Buck Ramsey (cowboy poet) testifying in favor of funding National Endowment for the Humanities “I think our nation, and our species has common memory that keep us, through tradition, connected; reminded of the precious things our minds and hearts and souls have sifted and sanctified from our long and common experience. But, as regards to songs, stories, and poems, which are much of the tradition of my tribe, I learned early a curious fact:...

Stories come in various versions. That’s one of their charms. And sometimes, as proof that stories are living entities, they can come around and startle you. I’m painting the interior of a house that I recently moved into. It’s such a big project, I probably talk about it too much. Didn’t realize my mother was also talking. Evidently she’s telling everyone that she taught me how to paint. I remember the summer when...