Fifth Commandment

Different paths are easy to find when following the injunction to honor thy father.

After a bit of on-and-off, Keith Richards now claims he did snort his father's ashes, although he didn't cut it with cocaine. He suggests it was his way of (sort of) honoring his father, and the ambiguity of the ceremony is probably a fitting commemoration of their father-son relationship.

More traditional honors come to poet Miller Williams via (Grammy-winning) daughter Lucinda, probably related as well to the more stable relationship of the two wordsmiths. Proceeds from her Sept. 20 concert in Fayetteville, Ark., will endow the Miller Williams Poetry Prize at the University of Arkansas Press. Father Williams' acclaim as a poet includes reading at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton and his professional experience includes founding the University of Arkansas Press; he serves as professor emeritus at the University.

** From the it-all-comes-out-in-the-wash cycle, is the honor bestowed on the child who honors his or her father. **