(Excerpted from my book, The Long Pivot Home: Based on a true story of love and loss in Oklahoma.) For five years, from 1995-2000, I had been trying to complete a giant pivot in my life, charting a new course away from the loss of my beloved wife Selena, then away from my experience in…
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(Excerpted from my book, The Long Pivot Home: Based on a true story of love and loss in Oklahoma.) For five years, from 1995-2000, I had been trying to complete a giant pivot in my life, charting a new course away from the loss of my beloved wife Selena, then away from my experience in…
Read More
A self-prescribed book helped complete my recovery from self-anger, along with the help of a very good psychotherapist.
Read More
Wondering where those demons of the night are coming from? Check your pill box.
Read More
Growing up, we learned a lot from TV, but we also just had a lot of kid fun with locally produced shows.
Read More
Sometimes the fences that need mending exist right within the family.
Read More
Sometimes a guy just needs his big sister (although he doesn't always want her to know it!)
Read More
We get reminders about hanging onto the past from ballads as well as memoirs.
Read More
Among the many heroes who emerged from the ashes of the Oklahoma City bombing in April, 1995, were three Golden Retrievers from Miami, Florida, with the unlikely names of Aspen, Maggie, and Brandee. The dogs all belonged to the Metro Dade County Fire Department and were also a part of the FEMA Task Force 1…
Read More
Peanuts came in two varieties as a kid: one to munch on at the circus, and the other to devour in the comic strip by Charles Schulz. I liked the latter better.
Read More
When Evelyn, an outfielder for the Rockford Peaches women’s baseball team, misses a throw to the cutoff player, manager Jimmy Dugan unloads on her in a string of very vocal invectives. Screaming, “Who’s team are you playing for?!” he reduces the young woman to tears. Evelyn’s reaction leaves a stunned Jimmy bellowing, “Are you crying?!”…
Read More
A town can inspire and fuel dreams, usually without us realizing it until much later.
Read More
Trying to take his jeans out of dryer dubbed "the green monster," a young athlete's life is changed forever.
Read More
Dreams may not be real, but sometimes they can help get us through heartache. And sometimes they can even come true.
Read More
Some lost souls just don’t want to be found. For them, the span of their lives is judged not by the calendar nor the actuarial tables that insurance companies live and die by, nor by the average life spans computed by the American Heart Association. All of these objective measures of how long people may…
Read More
Understanding and respect can go a long way toward developing a bridge to peace.
Read More
How can a library chart your career path as early as childhood? No one was more surprised than me.
Read More
Retiring to do what you want to do ... or are you already doing it by working?
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When I think of rainy days, and the melancholy effect they can have on us, I think of an episode of the classic TV sitcom, Barney Miller, a wry, understated comedy series that ran from 1975-82. The episode was called simply, “Rain,” and you can watch it at that link. For the uninitiated, who missed one…
Read More
Good films can imitate life so well that we can discern and assess the values they convey.
Read More
The jury system is a good one, but not infallible. Variables other than facts in the case can sway jurors.
Read More
The timing of a mistaken announcement, confusion at a checkpoint, and the will of a people to seek freedom spelled the end of the Berlin Wall.
Read More
Attacking the blank page in the early-morning hours can give us more of a chance of winning the battle of writing.
Read More
When the dial-up age of the Internet morphed into the Wi-Fi age, most of us breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Read More
A big part of aging is coming to see it's not as bad as you thought it was when you were young.
Read More
After years of struggling with gambling, I learned the only way to win is to never play the game at all.
Read More
As the clock hands moved from the 20th to the 21st Century, Cupid -- disguised as the Y2K Bug -- played his own hand.
Read More
Twenty-eight years ago this week, danger came in the form of domestic terrorists striking Oklahoma City.
Read More
Going home can produce dramatic results, but probably not the ones you were expecting.
Read More
Two musicals stand out in memory, as much for their impact as for the shows themselves.
