1.  Happy trails, old friend.  Benny Parsons wasn’t just one of NASCAR’s many champions.  As a broadcaster, he introduced new generations of fans to many of today’s modern stock-car heroes.  And he explained things going on in the business with beautiful simplicity.  He proved to be a wonderful ambassador for a sport that has, in recent years, gone from being mainly a Southern tradition into a national phenomenon. 

 

By the time I was old enough to watch racing, Parsons was at the tail end of his career.  Drivers like Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough were the ones dominating the headlines, with future legends Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott starting to make noise.  But listening to Parsons talk about the business and about some of the people in it, I got the sense that he was much more than a driver.  He was a living time capsule of the sport.

 

Over a quarter-century after taking his last smoke, Parsons succumbed to lung cancer on Tuesday, January 16, at age 65.  He will be dearly missed.

 

2.  Only by grace…  A woman in Gastonia , a suburb of Charlotte , recently left her two-year old son inside her car with the engine running, to go back into her house.  When she returned moments later, someone was driving off with the car.  The thief ultimately crashed the car and took off on foot, but not before he dropped the little boy off at an intersection several blocks away from his home.  A Good Samaritan stayed with the boy until police arrived and reunited him with his mother.

 

That little boy and his mother are both very lucky.  Had circumstances been different, the ending may not have been as happy.  It’s a reminder that, in today’s world, Diligence is closer to Godliness than Cleanliness is.  I’m hoping that the mother will not repeat that mistake again.  Woe betides her if she does.

 

3.  The new space warriors.  The Chinese flexed some military muscle recently, by knocking an old weather satellite out of orbit with a kinetic kill vehicle.  It’s not like the Chinese did something that’s never been done.  Both the old Soviet Union and the United States have demonstrated different levels of anti-satellite ability. 

 

In the short term, there is now a cloud of debris where the satellite used to be that will be a threat to other satellites and spacecraft.  But analysts believe that the long-term threat will be to American reconnaissance satellites, especially if China and Taiwan come to blows at some point.

 

It’s not known at this point what China ’s intentions are with this new anti-satellite weapon.  The way I see it, though, this is actually good news for the United States .  I’ve mentioned before that the loss of the Soviet Union as a superpower has made the world much more unpredictable.  China seems to be taking steps to fill that void. 

 

4.  The CW loves Chris.  It’s no surprise that Everybody Hates Chris will be back for a third season, in 2007-08, on the CW network.  It emerged as a popular show during UPN’s last season of existence, and now anchors the new network’s Monday-night block of comedies.  Everybody Hates Chris is one of the funniest shows on television right now, led by Chris Rock as the narrator and Tyler James Williams as Chris as his younger self, and with its first season already available on DVD, it is sure to be around for many years.

 

5.  A cheap shameless plug.  Useless Knowledge hasn’t cornered the market on writing talent.  And that gives me the opportunity to tell you all about a true gem.

 

 

Tracy Curtis makes for refreshing reading.  I’ll encourage you to check her out for yourself.

 

6.  A fair and tender lady.  As I was flipping through the channels recently, I ran across a program on Lee Smith, author of novels such as Oral History, Family Linen and On Agate Hill.  I first met Ms. Smith at a reception for novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who had given a lecture at N.C. State University .  At the time, I was still studying civil engineering, but because I had an interest in fiction writing, I made it my goal to take her fiction-writing class.

 

I remember Ms. Smith’s class being one of my favorite in my years in Raleigh .  The subject matter definitely interested me, and so too did the instructor.  Ms. Smith radiated the kind of charm and gentility associated with Southerners.  She was unpretentious and humble, not the type of person who comes to mind when thinking of a bestselling author.  I learned a lot from her during that semester, and I still think of her whenever I write. 

 

7.  Touching greatness.  It’s not every day that a person gets to meet a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  So when I met Joe Gibbs a few years ago, it turned out to be one of the most humbling experiences of my life.

 

Joe Gibbs, of course, led the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl victories after the 1982, 1987 and 1991 seasons.  He has also won three NASCAR championships with drivers Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart.  Despite his greatness, he has also retained an air of humility and grace that makes him a fan favorite.

 

I met Coach Gibbs at a book signing at his racing headquarters in Huntersville, north of Charlotte .  My original intention was to have him simply sign his name in my copy of his book Racing to Win.  After all, this sporting giant didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat.  It would be presumptuous of me to ask for anything else, even though he was gladly doing custom inscriptions.  But when he saw me wearing the burgundy-and-gold 28 jersey, a replica honoring the venerable cornerback Darrell Green, he truly got excited.  In fact, he told me that he really appreciated the fact that I wore the Redskins colors that day.  He insisted that he do more than merely sign my book.  He signed it, “To Claxton, a super Skins fan—God bless.”

 

God certainly did bless me that day.

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About the author: Claxton Graham has written over 100 articles for Useless Knowledge. He has also written the unpublished novels Now Batting..., Santa's Sleigh Is Missing and The Writer's Nightmare. He works as a business analyst.

Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com

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