My Loveliest Annabel Lou,
This love-note is perfect for you—
“Love” is here written,
An arrowed-heart’s splittin’—
But Edgar has bought you one, too.

—Patrick Murtha, Saint Marys, Kansas

Congratulations to Patrick Murtha! For his poem describing the illustration by Dick Sargent, Patrick wins $100—and our gratitude for a job well done.

If you’d like to enter the Limerick Laughs Contest for our upcoming issue, you can submit your limerick via the entry form here.

Of course, Patrick’s limerick wasn’t the only one we liked! Here are some of our favorite runners-up, in no particular order:

Old Cupid had hit his mark true,
But Romeo did not have a clue.
Hand in his pocket,
Heart like a rocket,
This strange thing called love was brand new.

—Randy Imwalle, Hillard, Ohio

The lad’s plagued by a problem quite dire,
Since impressing that girl will require
That he spend from his stash
At least some of the cash
That he’d saved for a brand new bike tire.

—Patrick McKeon, Pennington, New Jersey

Though young, he finds himself smitten.
Perhaps that old love bug has bitten?
He stays out of the way
Before Valentine’s Day,
And ponders some words sweetly written.

—Kathie Rosier, East Aurora, New York

The words in the card are risky.
She might find them much too frisky.
Yes, spells delight;
No, would sure bite.
Stuff like this drives men to whiskey.

—John Dischinger, Spring Valley, California

A romantic card that just couldn’t miss.
He fantasized about their first kiss,
But when push came to shove,
Said, “I may be in love,
But I ain’t wasting a quarter on this!”

—Ken Elinsky, Solon, Ohio

Sweethearts in verse made him pause,
Linger and read them because
Cards showed one’s heart
And reading that part
Made him wonder just what love was.

—Dietre McCormick, Carlisle, Iowa

The young man was thoughtfully weighing
The sentiment this card was conveying.
For he needed to find
Just the right Valentine
To say what he thought needed saying.

—Paul H. Madsen, Columbia Heights, Minnesota

Oh, what a dilemma for Billy!
The mushy cards strike him as silly.
His feelings are true,
So what should he do?
He may pick a card—but will he?

—Elizabeth Silverthorn, Salado, Texas

A Valentine card is a feature
To send to a beautiful creature.
But his mother was firm
That he pass school this term,
So he has to send love to his teacher.

—Ruth Porter, Albany, Oregon

Limerick Laughs Contest Winner and Runners-Up for Jan/Feb 2013 The Saturday Evening Post

Create and frame watercolor portraits
of the grandkids.
Click the image above or go to growcreative.blogspot.com for the tutorial now.

Wrap her favorite Bordeaux
in a sweater sleeve.
Click the image above or go to greylikesweddings.com for the tutorial now.

Fashion a quirky recycled bookmark and place it inside the newest book by her favorite author.
Click the image above or go to greenpaper.com for the tutorial now.

Repurpose blue jean cuffs into bangles.
Click the image above or go to michlinla.com for the tutorial now.

Make exfoliating sugar scrub cubes for a luxurious (and quick) shower treat.
Click the image above or go to soapdelinews.com for the tutorial now.

Spread a picnic lunch on this ombre blanket; when lunch is over, give the blanket to her as a gift.
Click the image above or go to inkmeetspaperpress.com for the tutorial now.

Pour wax into some pretty teacups
for candlelit dinners.
Click the image above or go to cupcakesandcashmere.com for the tutorial now.

Construct these little seed paper pots.
Click the image above or go to greylikesweddings.com for the tutorial now.

8 Easy Crafts for Mother’s Day The Saturday Evening Post

1. “Live long and prosper” is the greeting of which planet?
a. Vulcan
b. Romulus
c. Earth

2. Which actress played the first female commanding officer in a leading role?
a. Kate Mulgrew
b. Denise Crosby
c. Nichelle Nichols

3. Name that alien:
a. Lieutenant Worf, Klingon
b. Nero, Romulan
c. Sybok, Vulcan

4. Who was the captain of the Enterprise in the original Star Trek pilot?
a. Christopher Pike
b. James T. Kirk
c. Jean-Luc Picard
 
5. In the original series, what was the tip off that a character would die early on in a mission?
a. The character would say the line, “Beam me up, Scotty.”
b. The character was the first one off the ship.
c. The character was wearing a red shirt.

