On Christmas Day 1863, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had every reason to feel discouraged and withdrawn. His second wife,...

Do you hear what I hear? If you’re like me, you’re hearing the same 15-20 Christmas songs over and over again, with seemingly endless...

I smoked my last cigarette a year ago today. On November 17th last year I went to a Wilco show at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City, and...

A neighbor who's taking an English class this semester asked me about Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" today. It's been probably...

My phone has been close to collapse for a while now. I’ve needed to get a new one since early this year, but I was out of work for a few...

The United States Postal Service has been feeling the heat since April, but things have reached an alarming boiling point this week....

The first thing I ever recall wanting to be is an oceanographer. I currently live in Kansas City, so that probably sounds pretty dumb....

I have always despised the phrase “It is what it is.” It’s a phrase that lets people feel like they’re saying something...

The NASA astronaut crew that manned the SpaceX Dragon capsule returned to Earth today after a two-month mission. I wrote this piece...

The other day Kristy and I played Pictionary with the kids. My six year old is getting a lot better at illustration, so he's able to keep...

We're 98 days away from the 2020 election. As the United States reaches 150,000 coronavirus deaths and a civil rights pioneer is laid to...

Soon after things started shutting down in March, a lot of artists were doing stay-at-home live streams. That was one of my favorite...

I started a new job last Friday. Today was my fifth day. I like it a lot, and I still can’t believe I got this lucky in this economy. I’m...

The rain fell hard on my way to work today. It was one of those rains you could hear over your radio—one that made you slow down because...

The band formerly known as The Dixie Chicks (now known as “The Chicks,” and I’m not going to weigh in on that right now) released a new...

I sometimes wonder what happens to all the unsent messages we compose. We write and communicate all the time, whether we actually type it...

On Monday, the ownership of the Washington Redskins announced that they’ll be retiring the Redskins nickname from Washington D.C.’s...

I'd like to do something a little bit different today. I've covered some heavy stuff in the first week of this blog. Today I thought I’d...

On my first day of work at Hallmark (June 2012), I wore a sportscoat, a tie, and slacks because I didn’t know what the dress code was. It...

Okay, the title of this piece might be a little misleading. I’m not mourning the loss of small talk. I’m generally not a fan of small...