Charles Frenzel

I’m a factual sort of person. Even though I wouldn’t call myself a journalist, I investigate things from the point of view of the primary data. I want to be responsible. I don’t want to use hearsay without identifying it as hearsay. I don’t want to hope that I am factual. I tend to forget […]

“This article is reprinted with permission from CleanerTimes/IWA, a monthly trade journal serving the pressure cleaning and waterjetting industries.  For more information please visit www.cleanertimes.com or www.waterjettingdirectory.com . Article by Kathy Danforth June 2011, p. 42, Cleaner Times Dr. Lydia Frenzel has been a significant force in the waterjetting industry since her early work in […]

I happened upon Beverly Barton’s books only recently, and then only because I read an article on her untimely death. I wish I had run across her sooner because now whatever I say takes on a kind of criticism of sacred ground. Even so, I’d like to offer an opinion on what I considered a […]

Okay, I’ve had enough billy goat to last me a lifetime. This one is a curly-haired, horned beast with a playful disposition that belongs somewhere on a farm and not in a back yard. Lately the goat has decided that our land looks much more attractive than his and has found a way through or […]

As a lifelong follower of Doctor Who, I  mourn the passing of Elisabeth Sladen, the Doctor’s pluckiest, most worthy companion of all time. Not that I haven’t liked other companions, but there was something about the character of Sarah Jane that Elisabeth Sladen created that was like a primal force that overcame all opposition through […]

Callie’s character has grown a lot since she witnessed her best friend killed and her mother die in an explosion aboard a boat. She’s arrived in Ridgeville, Texas, to start her college career.  She’s barely finished her second month of classes when she gets involved in a drug bust and is thrown out of her […]

Some pundits continue to sound off on how indifferent the latest crop of college students are to community concerns. I beg to differ. Pundits  love to spout this popular notion which is designed mainly to disguise the lack of leadership among some of their own generation. Thirty-five women of the Alpha Zeta chapter of Chi […]

The sign over the door might have said, or ought to have said, Treatment; I think it actually said Rm107. In any case, it was the entrance to the rooms where cancer patients are treated. The sorts of things that passed through my mind as I followed my wife into the sanctum weren’t really about […]

Last night, at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, I listened to Justice Stephen Breyer discuss his ideas on American Democracy and the Rule of Law. He’s a very good speaker with some very illuminating  ideas about the strengths and weaknesses of American Democracy. Among other things, he discussed Hamilton’s reasoning concerning having a Supreme […]

I inadvertently delved even deeper into the murky depths of social networking when I mentioned my wife’s problems with cancer. I received all the usual automated messages asking for donations or membership that appear after mentioning any major disease. Using a word like  measles, cancer, typhoid, or polio usually brings a brief flurry of messages […]

If I had ever doubted that bad news travels faster than good news, then I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when my wife’s operation reported the presence of a malignant cancer. At first it seemed as if she might get off lightly. There was no evidence that any of the cancer cells […]

I was very disturbed the other day to hear someone pound the table and say that ” we should wait for the perfect solution and we will all be much happier.” Classically, what was so profoundly attractive about our culture was embedded in the single phrase “pursuit of happiness.” To explain, happiness isn’t about joy; […]

To say that I enjoyed reading Valerie Dickison’s new children’s book, Lydia of Grayfields,  would be a gross understatement. I think it will have all the potential for being another Winnie the Pooh. It crosses all age groups, although it is aimed at precocious young pre-teen readers. The subtitle is The Cat that Chose to […]

Each year I set out optimistically to write my signature piece on the Holidays and wind up in the middle of December without having written a single happy sentence. I was hoping that this his year might be different. The fireplace on the back patio has grown cold and dark before dawn, the wind is […]

From the moment I met Sasha in the sewers in Moscow I knew I’d be in for fast paced race to the finish. The best part was that I had no idea where that finish was going to be. I don’t believe I’ve ever read in the “erotic alien abduction” genre. In fact, I had […]