Articles written by Will Kester

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About me - Will Kester

Will Kester is a pseudonym and my birth name. I was adopted and my name changed, so now I write as Will Kester. Maybe someday I'll hear from a relative, or maybe not. In the meantime, having a pseudonym gives me the freedom to write with some degree of

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Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) True gardening stories: Oops!: 1 of 63
Oops! A Gardener's Story of Trials and Tribulations Once upon a time, long, long ago, I had a huge garden - two acres. I didn't realize it was huge when I laid it out and started plowing and planting it. It looked exactly the size and shape I had always dreamed of owning and working, raising fruits and berries, and veg... More..
Food & Drink > Cuisine & Food (Other) Comparing homemade tomato sauce and store bought sauce: 1 of 28
There are some pretty good store-bought tomato sauces on the market, recently, but I don't use them, usually. I'm not huge on marinara sauce, recently, but once was. When I used canned tomato sauce, then, I started with tomato paste, not sauce. Now, I make a tomato sauce that is more chunky, with more texture and a lot mor... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) True gardening stories: How it all went terribly wrong (humor): 5 of 139
Those of you who have experience with growing mint will guess the punch line, the moment you read the word, "mint." It is prolific, so I'll clue the others in, quickly. See, I didn't know it was prolific, then. The north side of a house is an interesting place to try to decide what to plant. Because it gets the least ... More..
Creative Writing > Memoirs Memoirs: When I realized I was meant to be a writer: 2 of 54
I was young when I decided I enjoyed writing, twenty-three years old to be exact. I was in the Saudi Arabian desert, with nothing to do but wait for the oil drilling job to be ready for me to work, and read the bad paperback, pulp westerns and mysteries the oil drilling crew had on site. I have been a voracious reader sinc... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Social Values & Norms Our next generation: Are things getting better or worse?: 8 of 202
Are things better or worse, compared to what? My generation was probably the most financially successful, ever in history. We went from a nation of poor in the pre-World War II era to the most powerful and most financially successful country on earth; while we promoted nuclear proliferation, squandered the respect that coul... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Party Politics & Ideology What happened to the Reagan Republican?: 1 of 25
"What happened to the Reagan Republicans?" I know what happened to the Reagan Republicans they were allowed to put their theories to work, and they didn't work. I know; I was there, and saw us do it. We used to sit around the Houstonian Hotel and drink Bloody Maries, theorizing that private industry could provide mor... More..
Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: A geography mystery: 1 of 22
"Huh? The Adventures of Jinx and Philo" [this story is formatted to meet marketplace guidelines] Suspects: Jinx - a twelve-year-old boy, whose father is a scientist, and Jinx, with his dog, Philo, and his neighbor, Eddy, all went I into space, accidentally, last year. Philo Jinx's dog, who is big, mixed b... More..
Arts & Humanities > Writing Tips Tips for finding story ideas: 3 of 63
Finding a story is easy, there are infinite stories to tell. You might read or hear, "Write what you know," and there is some truth in that, or "Everyone has a story to tell," but it isn't the person's story that is interesting, it is how it is told that makes it interesting. Telling a story well is much more difficult than... More..
Food & Drink > Cocktails An introduction to vodka: 1 of 16
An Introduction to Vodka Vodka was the first known distilled alcohol, dating back for as many as twelve or thirteen centuries. It was probably first made in Russia, though Finland and Sweden also claim the honor, and Poland wasn't far behind. Schnapps was developed by flavoring vodka, and variations of the distilling pr... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Social Values & Norms Commentary: Men supporting the women's movement: 1 of 15
The feminist movement was the best thing for men that has occurred in centuries, in my opinion. My life spanned from when "Leave it to Beaver" showed women in pearls, cooking for their husbands to come home to a hot dinner, to now, where women feel berated when they are asked to cook. I like it better now. Then, men we... More..