Reflections from the River

“Have any of you ever worked cleaning toilets for a living? Or as a waitress?” 

Here's how the peaceful transfer of power is supposed to work.

January 20th felt like Christmas all day.

The pain of losing a loved one in wartime has not changed, but the method of finding out of the loss has dramatically changed.

The (mostly) true story how are younger son got his name. You may want to use a different method!

It’s time to face facts folks.  Everybody gets to have their own opinion. You do not get to have your own facts. You can have your opinion that Donald J. Trump is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Fine. I have my opinion as to your mistakenness in that opinion. I full well understand that I cannot change your opinion... This podcast published as an op-ed in the St. Louis and Southern Illinois...

I’m going to speak heresy here. We should be glad we are so politically divided as a nation...

There's free fire zones and cold fire zones.  A free fire zone means you're locked and loaded, safety off,  and eyes in the back of your head. Cold fire zone is a term I made up. It's one of those places American soldiers get sent to keep the peace, or enforce the peace, or make the peace. Some places the weather's cold. Most places the people are cold. Ain't no heroes in...

Some Christmas cards you tuck away. You tuck them away because you can't bear to throw them away. You tuck them way because the memories they bring back haunt you.  This is the story of that one card.

As the attack unfolded in real time on our radios, I realized we were but a few hundred yards away from the attackers, sitting unarmed, in an unprotected warehouse with gaping twelve-foot wide doors blocked open to ventilate the heat...

The dreams that wake you at three am...

The thirty-fourth autumn of life on Abend Street, street of brick, of tall trees, of century-old homes, is rapidly approaching.  The leaves have not yet begun to turn on the towering oaks but summer’s heat has begun to dissipate. The hummingbird’s flight a bit more frenetic as they dart about gathering sweet nectar for their long journey south...

Although divided we stand politically, united we stand in our belief in democracy, our belief in equality, our belief in freedoms of speech, religion, press and right to petition our government.

How we can all work to realize the vision set forth in the Declaration of Independence. 

The war hasn't started yet. 9-11 has happened. The last few days of the peace-time National Guard helping out the Army in Italy

A tribute to veterans and their families and a request to honor them and all Americans in our great nation's unique diversity.

Who are these men headed to war? And who will they be when they return home?

A long time ago, on a  flight line a long way from home, the smell of jet fuel lingers like memories that won't be forgotten.

There's summer jobs, then there's summer job. July days on the mudbanks of the Mississippi River with the humidity trying to outdo the temperature, cutting rusty old barges in to scrap steel is not the summer job of a young man's dreams. But when you need a paycheck you trade your sweat for what you need.

There’s not much all of America can agree on, but maybe we can all agree that 2020 has been a really tough year so far, and doesn’t look to get much better with the election and all of the divisiveness. Maybe a road trip to take part in history will help.

Yardsticks and broken maple limbs  are the pirate swords of boys' dreams.  Hammered Toledo steel brings back a warrior's faded memory.

Yankees or Cardinals. Bears or Patriots. Red Wings or Blues. The teams play on.

There are days that define a generation. Pearl Harbor Day. November 23, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. And 9-11. Days that reverberate through history. And the aftermath of those days haunt us today. Twenty-two veterans a day take their own lives. We, as a nation, owe them more.  This podcast is adapted from a speech Bill Enyart made to the employees of Aledade, a nation...

Sound advice on writing good speeches, KISS and KISS leads to quicker kisses.