Dell Deaton

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Author: Dell Deaton

Quoting JR Ewing, on Eulogizing Jock Ewing

JR Ewing (Larry Hagman):

I’m sorry, Daddy. I let you down. I just flat gave up.

Back there at that swamp — you were gone. It was all over. Didn’t seem like there was anything worth going on for for me.

And I almost forgot—.

You left us something; you left us the company. You built Ewing Oil from the ground up. And whatever it took — you did it for Ewing Oil. And I’m gonna do the same. I’m gonna pass it on bigger and stronger to my son.

I’m back, Daddy.

And nobody’s gonna take Ewing Oil away from me, or my son, or his son.

“I swear to you: By God, I’m gonna make you proud’a me.

— Leonard Katzman, Dallas

“cocksucker”

offensive

  • one who performs fellatio —often used as a generalized term of abuse

— Merriam-Webster

Seminars for Catholic conference on divorce

Earlier this year, I gave two talks a couple-hundred attendees at the North American Conference of Separated and Divorced Catholics in an auditorium at the University of Notre Dame.

The title was “How Can You Trust After Divorce?”

This offering was previewed in the May 20, 2004 issue of The Saline Reporter in an expansive feature titled, “Facing ‘Reality’ — Divorce mediator places value on elements of trust,” page 9-A. Following is a key excerpt.

The ‘Trust’ seminars … are based on a presentation first given by Divorce Reality Group audiences in Saline last April. The subject is covered through a combination of the latest academic research and heartfelt anecdotes connecting to the struggles of audience members.

Basic definitions are explored, as well as core challenges such, ‘Are you sure you want the whole truth, all the time?’ Game playing, fallout from extramarital affairs, and ‘truth serum’ are also discussed.’

Although this coverage ran sans byline, I believe it was written by Renee Collins, based on her attendance locally the April prior and a discussion that I had with her immediately after.

Quoting Seneca, on accomplishment

Love of bustle is not industry.

Quoting “Sales Management Report,” on perspective

The king had two sons — one an optimist, the other a pessimist. The king gave the pessimist everything he desired, and he gave the optimist a room full of horse manure.

The pessimist was despondent because he no longer had anything to look forward to. The optimist was as happy as he could be. ‘With all this manure,’ he said, ‘there must be a pony in here somewhere.’

Be mindful of distinctions between irreconcilable differences and mere pettiness.

Quoting “Cosmopolitan,” on communication

A study at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, proved that when total strangers hold eye contact for an extended period of time, they start to feel affection for one another even if they haven’t spoken.

— Jennifer Benjamin, “Ways to say ‘I Love You’ Without a Word

I can’t care more about you than you care about yourself.

“segue”

  1. proceed to what follows without pause—used as a direction in music
  2. perform the music that follows like that which has preceded —used as a direction in music

— Merriam-Webster

First appearance in The Saline Reporter?

With a hat tip to the late Sydney J Harris, here’s something that I learned en route to looking up other things — by way of the Central Michigan University “Digital Michigan Newspapers” collection.

Someone apparently thought it important enough to contemporaneously document the time I stepped-up to direct a Saline High School fall drama, “The Night of January 16th,” by Ayn Rand. Here’s a snippet of what Anne Tull Kirvan wrote in her December 24, 1980, article for The Saline Reporter, titled “Murder Trial A Tribute To Students’ Efforts.”

‘The Night of Jan 16’ had faltered and almost died in rehearsal, weeks ago, when the student teacher-director withdrew. But the students — aided by Nancy Fisher — refused to quit. Dell Deaton, a senior SHS student with no previous experience in directing, took over the job of whipping the production into shape ….

For the best look at this article, and certainly accompanying photography, at least one original print edition is maintained as part of the local history section in the Saline District Library.

Materials from the work of Sydney Harris are available elsewhere.

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