Ogallala, Nebraska, may not seem terribly sophisticated. And for good reason. It’s not. But neither are most of us. Most of us don’t have the time, patience, or dollars to waste on trying to be sophisticated. What we want is comfort, with occasional indulgences. That’s why I often prefer smaller cities and towns to the […]
writer's life
Happy Valentine’s Day and Other Murderous Sentiments
Are you ready for Valentine’s Day? Do you have your scythe sharpened and ready to wield? You don’t? Well, if you hurry, you can still hustle down to Home Depot and find a scythe in time. Or perhaps your local Guillotines-R-Us store has a few portable guillotine models left in stock. I know, we all […]
How Many Glimmers Have You Noticed Today?
In a world where the only information being fed to us by the media, social media platforms, and power-hungry blowhards is negative, it’s easy to forget that there are, in fact, good things in this life to notice, recognize, appreciate, and be grateful for. Some of these things are big. Most are tiny daily things […]
Of Wine, Greek Gods, and Stories
There’s a particular white wine I’m sipping that transports me back to the sun-bleached limestone and olive-tree-studded mountainsides of southern Greece. It was introduced to me on our trip last month by Giannis, a fourth-generation winemaker in the off-the-beaten-path Papagiannakos Winery sandwiched between the bustle of Athens and the blue waters of Artemis Beach on […]
A Day for Fools and Other Speakers of Truth
I don’t love pranks. I’ve never been a fan of April Fools’ Day, even as a little kid. Pranks always seem to me like they’re designed to pointlessly humiliate the other person so that everyone else can laugh at them. Life is hard enough without purposefully making it harder for someone else when they’ve done […]
Tasting Notes for Books
“We should rate books the way we rate wines,” an author friend of mine told me. She’s absolutely right. Books have flavors, after all, and essences. Some make you breathe deeply as you imagine a stroll through a rose garden in chapter 3, while others stink like skunk grass from page 1. Imagine you’re at […]
