The Professor's Bayonet

www.48bconsulting.com If memory serves me correctly, Jeff Haight of Jeff News fame was elected class clown for the graduating class of 1992.  We were classmates at Youngsville High School, which is now closed.  The closing was a result of the mass exodus of youth from the “biggest little town” on the map in northwestern Pennsylvania, but not all packed up their stuff and left.  Jeff, it seems, hun...

www.48bconsulting.com https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Liberation-Definitive-Classic-Movement/dp/0061711306 First published in 1975, Peter Singer’s  Animal Liberation  is, according to the Chicago Tribune, “a most important book that will change the way many of us look at animals – and, ultimately, at ourselves.”  Riding the waves of other liberation movements – notably, the Civil Right movement and...

https://48bconsulting.com/ It was difficult to hear the news.  Out of two classes, nobody, not a soul, had ever heard of Laurel and Hardy, the comedy duo who earned international fame in the early 20th century.  The lesson for the day had to do with the evolution of humor.  Students had the choice of writing down their thoughts on the matter and then bringing that small essay to class.  Writing.  ...

https://48bconsulting.com/ https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/in-praise-of-detours-rachel-landrum-crumble/ Rachel Landrum Crumble’s collection of poetry,  In Praise of Detours , might be deemed a study of the individual’s plans versus the plans of the Divine. We have all heard the joke: Want to make God laugh?  Make a plan. The title poem certainly speaks to this conundrum of the human exp...

https://48bconsulting.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Like-Water-Leaves-Taro-Himalayan/dp/1964271282Tulasi Acharya’s memoir  Like Water on Leaves of Taro  begins with a young family’s wish to celebrate the first birthday of their only child with their extended family in Nepal. There is much to be thankful for, and by all measures, the prospects are bright; however, soon after arriving in Nepal, Achary...

https://48bconsulting.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Half-Truths-Carol-Baldwin/dp/1957656859 Kate Dinsmore is like many characters in coming-of-age stories who early on discover the power of words to reveal and defend the truth.  The seed was planted early, perhaps with the death of her brother, Jake, but readers soon learn that even her small southern town cannot keep her cooped up.  She must spread...

It is likely that author Marissa McFarland was thinking of the stereotype Italians enjoy when it comes to parting ways.  Her novel,  When Goodbyes Begin , tells the story of Anna, the daughter of Italian immigrants who spends the first thirty years of her life doing her best to please her oftentimes overbearing parents, Maria and Tony.  After taking more control over the reins of her life by quitt...

https://48bconsulting.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Close-Post-Apocalyptic-Survival-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0DSY5DD15 If you are familiar with Cormac McCarthy’s novel,  The Road , you are familiar with the genre Kristen Wade also explores in her 2024 novel,  Keep Close .  In Wade’s work, a massive meteor shower described as “cat’s whiskers across the sky” ushers in an apocalyptic world where indivi...

https://48bconsulting.com/ https://midnightmurmurs.blog/ Kevin Enners is like any writer doing his best to promote his work while continuing to generate thoughtful and engaging content.  He is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club and writes for The Kyle Pease Foundation whose stated mission is to “improve the lives of people with disabilities through sports and beyond.”  Enners is prolific.  He ha...

https://www.jannaherron.com/services https://48bconsulting.com/ Janna Herron’s brief memoir of her struggles with mental health is timely to say the very least.  Entitled  Brokenness Restored: The Path to Recovery is a Healing Journey , Herron’s open rumination on what it took to come back from the brink of mental collapse is as raw as it is insightful.  She joins the chorus of so many young folks...

www.48bconsulting.com In the hustle and bustle of the current day, it is easy to forget that many in the not-too-distant past resorted to solitude and silence to work through their struggles.  It was a monastic approach to facing one’s troubles, and to those living today who cannot imagine a time without cellphones and instant access, that approach is unimaginable.  We are in the midst of a social...

My grandfather – my dad’s dad – had many titles.  He was a physician in a small Kentucky town, so everywhere we went, he was greeted with a hearty “Hello, there, Dr. Dew!”  He liked to joke that he had delivered about half of them.  He was also a Catholic deacon, so if it wasn’t Dr. Dew, it was Deacon Dew.  The heartiness would be the same.  He was also an Army officer and a pilot, an elected offi...

