I’ve binged Friends and a few other episodic, 90s and 00s series and I’ve marveled at the number of future celebrities appearing in single episodes. It’s just shy of being a drinking game. Lately, …

I’ve binged Friends and a few other episodic, 90s and 00s series and I’ve marveled at the number of future celebrities appearing in single episodes. It’s just shy of being a drinking game. Lately, I’ve come to realize how strange it is to judge faces…

I’ve been obsessed with time since I was seven years old. It was field trip day, and my second-grade class visited the high school. I can’t recall what we did except watch a movie about exploring a chocolate production line. The auditorium was dark…

A hard day so I’m listening to a mix of Bear McCreary soundtracks and catching bits and pieces of the Nightly News where a group of military Gold Star families were cheated out of their money by an Army approved financial planner. I also spent some…

Early thoughts: Through my decades, I’ve learned that starting is difficult, but creating a lasting habit is an endurance race with no similarity to that start. I’ve monetized my Medium postings, and before the end of the year, I’ll be dropping…

As a writing instructor with 25 years of experience, you would think I would have a tried-and-true anecdote to start this blog the right way. Thinking, however, can be dangerous. I’m getting to the age where retirement is right around the corner, and…

Sitting quietly, listening to some vaguely leftist YouTube video describing the AI grift, I realize it doesn’t matter. Gus and Jerry — a few dozen other commentators disagree in no uncertain terms. Gus — “You’re looking at the end of creative work.…

The Short Story Challenge 2022 Entry Coin collecting was never my thing; it was my father’s and, by default, my mother’s. So at fifteen, Father became Jerry. That was the only name his numismatic friends called him, and I decided Jerry was all I…

What free time I have has been consumed with writing my novel, the first of what I believe will be a series of Incorporate stories I will publish. Three weeks ago, that was derailed by my brother Gerald’s death. He had long suffered from Crohn’s…

On the other hand, an actual functioning government separate from the atavistic opportunist demagogues plots reciprocally. The difficulty lies in the demonstrated truth of the presentation. We never see authentic Trust in Government graph. Every day…

When I was in first grade, I had no idea what a library was beyond the Northeast Elementary School’s stacks. There might have been a trip or two to the library before first grade, but I doubt it. If there was, it’s lost to me. Given my mother’s…

In 1989, I had my first encounter with the tangible substance of history. I was in the Ivy Tech Photography program, and I experienced my artistic process slowing down as I worked with a Crown Graphic 4x5 camera. Time slowed as I studied the flaking…

It’s a typical Saturday morning. I’ve dropped off a few library books, downed a latte at Strange Brew, and now I’m exploring Half Price Books. To a casual observer, my selections suggest a frugal and possibly inattentiveness born of utility. In my…

"I'm a writer - a storyteller," I answer after the inevitable, ice-breaking question asked after we bump into each other at the bar. I'm having a Cosmo, of course. My brain sometimes diverts me from that mission. I end up focused on mythology or…