Enotes

The other night, I sat for over an hour and got caught up on the life of my daughter's Godfather's son. I hadn't seen him since he was a toddler, so I had about 20 years of his life to get filled in on. Sadly, it took the young man's death to present this opportunity. Jacob Lank was 22 years old, handsome, and by the accounts of his friends who shared stories of him Tuesday night at the RG/GR Harris Funeral Home in Livonia, very mischievous and a prankster. But he was also fiercely loyal, a wonderful big brother and smart. He had great character, his friends said. One called Jacob "brave." His little sister, Maddy, talked of how Jacob---Jake, really---and she made up a Leprechaun named George and how Maddy, as a youngster, would write George letters. And George would write back, to her amazement. He even left her some lucky charms, which she said she still carries with her to this day. Turns out the letter writer was Jake, posing as George the Leprechaun. This...

Our daughter, a high school senior, gets to watch movies in class on occasion. I can tell you two things: the films are a lot more entertaining than the celluloid we viewed in my day; and yet I kind of pity her, because the whole movie watching thing for her is rather humdrum. I shall explain. Anyone over the age of 40 should remember what it was like when there was going to be a movie shown in class that day. It was a big deal. Who can forget the rumble of the big cart rolling down the hallway, on which was the seemingly huge film projector, being wheeled into the classroom by the "A/V geek," who was nothing more than a fellow student who somehow wrangled his way into such a gig. Then the anticipation of the movie itself, which wasn't a feature film like the kids in school are privileged to view nowadays. Rather, it was very instructional in nature---like about science or social studies, etc. Perhaps it was a movie about how we use oxygen in everyday life. Or how they ma...

What's worse? To be known as a police department rife with buffoons, or one that is complicit with a loose cannon "community watch" volunteer? That's pretty much the choice being offered up to the Sanford (Fla) police department, in the wake of the fallout over the tragic shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26. The shooter, George Zimmerman, wasn't so much as brought to the police station for questioning, even though he literally held a smoking gun in his hand when police arrived that fateful night. In fact, Zimmerman was allowed to go home with that gun still smoking in his truck, while Trayvon was lying dead on the ground, a gunshot wound to the chest proving fatal. Almost a month after the incident, Zimmerman is still roaming free and the firestorm is spreading more rapidly than a Hollywood rumor. The Sanford police chief, Bill Lee, stepped aside today, albeit "temporarily." This, one day after the city commission voted, 3-2, to render ...

Who doesn't love a good mystery? Whether it's a novel, a movie or a story lifted from a true crime magazine---we love a whodunnit, a "what happened to it," and a "where did it go?" It's coming up on 75 years ago when one of America's---and indeed the world's---greatest mysteries was born. Amelia Earhart, the beloved female aviator, went missing on July 2, 1937, somewhere in the South Pacific. Her plane crashed, and that's pretty much all we've known for three quarters of a century. Now there may be some sort of closure on the horizon, though it would be wise not to get your hopes raised too high. This summer, the U.S. Government, with the help of $500,000 provided by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, will focus on the remote island of Nikumaroro, in what is now the Pacific nation of Kiribati. There, they hope to use state-of-the-art equipment and technology to locate the remains of Earhart, her navigator Fred Noona...

I'm a man who actually doesn't mind going shopping at Target. I know I'm in the minority. I know a trip to Target, for most men, is one that is commonly accompanied by kicking and screaming. But I have an ulterior motive for treks to Target: popcorn and soda. It's a hidden gem, I tell you. At Target---at least the one near our house---you can get a decent size bag of popcorn and a medium-sized drink for $1.99. Yep---one ninety-nine. So while Mrs. Eno grabs a shopping cart and sets out to cross off her list, I make a beeline for the snack counter to grab my deal of the century. For $2.11, after tax, I can munch on fresh popcorn and sip an icy cold drink, like a child, while my better half shops. Oh, I'm not stodgy or protective. I absolutely offer my wife popcorn and pop throughout our shopping visit. So I'm sharing the wealth. Popcorn and a pop for $2.11. I bring this up because a similar combo, at your neighborhood movie house, would set you back about $8-10. E...

What is becoming increasingly clear in the fallout of the misogynist remarks made by conservative wonk Rush Limbaugh is that the Republican Party is about to place in nomination for the most important, most treacherous job in the world, a man who doesn't have the courage to stand up to a talk radio host. So how can we expect the GOP nominee, as president, to stand up to the bullies, dictators and other ne'er-do-wells that exist on this planet? Answer: we can't. They say silence is deafening, and in the case of Limbaugh and his attack on Georgetown student Sandra Fluke, the silence has managed to be louder than Limbaugh himself---and that's not easy to do. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have each offered tepid, milquetoast responses to Limbaugh, who called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute," while also calling for the young woman to produce sex tapes. All because Fluke had the temerity to want to testify on Capitol Hill about the Universi...

It's been said that it's easy to run for President of the United States. What's difficult is stopping. I don't think that's true of Mitt Romney. I'm not convinced that Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts and Republican frontrunner, is all that jazzed about this whole running for president thing. Romney speaks of his business acumen and his days in the board rooms almost wistfully, like he's thinking, "THOSE were the days!" CEOs don't have to run for anything. They don't have to get anyone to like them. They don't have to explain themselves. They're rarely even held accountable. All those traits, I think Mitt Romney misses very badly. What he also misses very badly is in his attempts to orate. It was all there for Romney on Tuesday night, to inject some passion and touch on some emotional chords. He had just won a victory in the Michigan GOP primary---his supposed "home state." You know, the place where the trees a...