I did not believe it when I learned that Chuck, the man who would become my stepdad, had never served in the military.  All the men in my life since then had served -- grampa, uncles, my own father, now deceased – and the notion that a man could grow to maturity without ever having been in uniform confounded me, to say the least.  I did not know it was possible.  I had no idea that it was even an...

The technical term is “cultural artifact.”  A cultural artifact is some item that helps to tell the story about the person who owned it, used it, relied on it, even.  It might be a tool or a garment – a keepsake or a piece of jewelry.  In point of fact, it could be anything so long as it gives context to the particular place and time a person or people group existed.  We are surrounded by cultural...

The first of the month was practically a holiday.  In addition to government help, my mom would receive checks from the Navy and the Coast Guard to help provide for her children. Dad had served in both branches, and both branches honored their commitment to care for the children of the fallen.  The exact amount was never on my radar.  All I knew and all my siblings knew was that we could go to the...

https://48bconsulting.com/ https://www.colorfulcrowpublishing.com/barbara-tucker Barbara G. Tucker is proof that exquisite storytelling can and does happen far from the massive New York City publishing houses with their army of gatekeepers and yes-men and women whose focus is less on craft and more on fickle trends in the market.  Her brilliantly-written novel,  Lying In , which was published by C...

God is referenced as a “he” and “him” in the Bible, so goes the argument, because men, in specific, need a male ideal to look up to.  This in no way is meant to put men above women; on the contrary, this underscores men’s unique weakness.  Without a male ideal – without that distinctly male celestial guide – men, left to themselves, would be indescribably brutal, unfathomably destructive.  Notably...

https://48bconsulting.com/ INVITING: Creators ... writers, poets, painters, builders, etc. SEEKING: Clients looking for a unique way to improve human performance 48Bconsulting@gmail.com “Beads on a String” by Harriet Bowers recounts the raising of children and the relentless passing of time – how a house full of the happy noise of children can so abruptly become quiet, still, and lonely.  Bowers l...

Napolean Bonaparte is famous for saying that a soldier would do anything for him if awarded a pretty piece of ribbon to decorate his uniform.  He was referring, of course, to medals and accommodations for valor, but I have found this to be true in other, less dangerous contexts.  One of the many rungs I clung to on my way toward manhood was made of cloth, and I can still remember the pride I took...

I have come to learn that each of us is given raw material to make of it what we will.  Typically, that raw material aligns with our vocation, our job.  I am a university professor, which means that my raw material is paper.  I use it to collect my thoughts, brainstorm, teach, and communicate, and my students, in turn, give me paper with their work on it for me to evaluate and assign a grade.  I a...

Being a parent oftentimes means having only two hands for a four-hand problem.  That is just the nature of the job.  A parent opens their eyes and is met with a barrage of chores and responsibilities, mostly centered on preserving a stable home environment for their children.  Because this series focuses on fathers, however, allow me to be culturally “trad” (or traditional as the more hip call it)...

As I write this, though it is nine months out, I am bracing myself for when we drop my oldest daughter off at college for her freshman year.  I know I will be sad.  Terribly so.  For eighteen years, I have been on a special mission and I am in a tailspin for how that dynamic will change.  Practically daily, I take my dog, Arrow, to Simpsonwood Park, a sprawling forested land that has dirt trails a...

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On those fortunate Fridays, we kids were given a mission by our mother.  We were to locate Steve, the mailman, and retrieve the check.  He usually delivered our mail after 4 pm when the banks would be closed, and we desperately needed groceries for the weekend.  If we could intercept Steve and get the government check, we would eat well.  If not, it might be hotdogs or meatless pasta again or a tr...

The parade would begin at the high school and move through town – past the barbershop, the doctor’s office, a couple of banks, and the bars – then pause on the bridge over the Brokenstraw Creek.  A prayer was said, a wreath was dropped over the bridge into the water, and three shots were fired before the parade would resume, making its way up to the cemetery where there would be a speech, another...