Columnists

I’ve crossed that parking lot hundreds of times. It’s the same route on the same stretch of pavement, focused on my car as I walk. Most days it’s just another small transition between work and whatever waits on the other side of the day. But one day recently, the timing was different. The sun had…

July 4, 2026, we will commemorate our 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It’s time to celebrate. Why not start by telling a few jokes around the dinner table. Why aren’t there any knock, knock jokes about the 4th of July? Because freedom rings. Or how about . . . Did…

Grief is a powerful emotion. Weeks later, it can still leave you wondering what just happened. Recently, my family lost a loved one, and we were deeply sad and heartbroken. We are not alone in this; everyone experiences loss, and each person manages it differently. I would even say I respond to loss differently now…

More time has passed than you thought. I have learned this to be true for so many things. Your five-year-old refrigerator actually just eclipsed the decade mark. That conversation you had at the Post Office three or four weeks ago happened in late February. Your favorite shirt is older than the first-year teacher at the…

This time of year, you expect to hear stories about fathers. This isn’t one of those stories. At least not in the usual way. My senior year, I needed a physical education credit to graduate. One of the units we did was golf—in the gym. Using a wiffle ball designed to act like a golf…

I spoke to a group of retired school employees last week in Maryville. It was a pleasure to have been invited, and I enjoyed recounting my experience as an educator, as well as express a few of my views that I attempt to share weekly in my writings. During the event, I remarked that I…

Some opportunities don’t start with you. They start with someone else coming home and telling you about something you’ve never seen or heard of. I remember the night my mom and dad came back from a concert with our minister and his wife, Dan and Dee King. They talked about the group they had heard—how…

Ever since my kids were little we would take a family vacation to Bemidji, Minnesota. We’d spend our days fishing, playing on the beach, taking walks and visiting the local shops. Some of our fondest memories were made there. Sadly, our tradition stopped, thirteen years went by, both of my children grew up, moved away…

A former student of mine, a young woman who also was my younger son’s third grade teacher, passed away this past week. I am unfit to eulogize her, so I’ll not make what would amount to a feeble attempt. I will say only that Kiera will be missed, and that her infectious positivity and humor…

For most of my growing-up years, the Soviet Union wasn’t just another country. It was a presence, a rival and a mystery. Then, almost overnight, it was gone. Not the people or the buildings, but the system, the name, the certainty of it. For a brief time, doors began to open. One of those doors…