012

By Howard McQuitter II

#1 “The Tree of Life” PG-13 Drama 139 minutes Many will find “The Tree of Life” esoteric but it”'s enlightening about one man”'s story starting in the 1950s and weaving into what is at times a convoluted cinematographic wonder. Directed by Terrance Malick.

#2 “Of Gods and Men” PG-13 Drama/History 122 minutes Country: France Language: Arabic/French. Eight Trappist monks in a monastery in Algeria (in the 1990s) working with poor Muslims clash with government and military forces. Directed by Xavier Beauvois.

#3 “War Horse” PG-13 Drama? War. 146 minutes A horse named Joey is bought by a poor farmer in England on the edge of World War I. The horse is sold to the army, the boy goes to war, too. That”'s not the end of the story. Directed by Steve Spielberg.

#4 “Extremely Loud &Incredibly Close” (PG-13) Drama 129 minutes First time actor Thomas Horn, as Oskar Schell, loses his dad (Tom Hanks) in the World Trade Center leads to much turmoil and a mysterious key. Directed by Stephen Daldry..