We’re not going back. I’m more and more convinced that life has fundamentally changed forever because of COVID-19 and its impact on our world. What does that even mean? On March 20 I received a link to an article that shook me up good. Looking back on it I can’t ever...
It was, by far, the worst snowstorm I’ve ever had to endure. Early January of 1979, Chicago was hit with over 20 inches of snow, on top of 12 inches that had fallen just days earlier. My car disappeared under the massive drifts and the city did a terrible job trying...
We all begin our adult lives climbing the first mountain. The summit, the goal, of this first mountain is the establishment of our identity. This is the premise behind David Brook’s book The Second Mountain. Good book. Good writer. It’s one of a number of books I...
Yesterday at Whole Foods a commotion broke out. Lots of yelling. Everything came to a halt as shoppers nervously watched it go down. A hush came over the place as the confrontation escalated. It was over masks. A woman had worn a mask to gain entry to the store, but...
What have you read lately that has inspired you? Let me tell you what lit my fire a few days ago. Shortly before his death in mid-July, John Lewis, the U.S Representative and civil-rights leader, wrote an essay that was published in the New York Times just days after...
There was a huge “boom!” and the whole building shook. I ran outside in fear that something horrible had happened. It had. We were preparing for a fun night of BBQ and worship with the men of our church. Hundreds were signed up. As the pit crew was finishing up the...
What jobs did you work in your growing up summers? I worked in a steel mill. It was dirty, dangerous and vintage Pittsburgh. But it surely helped fund my first few years of college! I look fondly on those first 20 years of my life in southwest PA. That strange...
Is there a silver lining to the whole pandemic thing? That question is moderately disturbing to me. Too much death. Too much fear. Too much isolation. Too much controversy. Too much politics. Too much grotesque selfishness. Silver lining? Right. But I have noticed...