6. Before Leonard Nimoy, which actor did Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry consider to play Spock?
a. Adam West
b. Patrick Stewart
c. Peter Graves

7. Besides Whoopi Goldberg, which other Oscar host appeared on a Star Trek TV series?
a. Seth McFarland
b. Billy Crystal
c. Johnny Carson

8. Other than Kirstie Alley, which Cheers cast member also appeared in the Star Trek franchise?
a. Rhea Perlman
b. Kelsey Grammer
c. Woody Harrelson

Check the Answers!

Trek Trivia The Saturday Evening Post

1 point: 1 a., 2 a.
2 points: 3 b., 4 a., 5 c.
3 points: 6 a., 7 a., 8 b.

Cadet 1st Class: 12-17 points
Cadet 2nd Class: 9-11 points
Cadet 3rd Class: 3-8 points
Cadet 4th Class: 0-2 points

Take the Trek Trivia quiz here.

Star Trek Trivia Answers The Saturday Evening Post

“Where liberty dwells, there is my country.”
—Benjamin Franklin

Salute the soldiers by submitting a 200-word “Tribute to Our Troops” essay. Twenty winning essays will be selected by our editors and posted on saturdayeveningpost.com. Winners will also receive a beautiful Speidel timepiece.

Enter the contest here.

You can also help our troops and save at the same time—Saturday Evening Post readers will receive 20% off any Speidel purchase made online by July 1, 2013. Simply visit www.speidel.com and use the promotion code “PostSpeidel” when checking out.

Speidel is donating a portion of its sales to American military and their families in partnership with Operation Homefront.

Tribute to Our Troops
Essay Contest The Saturday Evening Post

Hand-Painted 
Silk Scarf

Materials

• White, 100 percent Chinese-silk scarf*

• Dull pencil
• 
Permanent markers, choice colors
• Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow paint*

*Available at craft stores or online.

Tools

• Two 2-feet-long pieces of freezer paper
• 2-by-2-feet foam board

• 16 thumbtacks
• 
Iron
• Small paintbrush

Directions

1. Lay pieces of freezer paper side by side, shiny side up on foam board. 
 Gently stretch scarf flat over freezer paper. Pin in place with thumbtacks.




2. Lightly sketch shapes on silk with pencil.




3. Heat iron on “silk setting” and press silk to freezer paper until wax begins to melt. Don’t overdo it! Edge of scarf should easily pull away from paper.




4. Trace pencil shapes on scarf with permanent markers. Be sure to close shapes so paint will stay within marker lines.




5. Paint shapes from center out. Allow paint to spread before adding more paint. Too much paint will overrun marker lines.
 Dry scarf on board for 24 hours. Remove and dry alone in clothes dryer on high heat for 30 minutes.




6. Rinse scarf in cold water until water runs clear. 
 Air dry.

Hand-Painted 
Silk Scarf The Saturday Evening Post

Research now suggests that starting hormone therapy well after menopause has more side effects than starting just at the time of menopause.

The North American Menopause Society’s (menopause.org) 2012 Position Statement on Hormone Therapy (HT) provides the following guidelines:

• HT remains the most effective treatment available for menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and night sweats that can interrupt sleep and impair quality of life. Many women can take it safely.

• If you have had blood clots, heart disease, stroke, or breast cancer, it may not be in your best interest to take HT. Be sure to discuss your health conditions with your healthcare provider.

• How long you should take HT depends on whether you take estrogen alone or a combination of estrogen and progesterone. For combination therapy, the time is limited by the increased risk of breast cancer that is seen with more than three to five years of use. For estrogen alone, no sign of an increased risk of breast cancer was seen during an average of seven years of treatment, a finding that allows more choice in how long you choose to use estrogen therapy.