Read More
What good does adding another hour of sunlight do in a state where the sun can shine for 24 hours straight, day after day?
Read More
I was about to be honored at an awards ceremony, but a tornado had other ideas.
Read More
Retrospect made a journalist realize it's okay to write about his own stories and not just the stories of others.
Read More
Nearly every winter, it seems, my wife and I engage in a friendly feud about how many pets are enough.
Read More
When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the news media became a national unifier. Would the same be true today?
Read More
Sometimes an interstate exit can lead you to a new life, even in the midst of tragedy.
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Like many baby boomers, I cast my first vote for president a few months after graduating college. But I never got a chance to vote for the candidate of my choice. I had heard Bobby Kennedy speak on my OU campus, and I was ready to help change the world by voting for him. Sadly,…
Read More
Learning to ride a bike can teach you some key lifelong lessons. That's what my red rocket did.
Read More
A dad's teachings can come in a simple gesture of kindness.
Read More
Science calls it Iris Recognition technology. Most humans call it looking into the windows of the soul.
Read More
"Bad beginnings make for good endings, Son," was Mom's mantra to me. Of course you have to back it up with a stout resolve, and maybe a baseball bat.
Read More
My first horse auction turned into a lifesaver in a time of painful and life-changing events.
Read More
Does time just really stop, or is our definition of time just really wrong?
Read More
Ivo Zdarsky wasn't just building a plane. He was building an escape to freedom.
Read More
You can learn a lot of things in scouting, and a few you just try to forget. Until it's time to shock your kids and grandkids.
Read More
Ever since I was a kid, I always dreamed about being someplace else. All my life I've dealt with wanderlust, and I have spent a lot of time feeling guilty about it.
Read More
"Within the songs are found our hopes, fears, challenges ... and even our desired potential."
Read More
I found the OJT to be the best way to learn. As if I had a choice. It’s amazing how motivational a deadline can be when you know the next edition will feature a lot of naked newsprint if you don’t fill the news hole.
Read More
Sometimes you start out in one direction, only to take a lifelong detour. And that can be a great thing.
Read More
Sometimes we don't realize the influence a parent has had in our life until later in that life.
Read More
As much as my family loved Christmas, we loved Christmas Eve more.
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After the Storm
Prompted By All’s Well That Ends Well
/ Stories
(Excerpted from my book, The Long Pivot Home: Based on a true story of love and loss in Oklahoma.) For five years, from 1995-2000, I had been trying to complete a giant pivot in my life, charting a new course away from the loss of my beloved wife Selena, then away from my experience in…
Read More
A Prince of a Book
Prompted By Books That Inspired Me
/ Stories
A self-prescribed book helped complete my recovery from self-anger, along with the help of a very good psychotherapist.
Read More
To sleep, per chance NOT to dream
Prompted By Pills
/ Stories
Wondering where those demons of the night are coming from? Check your pill box.
Read More
KidTV: When the outdoors moved inside
Prompted By TV That Inspired Me
/ Stories
Growing up, we learned a lot from TV, but we also just had a lot of kid fun with locally produced shows.
Read More
Song Lyrics that Fit
Prompted By Mending Fences
/ Stories
Sometimes the fences that need mending exist right within the family.
Read More
What is there about big sisters?
Prompted By Family Relationships
/ Stories
Sometimes a guy just needs his big sister (although he doesn't always want her to know it!)
Read More
Almost Home
Prompted By Stuff
/ Stories
We get reminders about hanging onto the past from ballads as well as memoirs.
Read More
A play drive and a prey drive
Prompted By Training Pets
/ Stories
Among the many heroes who emerged from the ashes of the Oklahoma City bombing in April, 1995, were three Golden Retrievers from Miami, Florida, with the unlikely names of Aspen, Maggie, and Brandee. The dogs all belonged to the Metro Dade County Fire Department and were also a part of the FEMA Task Force 1…
Read More
You’re a good man, Charlie Brown
Prompted By Comedy
/ Stories
Peanuts came in two varieties as a kid: one to munch on at the circus, and the other to devour in the comic strip by Charles Schulz. I liked the latter better.
