Columns

For decades Ken Bradbury wrote a newspaper column — by turns funny, tender, and sharp-eyed about small-town life, faith, family, and the people of central Illinois.

Ken's columns ran for years in The Source in Jacksonville, Illinois, and as The Coonridge Digest. They are collected here — short stories, really, drawn from the towns and characters he knew. Use the filter to find one by title.

• ‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple
• (CUE SOUND: “Twilight Zone” theme.)
• #$%^
• 11-7-49
• 4 Wheels Comin’ at Cha
• 5’2” Tin Pan Alley
• A Bloody Good Cause
• A Bloomin’ Winner!
• A Clothed Discussion
• A Final Goodbye
• A Firm Grasp on my Marbles
• A Frigid Tale
• A grave matter
• A Humorous Undertaking
• A Matter of Taste
• A Memorable Memorial
• A Mighty Sticky Lot
• A Mighty Sticky Lot
• A Moving Experience
• A Moving Experience, Part Two
• A New Bedmate
• A Numbskull Among the Nuthatches
• A Passing Folly
• A Presby-Metho-Bapt-Olic
• A Radish for Mom
• A Rare Privilege
• A Real Page Turner
• A Reason to Celebrate
• A Reason to Scream
• A Shot in the Foot
• A skirl o’ the pipes, a whirl o’the kilt
• A Spiritual Laxative
• A State-ly Excursion
• A Story of Bill
• A Tale of Note
• A Tale of Two Dollars
• A Touching Tale
• Acting Up
• Air Conditioning
• Air Santa
• All Hands on Board
• All Hands on Deck
• Amanda
• Americans Abroad
• Amish
• An Alien View of Jacksonville
• An Ode to Joe
• An Ode to Old Underwear
• An Ode to the Gas Pump
• And Now a Word From Our Sponsor
• And on the 8th Day God Made Burgoo
• Answering the Call
• Arenzville 1, Zuschka
• Arenzville 5K 2014
• Arenzville 6, Town Oddities
• Arenzville at 175 (and 10, and 6, and 12:30)
• Arenzville Run
• Arenzville to Jacksonville, Part 217
• Arenzville Turkey Trot
• Arenzville Veterans
• Art Deficit Disorder
• At Your Convenience
• Backing Up
• Bam’em Lizzie, Bam’em
• Barely Making It
• Barney Fife and Postage Stamps
• BB Guns, Raggedy Ann, Hamsters all the Way!
• Beardstown, Bodyguards & Born to be Wild
• Beardstowners, Booze and Billy Goats
• Beauty Pageant
• Beecher, Sturtevant, and Weirdos
• Better Not Wish
• Better Not Wish
• Biding My Time
• Big Wheels Keep on Rollin’
• Big Year in a Small Town
• Blackmailing My Way to Florida
• Blame in on the Ferris Wheel
• Blame the Cows
• Blessed Assurance Insurance
• Blessed Interruptions
• Boat People
• Bob The Dog
• Boink.
• Boring Jobs
• Bowl Walking Redux
• Breakfast Burgers and Bulls
• Bridging the Memories
• Brock Facts
• Buck up!
• Bucking the System
• Bugged Out
• Bullying is real. Bulling is everywhere. Bullying is learned.
• Burma Shave
• Burns Night
• Caleb Symphony Piano
• Camphouse
• Can You Hear Me Now?
• Canvas Bags and Two-Headed Rabbits
• Carnies and G-strings
• Catch the Twain
• Catching the text, Missing the Life
• Celeb Endorsements
• Cell Phones
• Chalk One Up!
• Chautauqua Fellow
• Check, Please…..
• Chet Bone, 100
• Chicken Mania
• Choo Choo Tales
• Choppin’ Chickens, Pullin’ Pullets
• Christmas Comes To Jacksonville
• Christmas For J'ville
• Christmas Letter, 2011
• Christmas OD
• Christmas Traditions 2010
• Church Talk
• City Living, Part 3
• Coming Together
• Coming Unwired
• Command Force
• Completely Malled
• Completely Sauced
• Coors, Chords, and Chicken Wire
• Coors, Chords, and Chicken Wire
• Cottage Cheese and Jesus
• Could you put a “staff” byline on this article since I’m quoting myself? Thanks.
• Country Churches
• County Fairs
• Court Street Christmas
• Crass Christmas
• Crossing Words
• Cruise Lunacy
• Cruise Views You Can Use
• Cruisin’ Stupid
• Crumbs of Fortune
• Crumbs of Memory
• Cursive
• Cynthia
• Damnation by Caffeine
• Dancing Raison and Dead Possoms
• Darby’s Throne
• Dear (Foreign) John
• Dear Mrs. Walker
• Dec 1 On The Road
• Destination Jacksonville!
