Recently, I slipped into Barnes & Noble to use the restroom. Of course, I can’t walk into a bookstore without spending a little time t...

I remember a time when “truth in advertising” actually meant something. Ads weren't lies, claims had to be provable, and the fine print ...

I spent forty years watching local government. I watched zoning battles that lasted longer than some marriages. I watched supervisors argue ...

CountryDew was last seen emerging from a foggy hayfield at dawn with a bottle of water in a holster at her hip, one hand holding a half-fini...

I ran across an old op-ed column I wrote about eating alone, dated sometime around 2003. This is how that went back then: Everyone looks at ...

  The Final Prompt: What is one thing you’ve started noticing more because of this challenge? I don't know that I noticed things *more* ...

Just the smallest shift can change your perspective. Recently I decided to move my computer a little. My computer, once squarely in front of...

I was watching video this morning of Perseverance roaming around on Mars - it went 1,350 feet yesterday; its longest run in a single time pe...

The chapel at Hollins University This NBC News article says that in these strange times, most Americans don't believe college is worth ...

We are coming up on the anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy. He was assassinated on November 22, 1963. I was five months old. My mot...

A very long time ago, back before 9/11 and George W. Bush, before I was really paying attention to national politics and instead spending my...

  Speak Love is the theme for this year's Blog Blast 4 Peace. Love. It's the thing we all desire, the emotion that many believe wil...

He walks the edge of ruin and revelation Some men don’t need spells to be witches. Their presence alone reshapes the emotional landscape. Th...

I was sorry to see that the military parade marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Armed Forces wasn’t exactly a proud or insp...

AI Image When I was very young, my grandmother kept me a lot because my mother worked a full-time job. One of the things my grandmother did ...

AI Image A reflection on AI, loneliness, and the lost art of conversation The other day, I was talking with a friend who mentioned she’d bee...