Read More
A moment of his own
Prompted By Short Fuse
/ Stories
When Evelyn, an outfielder for the Rockford Peaches women’s baseball team, misses a throw to the cutoff player, manager Jimmy Dugan unloads on her in a string of very vocal invectives. Screaming, “Who’s team are you playing for?!” he reduces the young woman to tears. Evelyn’s reaction leaves a stunned Jimmy bellowing, “Are you crying?!”…
Read More
Tinkertown and me
Prompted By Is Where I’m From Who I Am?
/ Stories
A town can inspire and fuel dreams, usually without us realizing it until much later.
Read More
A tale of wash day danger
Prompted By Laundry
/ Stories
Trying to take his jeans out of dryer dubbed "the green monster," a young athlete's life is changed forever.
Read More
Me, I’ve Lived in Dreams
Prompted By Daydreaming
/ Stories
Dreams may not be real, but sometimes they can help get us through heartache. And sometimes they can even come true.
Read More
The Living Lost
Prompted By Ex-Friends
/ Stories
Some lost souls just don’t want to be found. For them, the span of their lives is judged not by the calendar nor the actuarial tables that insurance companies live and die by, nor by the average life spans computed by the American Heart Association. All of these objective measures of how long people may…
Read More
Roger and Me
Prompted By Disunited States
/ Stories
Understanding and respect can go a long way toward developing a bridge to peace.
Read More
Finding a career amid the stacks
Prompted By Libraries
/ Stories
How can a library chart your career path as early as childhood? No one was more surprised than me.
Read More
Answering my own question
Prompted By Retirement
/ Stories
Retiring to do what you want to do ... or are you already doing it by working?
Read More
Raining on the 12th Precinct
Prompted By Rainy Days
/ Stories
When I think of rainy days, and the melancholy effect they can have on us, I think of an episode of the classic TV sitcom, Barney Miller, a wry, understated comedy series that ran from 1975-82. The episode was called simply, “Rain,” and you can watch it at that link. For the uninitiated, who missed one…
Read More
Dress Rehearsals for Life
Prompted By Art’s Impact
/ Stories
Good films can imitate life so well that we can discern and assess the values they convey.
Read More
Anger, hope, and juries
Prompted By Jury Duty
/ Stories
The jury system is a good one, but not infallible. Variables other than facts in the case can sway jurors.
Read More
Moment of the Mauerfall
Prompted By Timing is Everything
/ Stories
The timing of a mistaken announcement, confusion at a checkpoint, and the will of a people to seek freedom spelled the end of the Berlin Wall.
Read More
At dawn, we attack!
Prompted By Dawn
/ Stories
Attacking the blank page in the early-morning hours can give us more of a chance of winning the battle of writing.
Read More
The song(? ) remembers when
Prompted By Cutting the Cord
/ Stories
When the dial-up age of the Internet morphed into the Wi-Fi age, most of us breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Read More
The Lions in Winter
Prompted By Aging
/ Stories
A big part of aging is coming to see it's not as bad as you thought it was when you were young.
Read More
Betting against a dragon
Prompted By Struggling with Values
/ Stories
After years of struggling with gambling, I learned the only way to win is to never play the game at all.
Read More
Y2K Bug unmasked: it’s Cupid
Prompted By Affairs of the Heart
/ Stories
As the clock hands moved from the 20th to the 21st Century, Cupid -- disguised as the Y2K Bug -- played his own hand.
Read More
April 19, 1995: Oklahoma’s Day of Infamy
Prompted By Danger
/ Stories
Twenty-eight years ago this week, danger came in the form of domestic terrorists striking Oklahoma City.
Read More
The haunting hope of home
Prompted By Can You Go Home Again?
/ Stories
Going home can produce dramatic results, but probably not the ones you were expecting.