• Dialects
• Digital Dithering
• Dinner Invites
• Dissecting Jacksonville
• Diverse Ed
• DOB?
• Dodging
• Doesn't Sound Right To Me
• Don’t Blame Me!
• Don't Lecture Me, Bro!
• Double Lives
• Dr. Chet Bone
• Dr. Doolittle Lives
• Dream Travelers
• Drop Your Drawers and Climb Aboard
• Dry Fountains
• Duh . . . .
• Dumb Boat Questions
• Eating Your Medicine
• Eccentrics
• Elementary, My Dear Santa
• Exciting Jacksonville
• Exclamation Point
• Excuse Me While Ignore You
• Extreme Dancer
• Facebook
• Facing up to the President
• Faking It
• Faking It
• Farmer's Bank
• Farmer's Market
• Father Time is a Jerk
• Feeling Artsy
• Feeling Goofy
• Fiero
• Fifty Shades of Childhood
• First Grade
• Flim-Flam
• Flummox
• Foreign Customs
• Fossilizing my Way Through Life
• Franks, Fries and Flying Grapes
• Front Porch Homicide
• Fruitcake
• Fungi Tales
• Gave Proof Through the Night…..
• Gene
• Gifting & Gifting & Gifting & . . .
• Gilligan’s Library….
• Gimme My Milk and Cookies!
• Giving Thanks for the Bold Ones
• Gnats
• Gnats Ain't Bad
• Gnats? Rats!
• Good Train, Bad Train
• Goofs
• Gowns And Goons
• Gp Benefit 18
• GPS
• GPS-ed
• Grab that Heifer!
• Grab Your Kilt…It’s March!
• Grade Schools
• Grandma Got It Wrong
• Grandma’s Girdle
• Grandma's Hike
• Granny Magic
• Grave Words
• Gummy Bears and Gorilla Glue
• Haggis
• Hands Off My Seat
• Hands, Health, Heart, Head ...But No Arm
• Happy Birthday. . . Whoop-te-doo
• Happy, Happy, Happy
• Hats off to Hattie
• Hats Off to the Fedora!
• Heaven
• Heavenly Music
• Heifer
• Her Head was in the Box
• Her Name Was Sarah And Her Story Bears Telling
• Hey Jude…
• Hey! That’s Private!
• Hey...I need your help...if you don't mind.
• High Tech Crow
• High Winds and Dancing Bears
• HIPAA, Totally Un-hip
• Hitting the Right Note
• Hogan, my Hero
• Holmes Night Info
• How About . . . .Silence?
• How About . . . .Silence?
• How Much is that Doggie in my Sushi?
• Huckleberry Finn is dead.
• Hurray for Aunt Mary!
• Hurray for Aunt Mary!
• I am a trustworthy guy. I know this because my phone company confirmed it.
• I Am Not Sexist
• I can’t write this column correctly because I can’t give my proof.
• I Dare You
• I Don’t Float
• I don’t want to appear to be a complete idiot so I always end up chewing on gizzards.
• I don’t want to appear to be a complete idiot so I always end up chewing on gizzards.
• I Hereby Resolve. . . .
• I know a lady who lets oatmeal determine her day. I’m not kidding.
• I like Boomers. Perhaps the fact that I’m a Baby Boomer myself adds to my enjoyment.
• I Miss my Dear Idiom
• I Miss the Catfish
• I once put a sign up in my front yard saying:
• I Question That
• I Robbed Your Bank…Merry Christmas!
• I See You!
• I see, I see
• I Was Just Wondering. . .
• I wish CNN was there to cover it but they weren’t and they will probably never be.
• I’m Glad We Know
• I’m On a Roll
• I’m Supposed To Be Smart
• I’ve Been Watching You Watching Us
• Immortal Words
• Improv TV Announcement
• In A Real Squeeze
• In a skit, answer the Bible’s great unanswered questions:
• In a skit, answer the Bible’s great unanswered questions:
• In Love with 3’s
• In the Land of Kiddies
• Instant Replay
• Into the Wilderness
• Introductions
• Inverse Proportions
• Isaac French Got Himself A Date
• ISD (I was Skinny Dippin’)
• It always happens. I just trade cars and they come out with something I like better.
• It Starts with a P
• It Was So Cold . . .
• It’ Snow Fun
• It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Lawsuit!
• It’s All Right Here, Man
• It’s Going to Be Okay
• It’s Puzzling. . It’s Perplexing. . . It’s Passavant
• It’s such a simple thing. I mean ridiculously simple…. astoundingly simple. Listening.
