*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on December 19, 2017. It can also be found online here. It’s been almost a week since the 12-foot-tall blue frame appeared at High Point in the Garden of the Gods, and the sounds of fury have been deafening. “Shocking,” “mistake,” “an eyesore,” and “piece…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on December 13, 2017. It can also be found online here.
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on December 4, 2017. It can also be found online here. While about 50 million Americans traveled recently for the Thanksgiving holiday, my family stayed put. Normally, as a military family, we’re on the road for the major holidays. One year it’s Christmas in Utah…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on November 30, 2017. It can also be found online here. For some, it’s a once-in-awhile brutal workout. For others, it’s just a steep hill next to a hippy, happy town. For others, it’s a daily obsession. But to all, there’s no doubting the Manitou…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on November 11, 2017. It can also be found online here. While Veterans Day typically conjures up images of gray hair, cemeteries, and the flag flying through fall leaves, maybe our minds should make room for a different kind of combat soldier. Because some heroes…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on November 3, 2017. It can also be found online here. We’re now repeatedly reminded that Americans are intensely divided: a recent poll found “seven in 10 Americans say the nation’s political divisions are at least as big as during the Vietnam War” and a…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on October 20, 2017. It can also be found online here. America’s got a bigness problem. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its annual study on obesity. The numbers were chilling: nearly 40 percent of adults are obese, and when that…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on October 16, 2017. It can also be found online here. While wearing my military uniform, I often hear a distant, direct, “thank you for your service.” It’s always appreciated, but, during a painfully long week, containing the aftermath of the tragedy in Las Vegas,…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on October 8, 2017. It can also be found online here. My grandmother-in-law turns 90 this weekend, so I called and announced myself with a self-deprecating ice breaker: “It’s your good-for-nothing grandson-in-law.” Before I got the last syllable out, she pushed back with infectious positivity,…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on October 4, 2017. It can also be found online here. A recent Gazette story on the risk of North Korean nuclear weapons included the opinions of a retired Air Force general who minimized the threat, calling it “nowhere near as scary as it was…