February 5, 2023 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com James Joyce, the writer who had to leave Dublin to narrate its soul, is remembered for more than classic works like “Dubliner” and Ulysses.” His story and character quotes are almost unbelievable pull-outs from the recesses of our minds. “Shut your eyes […]
Author: thecolumnrule
STILLNESS
January 29, 2023 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com Despite the rotation, a doorknob has stillness. You may have gone on a trip, and the handle has not been turned. You will do so, and the great feeling of home will hit, no matter how fine the journey has been. Maybe this isn’t […]
UNFINISHED STORIES
By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com “Unfinished Story,” the title of this painting inspired by an old doorway on Piermont Avenue in the Hudson River village, speaks for itself. We all have unfinished stories. When I spotted the doorway in Piermont, N.Y., once a railroad town, then a factory town and […]
OF A QUIET EVENING
January 15, 2023 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com For someone like my grandfather Arthur Sr., the Information Age began in his 20s with a flood of great daily New York City newspapers like The World, the New York Times and the New York Daily News. He also had a crystal radio set, […]
TETHERED
January 9, 2023 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com There is this thing about a woman in the early morning holding her hands around a warm, even mildly hot cup of java or tea. In conversation or not, there is an anchor, and whatever her thoughts, the tether’s for a reason. […]
BE KIND
January 1, 2023 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com This is the traditional make-resolutions day, the get-fit, renew-yourself makeover start. Sometimes some of us actually do that. I’m still compiling a list from the January Ones of long ago. Most of us have good intentions. We do want to improve, to […]
MESSAGE AT CHRISTMAS
December 25, 2022 By Arthur H. Gunther IV For some years, my son Arthur IV, a writer too, has offered a holiday story published in this space. Reprinted here is one of my favorites from some years back – AHG III. Franklin was a man of routine. Perhaps such […]
OLD IS NEW
December 18, 2022 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com ahgunther@yahoo.com There’s this thing about radiators. Not long ago they were old-fashioned but are now in vogue with home renovators overpaying scrap dealers. They are unheard of in many parts of the nation that don’t need central heating. And they were once a best […]
THE GUNTHER BOYS
December 9, 2022 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com ahgunther@yahoo.com Your younger sibling should not pass before you do, though my brother Craig William Gunther always appeared as the older one. He was handsome with blond hair and blue eyes, a different look in a family of brown tops and eyes. He was […]
A FELLOW’S MORNING
December 4, 2022 By Arthur H. Gunther III thecolumnrule.com ahgunther@yahoo.com More or less at 6:15 a.m., an older fellow moves across Western Highway in Blauvelt, N.Y., to a small grocery where contractors, refuse collectors, DPW workers and other musicians in the band that keeps daily life moving gather for the quick morning coffee, […]