• J'ville Around The World
• J'ville Of Old.
• Jack Burrus
• Jackso-Leaks
• Jacksonville at Dawn
• Jacksonville Flashers
• Jacksonville Urban Legends
• Jazz
• Jesus in a Mazda
• Jhs Play
• Jim Brim
• John K.
• Judge Not, Lest. . .
• Just Imagine. . .
• Just in the Nick of Name
• Just Look at Me!
• Just Park it, Baby!
• Just when I think I’ve seen it all, I haven’t.
• Just write right, right?
• Knollwood Article
• Koos Koos…Do You?
• Lawn Order
• Leaving Time
• Let’s Hear it for Bob!
• Let’s Pretend
• Letters I've Meant To Write
• Lincoln’s Chopsticks
• Livin’ the Dream
• Llama-rama Ding Dang
• Local Tourism
• London Theatrec
• Loosening The Cannon
• Losing My Pants
• Love (or not) at First Sight
• Making the List…Checking it Twice
• Man vs. Periwinkle
• Manure
• Mary..
• Maybe it’s my perverse imagination, but whenever it gets this cold I think of cemeteries.
• Me and the Bear
• Mean Little Kids
• MediaCommotion
• Memories of Easters past….
• Messy Food
• Mid-Life Crisis
• Missed it by a Hair
• Movin’ On Up!
• Mr. Arenz Found a Town
• Mr. Clean
• Mt. St. Helen
• Musical Feeding Frenzy
• My Black Hole
• My House
• My Leaky Bucket
• My Little Miracle
• My Most Poignant And Sticky Memory Was Of The Thousand Island Dressing Running Through My Fingers
• My Nightly Squeeze
• Name Calling
• Name: Ken Bradbury
• Natucket Petersburg
• Naysayers
• Needing My Fix
• Needing My Fix
• New Year's Booze
• Nicol War
• Nightmares in White
• No Student Left
• Not much humor in this column. There’s really nothing funny about the subject.
• Not My Type
• Odd You Should Say That
• Odds on the Oddities
• Ode To The Bridge
• Oh Baby, baby.
• Oh Canada!
• Oh Captain! My Captain!
• Oh Give me a Dome where the Ivories Roam
• Oh Great…Another List!
• Old Time Day
• Oliver
• On A Sinking Note
• On The Road Again
• On the Road with Freida
• Once is Plenty
• One Good Whiff
• One Grand Idea
• One Grand Old Lady
• One Polite Town
• One Sweet Espression
• One Tough Little Trojan
• Ouch!
• Oui! Oui!
• Out of Fashion
• PAC
• Packaging
• Pardon My Shorts
• Perfect Package
• Personal Space
• Pew Hopping
• Philandering Fingers
• Phillip McGinnis, Arenzville, son of Kellie Stocker
• Piano II
• Piano Lessons
• Pianos
• Pick my pocket, Pierre?
• Plastic Forks and Chandeliers
• Playhouse, 30 Month
• Pondering the Imponderables
• Possum Pieces
• Power Shopping
• Powerful Dreams
• Praise the Lord and Pass the Lard
• Predictable Predictions
• Printer’s Ink and Fresh Carp
• Prisoners of the Cell
• Puppets Are Weird
• Putting Yule To Use
• Questions For The Agesc
• Quirky
• Raw Eel
• Re-Tooling
• Read “Local”
• Reality Check
• Relax, Max
• Restrooms
• Riverboat Snakes
• Robert Got It Wrong
• Roller Coaster
• Rollin’ Up The River
• Ronald Reagan, Honorary Trojan
• Roodhouse
• Run, Forrest, Run!
• Running With The Turkeys
• Saddle Sores at the Cinema
• Salt, Grease, And Rock & Roll
• Santa Claus: Guilty as Charged
• Say Ahhhhh……
• Scalling Statuary
• Scan this, Baby!
• Scarier Than Ghosts
• Selling Jacksonville
• Senior Discount
• Shakespeare…Oh, Baby!
• She’s Got the “Look”
• Shock Treatment
• Signs of the Times
• Sin And The County Fair
• Slip Sliddin’ Away
• Smack Down in Sonnet Land
• Small Town Living
• Small Town Winter
• Smart Kids
• Smashed at the Net
• Snobs Or Mobs
• Soccer
• Sochi Mess!
• Solitude
• Some article ideas:
• Some gigs are a pain and some are a joy. This one fell somewhere in between.
• Some Pretty Square Memories
• Something’s Fishy
• Sometimes you travel for adventure. Sometimes you take the adventure with you.
