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Take a Step Back in Time at Dudley Farm Historic Park

By Albert Isaac
A windmill spins slowly in the breeze. The smell of wood smoke wafts through the air as brush is burned in a garden near the old wooden farmhouse. A man guides a push plow through the soft soil in the vegetable garden.He pauses to survey his work.“It’s still crooked,” he says and shakes his head.The year could be 1858, but it is 2008, and this working farm is managed very much the way it was more than a century ago.Step onto the grounds of Dudley Farm Historic State Park and...

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Happy Holidays!
By Albert Isaac
I am stunned at the speed at which this year has flown by. For me, it feels like only yesterday when it was the 1970s and I was waiting in block-long lines to buy gas for about 50 cents per gallon.Today, I paid an outlandish $1.99 per gallon - outlandish not because this seems like a lot to pay for a gallon of gasoline, but because these days it actually seems like a pretty good... + Read More
Tower VIP picks for every bibliophile
By Laura Wright
Still stuck on what to buy your friend or family member this holiday season - or maybe just want to reward yourself with something special at the end of the year? A book may be the best bet. Books are portable, do not require batteries or assembly, and can last a long time if taken care of, left to be rediscovered again and again.Picking out a... + Read More

An Iwo Jima Survivor

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By Marina Blomberg
It was the morning of Feb. 19, 1945, and after an interminable number of days at sea from San Diego through the Marshall Islands, 20-year-old Bob Gasche saw what could have been his destiny. Or his demiseIt was Iwo Jima.As he clambered down the netting from the AK attack ship onto the LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel; a plywood boat with a transom/tailgate that dropped down) into the murky surf of the Pacific - an area that had a reputation of ranging hungry sharks - Gasche (pronounced guh-SHAY) did not really know what he was getting into. But he was a part of a thousands-strong team and he was briefed (kinda) on what he could...

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