Hooped Earrings and Monster Trucks

Hello from breakfast at Perkins, The beginning of the year is like an episode of the show that was on television when I was small, titled The Twilight Zone. I know that comment is anachronistic, and it reminds me of the last few years I was teaching and things I had used anecdotally earlier inContinue reading “Hooped Earrings and Monster Trucks”

Can the Calendar Make a Difference?

Hello on a New Year’s afternoon, When I was a boy, the week after Christmas, as I have noted, was spent at my grandmother’s house. The acreage, located on the North side of Sioux City, was a humble, but homely dwelling rather non-descript to the viewer, but anything but for me because it was whereContinue reading “Can the Calendar Make a Difference?”

Arrogance is Never Exceptional

Good morning from the cube, I am cleaning, organizing, and working on some other sundry things. I am a bit ridiculous about organization and cleaning, particularly kitchens and bathrooms, but I am well aware of that idiosyncrasy. Cleaning as a daily chore when I grew up. Each of the three children had required things evenContinue reading “Arrogance is Never Exceptional”

And So It Goes

Hello from another day of grading and coffee shops (not completely, but I will explain), It is another weekend, and for the moment it seems more like a September afternoon (though now overcast) than almost Halloween. I looked at my hometown in Iowa, and I spoke to Max up in Houghton, and both places wereContinue reading “And So It Goes”

The Gift: Writing and Feeling

Good afternoon, It’s a typical middle to late Pennsylvania fall day; the morning revealed a variety of window scrapping options, depending on altitude of your location. It’s amazing how a few hundred feet, or even less, affects what kind of precipitation occurs. I remember living in Laurium , MI, 11 miles north of Houghton, whichContinue reading “The Gift: Writing and Feeling”

Understanding Life

Hello on another day of significance, It’s an Election Day and as always the attempted reading of the tea leaves is on full boil. Additionally, there is an irony that the early morning news feeds all raced to be the first to report the passing of former Vice President/Secretary of Defense/White House Chief of StaffContinue reading “Understanding Life”

Grandma, I Miss You

Hello from my little corner, Sometimes we are called to remember, to give thanks for those things, places, or events, which in some way influence or define the person we’ve become. I think there are definitely those things or events that are quite easy to point to for me. Collectively, health has been a seriesContinue reading “Grandma, I Miss You”

The Difference Between Being Important and Thinking You Are

Hello from a bit of an unpredicted appointment, Good Monday morning from Geisinger-Danville. What began as a follow up appointment has turned into much more. I am continually amazed by the complexity of the human body, but even more so by how many of those intricacies we take for granted. I have learned a greatContinue reading “The Difference Between Being Important and Thinking You Are”

One More Light – How Do We Remember?

Hello from my study/office/refuge, It is amazing the amount of time I am spending on responding to classes, to papers, to phone calls, to focusing intently on each and everything I do. I am not complaining at all, but it seems that every moment of my day, with the exception of getting a walk inContinue reading “One More Light – How Do We Remember?”

Imagining the next Chapter

 Hello on a Sunday evening, It is the end of the weekend and while I got some things accomplished, it was somewhat a weekend of socializing with colleagues, some former students, and establishing some more formalized relationships with some wonderful people I have known mostly from a distance. It was a weekend where I wasContinue reading “Imagining the next Chapter”