• Most healthy women below age 60 will have no increase in the risk of heart disease with HT. The risks of stroke and blood clots in the lungs are increased but, in these younger age groups, the risks are less than 1 in every 1,000 women per year taking HT.

• Estrogen therapy delivered through the skin (by patch, cream, gel, or spray) and low dose oral estrogen may have lower risks of blood clots and stroke than standard doses of oral estrogen, but all the evidence is not yet available.

Hormone Safety and You The Saturday Evening Post

But it was another 26-year-old, Roger Tory Peterson, who produced the book that would change birding and, some say, kick-start the environmental movement. In 1934, Peterson’s A Field Guide to the Birds proved the perfect tool for both novice birders and their experienced brethren; it was inexpensive ($2.75), portable (just 7.5-by-5 inches), and useful, introducing what came to be known as the Peterson Identification System, which deploys arrows to point out the distinguishing field marks discussed in the text. Peterson’s book (now $26) is a must for any birder, and here are a few more:

The Sibley Guide to Birds
544 pages, $39.95

Pros: Sibley is extremely thorough and reliable, featuring illustrations of birds in flight as well as standing, perched, or afloat; 6,600 illustrations in all.

Cons: At roughly 6-by-10 inches, it’s not very portable—though it also comes in two smaller regional (east/west) versions.

Kaufman Field Guide to Birds Of North America
392 pages, $18.95

Pros: Digitally enhanced photography (though some birders don’t like this aspect) is helpful for beginners.

Cons: Some readers complain about blurry or pale images.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America,
Sixth Edition
576 pages, $27.95

Pros: It’s comprehensive and up-to-date, featuring all 990 species found in North America. It also has terrific maps, with major fall and spring migration routes.

Cons: Too large and heavy for practical field use; like Sibley, it comes in smaller eastern and western editions.

Bird Nerd Library Essentials The Saturday Evening Post

See worthy: When searching for binoculars, consider weight, optic quality, and fit. Don’t cut corners to save a few bucks.

Experienced birders encourage beginners to spend as much money as they can afford on binoculars. A well-built pair can last for decades and may get you deeper into birding more quickly by allowing you to discern telling field marks, be they the iris on a herring gull or the black cap on a Wilson’s warbler.

In making your choice, you’ll want to consider weight, field of view, close-focus distance, and fit. As for the specifications, all binoculars come with a two-part numerical description. The first number relates to the magnification; the second, to the diameter of the big lens, which will indicate the brightness. So an 8 x 42 pair magnifies an image eight times and has a lens of 42 millimeters. Generally, you’re looking for magnification between 7 and 10 and lens size (or brightness) between 35 and 50. Anything less will be insufficient; anything more will make the binoculars heavy and unwieldy. And one final tip from 19-year-old birder Luke Seitz: “Always, always waterproof.”

How to Pick the Right Binoculars The Saturday Evening Post

The Art of Coles Phillips The Saturday Evening Post

How do you know you can trust what you read? Start by recognizing that there is no such thing as completely unbiased news. No one can report any news story without encapsulating complicated events, deciding what’s really important, leaving out what the reporter thinks are insignificant details, and adopting a point of view that makes it possible to stitch together all the elements and tell a story. Therefore no two people will ever report any news story the same way. So there is no such thing as a single objective telling of a news event. That said, the following tactics will bring you closer to the objective truth.

1. Triangulate from less biased sources. Fox News has a clearly conservative slant; MSNBC has a liberal one. Whatever news source you begin with, think about how hard that source tries to be unbiased.

2. Separate news from opinion. Always ask yourself whether what you’re getting is reporting or commentary. In newspapers the distinction is usually pretty clear. There’s news on the front page and commentary on the editorial page. On television and on the Internet, it’s often less clear. Sites like Drudge Report on the right and Talking Points Memo on the left report news, but from a definite point of view and with a lot of opinion mixed in.

3. Be suspicious. Always have your antennae out for anything that sounds untrue. If something you hear or read seems questionable, a simple Google or Google News search can often ferret out the truth. Factcheck.org, politifact.com, and snopes.com are good nonpartisan sites devoted to separating truth from fiction.

