Stories by Ted Talley

OPINION | TED TALLEY: North, to Alaska My bucket list has a new check mark. After a trip to Alaska last week, I've set foot in all 50 of our great United States. Travel is broadening, meaning it provides understanding of things not in one... July 8, 2021

TED TALLEY: Tickled ivory memories I recently made a trip to the Louisiana hometown to retrieve my late mother's piano. Neither of my sisters had need for it. Today this striking upright Steinway is in a new place of honor in my Arkans... June 10, 2021

TED TALLEY: Scents of a woman Some weeks ago I found myself in Belk's Department Store in Rogers when Mother's Day merchandising and signage were in full array. An aside: I pause to consider that previous phrase. How easily from ... May 13, 2021

TED TALLEY: An Easter revival A recurring question regarding everyday life in these pandemic times has been "When will things get back to normal?" Easter Sunday morning service at my Bentonville church , celebrating what is arguab... April 8, 2021

TED TALLEY: Virtual stupidity The pandemic has inured most of us to tragic circumstances. I say most, because certainly family and friends of those 500,000-plus Americans who have died of covid-19 will not soon forget their dear d... March 11, 2021

TED TALLEY: Enough of NW Arkansas! Lately I've noticed something odd on errands to Harp's and the post office. Given the growth in the area, it's not surprising. Stopped at any traffic light along Bentonville's Walton Boulevard, it's c... February 11, 2021

TED TALLEY: A short trip can be a welcome escape There was a need for escape from dire news of ongoing events still unraveling at the nation's capital and a token of grandfatherly duty that overcame me midday Saturday. So I swung through Bella Vista... January 14, 2021

TED TALLEY: Rising to the occasion A death in the family necessitated a road trip through the Delta down to old home territory in Louisiana last week. I felt duty-bound to go even though the deceased, Lydia Tierney, wasn't a blood rel... November 12, 2020

Ted Talley: A mother’s voice In my September column, I offered memories of my southeast Louisiana roots, delving into the rural side of my upbringing north of that “Creole-Caribbean-Mediterranean mélange that is New Orleans.” But... October 8, 2020

TED TALLEY: What's up this month? Nothing comes to mind Given the nation's state of affairs from plague to politics, I found it hard to approach the keyboard this month to offer you, dear reader, anything of substance. Nothing came to mind. Literally. I r... August 13, 2020

Ted Talley: A muted Fourth of July Fourth of July celebrations were muted this year — a lose-lose proposition. Those who did venture out for personal fireworks and beach parties risked acquiring the plague (even with masking and antise... July 9, 2020

TED TALLEY: A quiet birthday Last week I became a septuagenarian. That appears as if I've joined a religious cult or a dramatic arts society, but it was just another birthday that quietly crossed into my seventh decade. I spent t... May 14, 2020

TED TALLEY: Dread latter days? A weather system speeding diagonally across Texas last Friday caught me off guard as I headed home to Arkansas. Leaving my daughter's Austin apartment, it was 70 degrees with moderate rain, and I was ... April 9, 2020

TED TALLEY: Trouble in Texas Last weekend my trusty 2003 Honda Pilot -- bought used years ago upon retirement and loss of the company pickup -- decided it had made its last trip from the Arkansas Ozarks to Texas' Blackland Prairi... March 12, 2020

TED TALLEY: Making musical memories wherever the journey goes In mid-December 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. It's 2020 now and celebration time. Orchestras around the world are commemorating 250th anniversary of the composer's birth. I had... February 13, 2020

TED TALLEY: Here comes Mr. Bingle Many baby boomers who grew up within an hour's drive of any large U.S. city have Christmas memories of shopping treks with Mom and Dad to bustling downtowns bedecked with silver bells and department s... December 12, 2019

TED TALLEY: Hello, "American Pie" On a crisp Friday evening last month inside the vintage Eureka Springs City Auditorium, singer-songwriter Don McLean strode onto stage wearing black jeans and butterscotch cowboy boots. He began singi... November 14, 2019

TED TALLEY: Feeling exposed In the aftermath of my daughter's death in May, my son-in-law and I made a practical plan: He and my three granddaughters would live with me in Bentonville. So I flew to El Paso last week and drove th... August 8, 2019

TED TALLEY: A moon landing in a muddy bayou Those "what were they thinking" headscratcher moments become more frequent the older I get. Take the recent celebration of our nation's birthday on the National Mall that included a mundane showing of... July 11, 2019

TED TALLEY: A husband, father share heartbreak at early loss Last Thursday, under dark clouds threatening torrents as we've seen lately in Northwest Arkansas, two men gathered with friends and family under a somewhat out-of-place, lone pine tree in the old Bent... June 14, 2019

TED TALLEY: Neither Clinton nor Trump suffered stolen presidencies Hillary Clinton is on tour. Like a rock star. During her Los Angeles stop last Saturday, the former two-time Democratic presidential hopeful sat on stage in an upholstered piece (a chair, not her pant... May 9, 2019

TED TALLEY: Book demonstrates limits of compartmental thinking I had lunch last week with a former college professor and his wife -- dear friends who take an interest in my life and retirement-era writing well beyond coursework from last century. His "attaboys" o... April 11, 2019

TED TALLEY: Been there, done that As a parent it is sometimes hard to navigate that line between encouraging a child to think independently, perhaps even differently from Dad, while remaining silent when a child is embracing nonsense ... March 21, 2019

TED TALLEY: Memories delivered through postal box It's a new year. Or so our Gregorian calendar tells us. Should we believe it? Are we really in 2019 or is it fake news? After all, the calendar we use in much of the modern world isn't all that modern... January 10, 2019

TED TALLEY: Soothing sounds of silence Growing up in mid-century, small-town life where that obscure boot toe of Louisiana meets the notch of Mississippi dipping into the Gulf of Mexico, I had a surprisingly broad education. Though the fam... December 13, 2018

TED TALLEY: Lessons from Tuesday Phew! It's over. Well, almost. Win or lose, most of us should be happy the 2018 mid-terms, state and local elections are done. The only ones who suffer at the end of recent campaigns are media sales p... November 8, 2018

TED TALLEY: A tale of two visits As "Animal House" and "American Pie" sequels continued in the judiciary hearing chambers and on cable news 24/7 recently, I actually did what grandstanding Hollywood types merely threaten when any Rep... October 17, 2018

TED TALLEY: The musical change of seasons August heat continues, yet summer nears an end. Seasons don't technically change until the Sept. 22 equinox, but events approaching on the calendar tell us autumn leaves will soon be aflutter. Just as... August 9, 2018