“We come today to the north shore of Lake Huron, near the eastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Waves lap in a relaxed fashion onto the cobblestone beach just a few feet away.”
The Contender
“The contender is that person who knows full well that the competition includes others who are more likely to win, but who enters the arena nonetheless.”
Hard News
“The elephant in the room inside my head is the intensity of disappointment that comes with what happened last Thursday…”
Egypt, December 2015
“Of the many places I have visited, Egypt is among the most complex and sometimes overwhelming.”
Redemption at Checkpoint 13
“Checkpoint 13, I swear, borrowed the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter. It had attained mythological status for many people, including me…”
Tulip Time in the Old World: The Keukenhof
“Keukenhof, Holland: the gardens that inspire tourists worldwide to journey to The Netherlands each year in spring.”
“...then suddenly, the pin oak is in”
“I planted the tree when it was merely a sapling, in honor of my daughter’s twelfth birthday, to acknowledge the start of her teen years.”
“The Old College Try”
“Last night, Checkpoint 13 thwarted me—again. It is my second try at the Land Navigation night test in the woods and hillsides surrounding Hall Lake…”
The Day After
“…you come across something you are interested in doing... It doesn’t matter what “it” is. So you sign on… Could be a trip, or college/learning, or something on your Life List… You load up your gear… You set out.”
Green for the Gray
“Being a big believer in listening to those quiet whispers in your soul that serve so well as guides, I found myself driving yesterday to Frederick Meijer Gardens for a bit of Gray Tunnel Relief”
Why Our Times Are Not Simple
“Nowadays my information is instantaneous, thanks to the internet, but there ends the simplicity of knowledge, as I enter the worm-hole of All That Mankind (Thinks It) Knows.”
The Art of Writing
“Being a writer can sometimes weigh heavily. As a representative of and advocate for the written word, I recognize the opportunity to demonstrate good writing.”
This is 'that' day
“This is that day, the one you know is coming for weeks, the one when you know it’s over. You are on your road thinking about the day when you realize: the color is gone.”
Reflections on Right and Wrong
“A 60 year old elephant, dead. Shot and killed. Boom! Gone. How can there be anything right about the “right” of anyone to do that?”
How Is It Possible I Feel Cold?
“I understand the wisdom of wearing multiple layers in the mountains, where the full range of weather can crop up any time. But in my sweet, safe, predictable lower-peninsula Michigan? In August? It just doesn’t somehow seem right, or fair, to feel cold.”
Machu Picchu
“It’s the “lost city of the Incas” which, as with the city of Sleeping Beauty, was covered by dense vegetation for centuries before being rediscovered.”
In Honor of Great Teachers
“On August 7 this year, an impressive gathering of aging, now mostly-retired paramedics from those early days gathered to honor Bob Marlin, one of the original DGH paramedics and for many years our Chief Paramedic.”
Getting High in Peru
“What I learned was that, although I’d been thinking “I’m going to Machu Picchu” for months, I actually fell in love with the larger context of Peru.”
On Being A Generalist
“And so, it seems, I have become a generalist. I’m generally interested in learning about or doing generally anything. In a world populated more often these days by specialists, I am an outlier…”
To The Man Who Called Me Bastard
“I remember looking down from the high seat at you, knowing enough not even to try reasoning with you. Any discussion or review of the facts was clearly not possible.”