4. Balance your news diet. Try to get at least some of your news from the other side. Even if you feel strongly about an issue or a news event yourself, it’s vital to take in opposing positions. Somewhere between one extreme and the other usually lies the truth. But above all …

5. Recognize your own biases. The multiplicity of voices available to us today allows people to find news sources that consistently present the news the way they like it. This tends to strengthen people’s prejudices and make all of us even more polarized than ever. Try always to stay aware of this tendency in yourself. It’s there in all of us.

Only The Facts The Saturday Evening Post

Actor Alan Alda exhibits what he calls his “very strange form” in a Central Park touch-football game that won him the Plimpton part in Paper Lion.

In 1963, Sports Illustrated journalist George Plimpton wanted to write a piece on what it was like to be an NFL quarterback. He convinced the Detroit Lions management to let him attend training camp undercover, pretending to try out for a spot as a third-string quarterback.

In 1968, future M*A*S*H star Alan Alda played George Plimpton in the Stuart Millar film Paper Lion chronicling Plimpton’s experience as he learned the sport, bonded with the players, and experienced the roughness of the game firsthand. Alda wrote about his own experience during the filmmaking for the Post‘s November 16, 1968, issue. Read the full story here.

Famous Contributors: Alan Alda The Saturday Evening Post

• Raven’s Bread, a newsletter for an international readership of self-declared hermits: ravensbreadministries.com/news.html
• Consider The Ravens: On Contemporary Hermit Life by Paul A. and Karen Karper Fredette (iUniverse Books)
• Sister Laurel O’Neal’s blog, Notes from Stillsong Hermitage: notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com
• Thoughts In Solitude by Thomas Merton (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux)

Famous American Hermits

Want to know more about the hermits who have gone before you? Get to know these famous hermits who lived the simple life before it was en vogue.

• Robert Voorhis, a former slave, escaped bondage and chose to live in a small, secluded cave for nearly 14 years.
• Dorothy Molter, remembered fondly as “The Root Beer Lady,” has a museum dedicated to her life in the wilderness of Minnesota.
• Richard Proenneke, a woodworking genius, donated his hand-built log cabin to the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska before his death in 2003.
• Daniel Suelo, who lives and travels entirely without money, writes a blog about his alternative lifestyle and updates it from libraries across the U.S. In 2012 Mark Sundeen wrote Suelo’s biography, The Man Who Quit Money (Riverhead Books).

Resources for Would-be Hermits The Saturday Evening Post

Benjamin Franklin, founder of The Pennsylvania Gazette (predecessor of the Post), famously championed freedom of speech and an unbiased free press. He held that any man’s point of view, however unpopular, should be worthy of discourse. As he wrote in the May 27, 1731, edition of the Gazette:

“Printers are educated in the belief, that when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the publick; and that when truth and error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter.”

Wise words. Over the years, Post editorials have continued to offer perspective on the subject of media bias and freedom of the press. Click on the blue headlines below to read related articles from our archive.

Free Speech

In April of 1934, the Post was concerned about the way President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarded the press’s right to freedom of expression. In the editorial “Free Speech,” the Post cautioned against an expansive, controlling administration and reasserted the prerogative of the press to safeguard the necessity of free speech and checks on government power.

Bias at the Top

“Today’s Press is ‘Freer’ Than Greeley’s,” written on August 14, 1947, argues that the notion of freedom of the press is not nearly what it seems, and that many media outlets are not as privy to that safeguard as they should be.

Fair and Balanced Reporting

On September 24, 1966, the Post ran an editorial titled “Beware of Self-Censorship,” analyzing the press’s role in covering courtroom cases and cautioning the media against inciting a perhaps undeserved trial by the court of public opinion.

The Impact of Television

On October 29, 1960, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Harry Ashmore wrote in the editorial, “Has Our Free Press Failed Us?” that we don’t know, and haven’t known for a long time, where journalism ends and entertainment begins.

The Right to Write The Saturday Evening Post

Also: Meet Mad Men Creator Matt Weiner and catch up on details about the retro drama, life at home, and what made the writer aim so high.

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Mad Men-Era Advertising The Saturday Evening Post