Read More
Magical Musicals
Prompted By Theater
/ Stories
Two musicals stand out in memory, as much for their impact as for the shows themselves.
Read More
Then there’s Alaska …
Prompted By Changing Times
/ Stories
What good does adding another hour of sunlight do in a state where the sun can shine for 24 hours straight, day after day?
Read More
The ceremony that wasn’t
Prompted By Ceremony
/ Stories
I was about to be honored at an awards ceremony, but a tornado had other ideas.
Read More
Discovering a treasure
Prompted By Retrospect Retrospective
/ Stories
Retrospect made a journalist realize it's okay to write about his own stories and not just the stories of others.
Read More
A friendly feud
Prompted By Family Feud
/ Stories
Nearly every winter, it seems, my wife and I engage in a friendly feud about how many pets are enough.
Read More
News, Tragedy, and Unity
Prompted By Assassination
/ Stories
When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the news media became a national unifier. Would the same be true today?
Read More
A broken spirit, a repaired life
Prompted By Changed My Life
/ Stories
Sometimes an interstate exit can lead you to a new life, even in the midst of tragedy.
Read More
Vexatious Voting
Prompted By First Time Voting
/ Stories
Like many baby boomers, I cast my first vote for president a few months after graduating college. But I never got a chance to vote for the candidate of my choice. I had heard Bobby Kennedy speak on my OU campus, and I was ready to help change the world by voting for him. Sadly,…
Read More
Freedom, Balance, and my Bike
Prompted By Riding a Bicycle
/ Stories
Learning to ride a bike can teach you some key lifelong lessons. That's what my red rocket did.
Read More
Unspoken Words
Prompted By What My Father Told Me
/ Stories
A dad's teachings can come in a simple gesture of kindness.
Read More
“To see into another’s heart, Eyes are the place to start”
Prompted By The Eyes Have It
/ Stories
Science calls it Iris Recognition technology. Most humans call it looking into the windows of the soul.
Read More
Mom’s mantra of making it work
Prompted By What My Mother Told Me
/ Stories
"Bad beginnings make for good endings, Son," was Mom's mantra to me. Of course you have to back it up with a stout resolve, and maybe a baseball bat.
Read More
A Star is Born
Prompted By Auctions and Raffles
/ Stories
My first horse auction turned into a lifesaver in a time of painful and life-changing events.
Read More
Like a circle in a spiral …
Prompted By Time
/ Stories
Does time just really stop, or is our definition of time just really wrong?
Read More
One piece at a time … then freedom
Prompted By Some Assembly Required
/ Stories
Ivo Zdarsky wasn't just building a plane. He was building an escape to freedom.
Read More
Fleshing out the memory
Prompted By Scouting
/ Stories
You can learn a lot of things in scouting, and a few you just try to forget. Until it's time to shock your kids and grandkids.
Read More
I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list
Prompted By Guilty Pleasures
/ Stories
Ever since I was a kid, I always dreamed about being someplace else. All my life I've dealt with wanderlust, and I have spent a lot of time feeling guilty about it.
Read More
“In the rooms of her ice-water mansion”
Prompted By One Song That Moves Me
/ Stories
"Within the songs are found our hopes, fears, challenges ... and even our desired potential."
Read More
Falling Backwards into the Fourth Estate
Prompted By Newspapers
/ Stories
I found the OJT to be the best way to learn. As if I had a choice. It’s amazing how motivational a deadline can be when you know the next edition will feature a lot of naked newsprint if you don’t fill the news hole.
Read More
School, Swamps, and Salvation
Prompted By Middle School
/ Stories
Sometimes you start out in one direction, only to take a lifelong detour. And that can be a great thing.
Read More
A DQ, a diner, and a darkroom
Prompted By Family
/ Stories
Sometimes we don't realize the influence a parent has had in our life until later in that life.
Read More
A Christmas (Eve) Story
Prompted By That Night
/ Stories
As much as my family loved Christmas, we loved Christmas Eve more.
Read More