• Sophie Was a Good Old Girl
• Source
• Speaker's Corner
• Speaking of that . . .
• Speaking of that. . .
• Spooky! Lookee!
• Spread The Word
• Springfield Elliot Avenue Baptist
• Square Drive
• Square Tales
• Stage Fright
• Starvation Rations
• Straight from the Source
• Strike Up the Band!
• Stump the Band
• Suffering Disappointments
• Summer Camp
• Summer Fun On The Cheap
• Summer Theatre
• Symph-etiquette
• Symphony Orchestra, CSI
• T-Bones, Tomatoes & Memories of Mama
• Table Habits
• Take My Advice
• Take This Stalk and Stuff It!
• Takin’ It Easy
• Taking the Dip
• Tales and Retails
• Talley's Folly
• Tanner Huddleston’s
• Telling Tourist Tales
• Ten Tips for a Lousy Wedding
• That’s a Fact, Jack
• That’s Just Perverse
• That’s What Sticks With You
• The “Duh” Factor
• The “Duh” Factor
• The Advice Column
• The Audience Thermometer
• The Aussie Howler
• The Bad Bucket List
• The Bard of the Battery
• The Best of Jacksonville Awards
• The Big “O”
• The Bombing Zone
• The Boy from Fishhook
• The Btfsplk Effect
• The Classifieds
• The Coffee Club Historical Society
• The Cold Truth
• The Commons and the Lords
• The Commons and the Lords
• The Danger of Diving in Your Drawers
• The Dead Scot Affair
• The Death of a Pet
• The Death of Pioneerville
• The Exit Huggers
• The Eyes Have It
• The Final Chord
• The G-Pack
• The G-Pack
• The Geriatric Twilight Zone
• The Glorious Misfits
• The Great Flood
• The Green Green Grass of Home
• The Hall of Characters
• The Hobnobbings of a Country Boy
• The Joy Giver
• The Local Face Of Compassion
• The Lonesome Peddler
• The Longest Mile
• The Name Game
• The Not-So-Great Outdoors
• The Numbers Game
• The Nun’s Pipe
• The Odd Bits
• The Pecking Order
• The People of the Park
• The Pipes! The Pipes are Calling!
• The Pope and the Presbyterian
• The Possum Posse
• The Post-Diploma Dash
• The Real Americans
• The Relative Truth
• The Roving Palate
• The Squirrel Obituary
• The Symphony Exposed
• The Terrible Three
• The Whirlpool of Death
• The Wino
• The World’s Worst
• Theatre Horrors
• There Are Smiles. . . .
• There Oughta Be A Law
• There Will be Hoot Owls
• There’s No Home Like Place
• There’s No Home Like Place
• There’s something about bending over together that brings a community together.
• They Must Be Nuts
• This Family Is Bugged
• This is Not Working!
• This Kid Needs Help!
• Those Magic Moments
• Thriller
• Tights, Bass Speakers, and Lots of Laughs
• Time Machine
• To Catch A Mouse
• Tom Bunting Was A Doctor
• Tongue in Check
• Too Sexy for My Accordion
• Top 25 State Productions
• Trapped!
• Troubadours & Tyrants
• Tucker 1
• Twenty Things I Learned at Camp
• Twiggy Moments
• Up, Up and Away…..
• Vern Fernandes
• Veterans Day
• Vistas
• Wade Issue
• Want My Advice?
• Warming to the Occasion
• We . . . Don’t . . . Exist
• We Interrupt This Program
• Well Bread
• Well, if it isn’t….uh….
• What ever Happened to Summer?
• What I Miss in This Town
• What’d You Call Me?
• What’s Just Below the Surface
• Whatever happened to pretty cars?
• Whatever happened to pretty cars?
• When I got the call last week I immediately thought of a small girl tinkling onto my lap.
• When You Gotta Go . . .
• Where Have All the Mothers Gone?
• Where’d I Put That Mule?
• Which way, General Grant?
• Who are those people anyway?
• Who’d Have Thunk It?
• Whoopee!
• Whooping Cranes and Mismatched Cups
• Why Are We Still Alive?
• Why I Stay Indoors
• Why I’m not an Accountant
• Wiki-People
• Wilted Lettuce
• Wine Stupid
• With Caleb
• World's Most
• World's Tallest
• Wrestling Lincoln
• Yeah, I’m in 4-H!
• You Can Take the Boy out of the Country, but. . .
• You Can’t Do That Any More
• You Gotta Give a Toot
• You Gotta Have Pull to Work Here
• You Scream, Ice Cream
• You Smell!
• You Think Your Teacher is Weird?
• Z-Z-Z

No columns match that filter.