Mendon Archives - Page 3 of 5

White Cream Donuts

By Chris Carosa on November 10, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the November 8, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

To the world: I apologize. I confess to a vice of unimaginable corruption. I am truly sorry. In my regret, I confront a life-long affliction – my passionate ardor for… white cream donuts.

It began as a child. On bright sunny Sundays, my parents would take me, my brother and my sisters to the donut shop after church. As soon as my father parked the car, we would joyfully yank open the doors and leap out into the modest bakery. Inside, our nostrils filled with the warm sweet smell of freshly made donuts. We had Continue Reading “White Cream Donuts”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Donuts & Cream, Growing Up, M-Cubed, Mendon, Orchard Park, Wegmans, White Cream Donuts

An Old-Fashioned Circus – RIGHT Here in Honeoye Falls!

By Chris Carosa on June 23, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 21, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

I don’t have many childhood memories of going to the circus. (About the closest thing I can think of concerns the Big Tree Firemen’s Carnival, but that’s another story so forget I even mentioned it!)

It’s not like I never went to a circus or anything. The big circuses I visited, though, had too much bigness for a little kid to really enjoy. For example, from the upper level of Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, one needs binoculars to catch the funny magic tricks clowns like to perform. This cannot represent the kind of up-close-Continue Reading “An Old-Fashioned Circus – RIGHT Here in Honeoye Falls!”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Growing Up, Honeoye Falls, Mendon, Rotary

Mendon Water Tower Redux

By Chris Carosa on June 16, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 14, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

You can look elsewhere in this paper for a report on the June 7 meeting between concerned Mendon citizens and the Monroe County Water Authority (MCWA). The following merely comments on those proceedings in as fair and unbiased a fashion one can expect from a resident of Mendon.

The meeting last Thursday night showed a few interesting things. First, it looks like everyone agrees we’ve got a water problem in southeast Mendon. Second, those Continue Reading “Mendon Water Tower Redux”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Mendon, Monroe County Water Authority, politics

Banzai!

By Chris Carosa on March 24, 2011

[This Commentary originally intended to appear in the March 22, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

“Banzai!” shouted Joey as he thrust headfirst straight down the side of the mountain.

“Banzai!” yelled Ricky shooting through the narrow gap of eerie outcroppings of ragged rock before gliding into a white abyss of sheer ice. His monoski barely touched the gritty granular snow which provided the only hope for braking his fall.

“Banzai!” echoed Ken, a tequila primed fireplug of non-stop energy and exuberance, following his comrades off the 11,000 foot peak at nearly ninety miles an hour.Continue Reading “Banzai!”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged entrepreneur, Growing Up, inspiration, Mendon, Sentinel

More Lasting Than Bronze

By Chris Carosa on March 22, 2011

Exegi monumentum aere perennius.

Horace begins a sarcastic ode on his own immortality with the above phrase, which translates to “I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze.” Ironically, in our continuing study of this poem, Horace has, indeed, achieved a form of immortality, one invulnerable to the physical ravages of time.

Last week I wrote a fanciful speech I never intended to deliver (“Et tu, Espagnol?”). This week, however, fate guided me to the School Board meeting where, with no preparation I delivered the following remarks (perhaps slightly embellished for the purposes of this page):

“I am reminded of a time some twenty or so years ago when a different Continue Reading “More Lasting Than Bronze”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life Tagged HFL, Honeoye Falls, Latin, Lima, Mendon, orchestra, string

Mega-Mall Mania

By Chris Carosa on December 16, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the December 7, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Those picture postcards really have it. The small chateau with the roof thickened by a foot of snow. The gentle rolling hills of white. The soft pillar of smoke rising mildly from the brick chimney. The Charlie Brown size snowflakes feathering down from the pleasantly gray sky. The scene conjures all the familial imagery of a country Christmas.

A far cry from the maddening malls of suburban shopping centers. These hubs of hysteria make even the slushy city glisten with tradition. Somehow, when they invented Continue Reading “Mega-Mall Mania”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Christmas, Honeoye Falls, Mendon, philosophy, shopping

Monday Night Volleyball

By Chris Carosa on October 28, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the October 26, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

For years I have played volleyball. In fact, if memory serves correctly, I spent the last two-and-a-half years of high school gym classes dabbling in the sport. Yes, in those days, the team of SC³ proved to be truly entertaining. (You have to read that last sentence with the voice of Howard Cosell in order for it to be really effective.) Of course, the four of us had an advantage – we were always on the same team. That experience of teamwork, and the resulting rapport, far exceeded our scrawny, unathletic builds and helped make our unit equal to much larger classmates – a victory for all 98-pound weaklings.

Though we competed vigorously, no stressful seriousness spoiled our fun. We won some games, we lost some games. We didn’t enforce the rules strictly; after all, our Continue Reading “Monday Night Volleyball”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Gates Chili, Growing Up, Mendon, sportsmanship, Volleyball

Legalize Drugs?!

By Chris Carosa on October 7, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the October 5, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

In a recent CBS-New York Times survey, 64% of the respondents named drugs as the nation’s top problem. The high degree of attention currently being paid to our country’s drug epidemic may be due to President Bush’s initiatives of just about a month ago. (A similar poll taken last July revealed only 22% of the people claimed drugs to be the nation’s number one plight.)

With all the political news coming from Washington D.C. and the war stories emanating from Columbia, the issue of uncontrolled use of controlled substances has supplanted Continue Reading “Legalize Drugs?!”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged cocaine, Honeoye Falls, internet, Mendon, Prodigy, Rotary, Yale

Outfitting Today’s Athlete

By Chris Carosa on September 30, 2010

[This Commentary originally appeared in the September 28, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

The last time I bought sneakers Jimmy Carter occupied the White House, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dragged along at 800, and the city of New Haven provided its first taste to a freshman from Rochester. The old fashioned red, white and blue Nikes I purchased saw much action. They cushioned my soles against the city pavement when I walked the half mile each way to Science Hill (and Ingalls Rink). They accompanied me on the intramural battlefields, (but witnessed precious little action in the many squash courts which dotted the campus).

After graduation, the sneaks helped cut grass – their white skin becoming progressively Continue Reading “Outfitting Today’s Athlete”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Growing Up, Mendon, sneakers, Volleyball, Yale

Hooray for the Perseids!

By Chris Carosa on August 12, 2010

[This Commentary originally appear in the August 10, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

It’s not been a very good summer for stargazing – at least on Monday nights. The hazy skies tend to catch too much light. Remember, the full moon we had a few weeks back. It lit up the entire atmosphere.

Of course, the omnipresent haze does lend itself to some interesting night-time sights. For instance, did you ever watch a descending jet? When the plane puts its landing lights on, an arrow of humid sky blazes into illumination. It sort of looks like the craft is shooting weak phasers.

The haze isn’t the only problem that could hurt stargazing. Fortunately, we don’t live Continue Reading “Hooray for the Perseids!”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged astronomy, Mendon, Meteor, Perseids