Dr. Bruce Smith
Dr. Bruce Smith ([url="https://inkwellhearthandplow.blogspot.com/"]Inkwell, Hearth and Plow[/url]) is a retired professor of history and a lifelong observer of politics and world events. He holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. In addition to writing, he works as a caretaker and handyman. His non-fiction book The War Comes to Plum Street, about daily life in the 1930s and during World War II, may be ordered from [url="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=93188"]Indiana University Press[/url].
Most Recent Articles by Dr. Bruce Smith:
Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming!
February 7, 2025
Survival in Tough Times: We haven’t reached the first 21 days yet! Can it be real? Can justice and righteousness really prevail so well and so quickly? I can only shake my head and say, Pinch me, I must be dreaming!
Reminds Me of January 1981
February 3, 2025
Survival in Tough Times: Thank God for our many blessings and our brighter future.
How To Know You’re In A Good Place In The Heartland
January 26, 2025
Survival in Tough Times: In hard times or easy times, it’s good to know where there’s a nearby country store
A Ray Of Hope
January 23, 2025
Survival in Tough Times: Thank God for our many blessings!
The Great Coffee Substitute Review
January 15, 2025
Survival in Tough Times: As with tea, make these hot drinks different ways and decide which you like best. I drink them all and I’m sure you can find a favorite from among the four. Happy tasting!
Good Fortune, Then Home For the Storm
January 5, 2025
Survival in Tough Times: Awaiting The Next Winter Storm
Survival in Tough Times:
Start With Simplicity
December 15, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Start simple. Find some buckets
Lost Glory of the Associated Press
December 10, 2024
Survival in Tough Times
December Coffee Price Alert
December 1, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Do some coffee bargain hunting, but if coffee prices go beyond your reach, consider tea and coffee substitutes. You might find new favorites you will want to stay with in the future. Now let’s have a proper brew!
Investigating a Local Rumor
December 1, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Rumors that fast food chains would add ordering kiosks inside their stores so that the hip tech crowd could continue their cashless and otherwise bleak lifestyles
The Great Bike Hike 1967
November 25, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: I go back there in my mind now and then. When I do the days are sunny and the water from the Quigg spring is always quite cold on my face and in my throat in that season of plenty
To Make Things Better We Must First Stop Making Them Worse
November 18, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: The voters spoke very clearly on November 5 so that for the first time in decades we may actually be able to start changing the direction the country is headed
We Must Do Our Own Caring
November 10, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Above all, if it matters to us, if it’s to matter at all, if anything is to matter, we must do the caring
Madison Calls Out Biden
November 3, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: To the pushers of this kind of political chicanery, YOU’RE BUSTED
October at Possum Trot
October 28, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: This year, especially this year, we thank God for allowing us to be here at Possum Trot, to see it yet again in this golden sunny October
Frost Dates and Temperatures
October 16, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: It will be a brilliant two weeks, then a cold rain will come through to drop the last leaves and bring us the dull colors of winter, alas.
The September To October Change
October 7, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Soon the dull duns and browns and grays of November will settle over us. I must remember to savor every day until then because glorious October is always a fleeting time
This Campaign Is Over
September 28, 2024
In anything like normal times we would just declare this campaign to be over. How can these people have any hope of winning in the face of these facts? If the campaign isn’t over because of this, God help us.
Seen At The Wally World Parking Lot
September 23, 2024
Now There's Something You Don't See Every Day
Seasonal Lag
September 17, 2024
If we are lucky enough to survive the winter, we can look forward to the majesty of the cycle of the seasons on our ever-changing home planet.
Supermarket Shock
September 10, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: The bottom line for food economy, even when many things are high, is to make it yourself
A Famous Week In History 1914—September 5 -12, 1914
September 1, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Every year in these warm days of late summer, I take time to ponder the deepening crisis, the mobilizations, and the Miracle of the Marne
Let’s Go Over This Polling Thing Again
August 25, 2024
Survival in Tough Times
Vince Gill Just Look At Us
August 24, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: Musical Perfection
Reminds me of 1896 . . . BC
August 11, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: After what happened in Paris and after it was celebrated in much of the press, anyone visiting there soon should keep an eye to the sky for incoming fire and brimstone
Musical Perfection: Up, Up and Away, The Fifth Dimension
July 29, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: So many songs can take me back to a specific place and time, like this one does
They Don’t Teach That Any More
July 16, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: These days it’s difficult to find a factual textbook on American history.
Blizzard! The Great White Hurricane by Timothy R Minnich
July 14, 2024
Americas Free Press/Canada Free Press Book Corner
Olfactory Memories
July 5, 2024
Survival in Tough Times: I breathe deeply, and then I’m with my brothers and our grandfather, back in the north side of the corn crib at the farm on the corner of 103 and Riley Road, New Castle, Indiana, summer of 1961