Short Autobiographical Article by My Friend, Larry Sanders

There exists a contest I had not known about until Larry told me about it.  Two editors in Dallas, Ginnie Bivona and Larry Upshaw solicited short pieces by authors 65 and older, divided them in catagories: poetry, essays, and short stories, awarded them 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and Honorable Mentions and published them in in Ageless Authors Anthology,  of which the 2017 edition is the second annual.  Ginnie, 86, tells elders who complain about not being able to master technology  enough to submit entries, "Just ask your children and grandchildren for help.  After all, you taught them how to use a spoon!"

Larry sent TR and I a copy of this book for Christmas.  I will be adding it to my "to read" pile and will get to the whole thing, but in the meantime, I re-read his piece which won third place in the essay category, "My ' Go Dau Ha' Puppy.  I promised I would never forget."  Larry has written a number of rememberances of his Viet Nam experience as a medic assigned to an Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) unit near the Cambodian border.  Those I have read are traumatic, charming, humorous, and terrifying.  This one is sweetly sad and charming.  I hope he will publish all of them, even if they have to be self published.  He included for us a picture of Deros, his adorable rescue puppy.  It was not published with the story--a shame.  Thank you for this book, Larry.



I have now started On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett.  Unlike vintage Follett, this is a non fiction recounting of the Ross Perot led rescue of his EDS employees stationed in Iran trying to establish a national social security system when they were caught by revolution in 1978.  Because EDS is a Dallas corporation and Ross lived here, he is something of a local hero and this is a local legend.  But evidently is wider known than just here.  This rescue proceeds while our embassy officials were kidnapped and held for ransom.