Giles Snyder

Monday morning.  For the first time in a very long time, I took my coffee out to the stoop. It was too inviting to pass up. The chilly, gloomy weather we had over the weekend replaced, at least for the moment, by sunshine and unicorns.  Unicorns?  Fine, there aren't any unicorns in my neighborhood. The closest thing we have are deer. And they make terrible neighbors. I'd rather have unicorns. A man can dream. In any case, the birds seemed happy to see me return to my morning routine. Their singsong in the bright spring sunshine seemed to swell as I settled in beneath the Bradford Pear tree that sits just outside our front door.  We have two Bradfords in our yard. They are in full flower right now. Their white blooms coupled with the clear, blue sky invited me outside. Bradford Pear trees are pretty in the spring, but that's about all they're good for. They are considered to be an invasive species. Except for the brief period when they flower

They're called "man-on-the-street" interviews. Journalists do them all the time to take the pulse of a community. For an introvert like me, conducting such interviews is almost always awkward. I've only done them because I've had to, a requirement of the job. But the thought of engaging a total stranger in a conversation about the pressing issue of the moment makes my brain explode. That's why I packed our Ornery Dog Jasper into the car on Thursday for a quick trip over to Shepherdstown, the first town in the last state in the nation to confirm a coronavirus case. Shepherdstown is arguably the oldest town in what is now West Virginia, having been chartered in 1762 - well before the Civil War, when the two Virginias were still one. It's where my Snyder forbears settled and eventually prospered after they came over from what is now Germany. It's a nice little town with a small university that helps keep things interesting. In fact, I consider She

I haven't posted here in quite a while - not since the end of November, on the outside chance you're keeping track. If not, well I can't blame you. It's not like I've been paying much attention to my corner of the internet, either. A Twitter friend of mine (let's call him Robert) noticed the lack of fresh material and tweeted at me last weekend, saying "we could use a humor column, sir." I don't really write "columns" anymore. At least, not for my local newspaper. Whatever creative itch I have these days, I scratch here. Clearly, I haven't had the itch, lately. To be sure, there are more troubling things in this world than stumbling upon a neglected blog. The spread of the new strain of coronavirus comes immediately to mind. People are getting sick, some are dying and stock markets are shuddering amid worries about a global recession caused by what is now officially a pandemic. Prospects of a recession because of an illn