(Palm-Print
Photo by Edward F. Palm)

About Me

My photo
Forest, Virginia, United States
A long time ago, my sophomore English teacher, Father William Campbell, saw something in my writing and predicted that I would someday become a newspaper columnist. He suggested the perfect title for my column--"Leaves of the Palm." Now that I have a little extra time on my hands I've decided to put Father Campbell's prediction to the test. I'm going to start using this blog site not just to reprint opinion pieces I've published elsewhere but to try to get more of my ideas and opinions out there. Feedback is welcome. To find out more about me, please check out my Web site: www.EdwardFPalm.com (Click on any of the photos below for an enlarged view.)

Sunday, December 31, 2017

My Column for December 31, 2017

I'm sharing my new year's resolution this week. --S/f, EFP


Sunday, December 24, 2017

My Column for December 24, 2017

"You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!" --S/f, EFP


Sunday, December 3, 2017

Sunday, November 26, 2017

My Column for November 26, 2017

NRA members are denouncing me for this one. I must have done something right. --S/f, EFP


Sunday, November 19, 2017

My Column for November 19, 2017

The epigraph for this week's column comes from Milton's Paradise Lost: "A gulf as profound as that Serbonian bog . . . where armies whole have sunk." --S/f, EFP



Sunday, November 12, 2017

Sunday, November 5, 2017

My column for November 5, 2017

An update: Brian Edward Palm died at 10:15 a.m. on 31 October 2017.  --S/f, EFP


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sunday, September 24, 2017

My Column for September 24, 2017


I need to preface this column with a mea culpa. It appeared online on Friday, and on Saturday morning, I received a nicely worded email from Lynn Novick asking me to acknowledge that she was the co-producer and co-director of the series. I'm happy to do so. From what I've since learned, the series should have been billed as Lynn Novick and Ken Burns's "The Vietnam War." Novick did most of the work.  See "Meet Lynn Novick, the most important documentarian you've never heard of," Washington Post, 21 Sept. 2017. --S/f, EFP



Sunday, September 10, 2017

Sunday, September 3, 2017

My Column for September 3, 2017


This week, I'm looking back on an impromptu pool party we had in Vietnam in 1967. See the second page of my Flickr album "Vietnam 1967" for a few photos of that party. --S/f, EFP   (https://www.flickr.com/photos/palm-prints/albums/72157649413461719/page1)

P.S. One correction: I think it was three weeks before I got to change my socks.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Sunday, July 30, 2017

My Column for July 30, 2017

In the words of the poet, "Look homeward, angel, and melt with ruth." (I dodged a posthumous bullet.) --S/f, EFP


Sunday, July 23, 2017

My Column for July 23, 2017

In the words of the immortal Warren Zevon, "Life will kill you! Requiescat in pace. That's all she wrote." --S/f, EFP



Sunday, July 16, 2017

Sunday, July 9, 2017

My Column for July 9, 2017

In the words of the bard, "Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me."  --S/f, EFP


Sunday, July 2, 2017

My Column for July 2, 2017

As one of my former faculty members at Glenville State once complained to my executive assistant, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, "Colonel, the major is causing trouble again!" (I was a department chair at Glenville.) --S/f, EFP



Sunday, June 25, 2017

My Column for June 25, 2017

In the words of the bard, "I am a man more sinned against than sinning!" --S/f, EFP


Sunday, June 18, 2017

Sunday, June 11, 2017

My Column for June 11, 2017

Department of Fair Warning: You won't be able to unsee the image I create here. (I had a paragraph break before the coda. The page designer ran the last two paragraphs together to make room for the teaser.) --S/f, EFP


Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Sunday, May 14, 2017

My Column for May 14, 2017

It occurs to me that what Trump needs is a good old-fashioned court jester.  --S/f, Ed


Sunday, May 7, 2017

My Column for May 7, 2017

Having gone no-Trump for a few weeks now, I decided it was time to jump back into the fray. --S/f, EFP

Sunday, April 30, 2017

My Column for April 30, 2017

Come the revolution, the communication companies are going to belong to the people! --S/f, EFP




Sunday, April 16, 2017

My Column for April 16, 2017

I'm having a Miltonic moment this week. I'm helping "justify the ways of God to men [and women]." --S/f, EFP

Sunday, April 9, 2017

My Column for April 9, 2017

Palm, in your heart you know he's right--especially today, Palm Sunday!  --S/f, EFP


Sunday, April 2, 2017

My Column for April 2, 2017

And what about all the young men wearing their hair short these days?  They've appropriated my Marine Corps culture.  --S/f, EFP

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Occasional Dispatch #26

Another lesson in literature--a service I provide at no additional charge.  --S/f, EFP


Sunday, January 29, 2017

Occasional Dispatch #25

This week, I'm reporting visiting hallowed ground and admitting to living in a "house divided.". --S/f, EFP