Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hello from Cracker Barrel on a wintry April morning, It’s chilly enough that I am sure the robins and the daffodils are wondering if they miscalculated. It’s supposed to be in the 20s tonight, and April showers might include snow. Perhaps there is some method in the atmospheric madness we are experiencing. In the spiritContinue reading “To Speak Out is America”

Hello from Burger King in Buckhorn, Pennsylvania, If you’re not from this area in North Central Pennsylvania, you have little idea of where I am. But it’s a little town just outside of Bloomsburg and more of a shopping area than a housing community. But it’s where my doctor’s clinic is; it’s where the AT&TContinue reading “Over Nothing”

Hello from QSL, It is a bit surreal to be sitting in this familiar place, and yet also strangely comforting. Wishing my former student, one who was always amazed by my desire for spice, was her to join me. However, it’s a bit from a commute from Russia back to Pennsylvania, and there might beContinue reading “When it Seems Hopeless”

Hello from Martha’s Cafe . . . At the moment, I am back in familiar places, and also leaving familiar places. I am sitting at the coffee bar, with my computer on a piece of wood that was milled by a former student, fellow veteran, and co-journeyer to Poland with me. Martha’s it seems wasContinue reading “Returning, Leaving, or Merely Moving On”

Hello from Caribou Coffee in Sioux City, While the first couple of paragraphs of this were written a couple weeks ago, I think I will leave them largely unedited. I am actually sitting with my computer and doing a bit of work on a variety of topics this morning. I am in what has becomeContinue reading “For Whom the Bell Tolls”

Hello as we begin a new month, It is actually early morning, barely the first of February, and while I went to be rather early, a long day for Gavin and getting home late woke me. I was already awake an hour or so ago, so probably not really back to any deep sleep. NowContinue reading “More than . .”

Hello from the chiropractor’s office. Another week is finishing up, and it has been typical January with some single digit temperatures and windchills below zero. My coffee gurus at Burger King are wondering why I would come to such a place, but I have long asserted that 15 above in NEPA is worse than 10Continue reading “Overwhelmed, but Tenacious”

Happy Orthodox Christmas to my Orthodox friends, surrogate family, and others, It is a cold day once again here in North Central Iowa, but manageable because the wind, at least for the day, has abated. Today would also be the 111th birthday of my Grandmother Louise, so Happy Heavenly Birthday. I still love and missContinue reading “Valorizing Consumerism”

Hello from the restaurant booth on a very cold Saturday, The temperature is still in single digits and has risen to 6, but fortunately there is little wind. Otherwise it would be beyond brutal. Thursday was productive and yesterday was the opposite. I spent the better part of the day merely trying to manage theContinue reading “Why do I write?”

Hello from Menomonie, Over the last two days I had the opportunity to reconnect with a family who has blessed my life since I taught here two decades ago. When I arrived in this Western Wisconsin town, I was completing a dissertation, unexpectedly hired after a one-and-done tenure-track process, and had minimal understanding of whatContinue reading “Managing Expectations”