*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on October 17, 2021. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here and PDF of the print version can be found here. I had fired every bullet and it wasn’t enough. On a black…
*Note: This essay was published in the New York Daily News online edition on April 12, 2021. An image of the header to the column is included below, as well as the text of the essay. One hundred years ago, Canada planned to invade America militarily. A century later, they may actually have done it through other means, and it’s…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on April 11, 2021. An image of the column is included below, as well as the text of the essay. My first in-person church service in a year was this past Easter Sunday, a shaky blend of awkward joy that seemed to mark the next stage of society’s…
*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on September 23, 2020. Images from the actual print story (which was titled differently from the online version), as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here. Last week, 235 retired generals and admirals signed an “open letter” supporting President Trump’s…
*Note: This audio essay was broadcast on KRCC/NPR on July 13, 2020. The audio link can be found here, and the text remarks can be found below. *** Pikes Peak’s our North Star. It’s always there. The light on top even looks like a star. We use it to find our way when we get lost. And…
*Note: This essay was published in the Pikes Peak Bulletin print edition on July 2, 2020. It can also be found online here, an image of the column is included below. America’s talking about discrimination, and Manitou Springs, unfortunately, has its own sins to speak of. Not as violent as the killing of Mr. George Floyd. Not…
*Note: This essay was published in the Pikes Peak Bulletin print edition on June 11, 2020. It can also be found online here, an image of the column is included below. Last place. Bottom of the barrel. Dead freakin’ last. Cellar dweller. The biggest loser. All these phrases describe my experience in last week’s selection process for…
*Note: A slightly edited version of this essay was published in the Pikes Peak Bulletin print edition on April 16, 2020. It can also be found online here, an image of the column is included below. If all you’re hearing is bad news, then listen to Manitou Springs howl at eight o’clock each night. A few minutes…
Rachel and I just returned from a trip to New Zealand with a stopover in Hollywood. And though we live in a visual culture where pictures take precedence, here’s a brief textual rundown of what we did: Threw axes. Won a public pushup contest with a bachelor party fairy. Got tattooed. 6 flights, 7 hotels,…
*Reader’s Note: Below are the remarks delivered in presenting the Manitou Springs “Manni Award for Health & Wellbeing” to Pastor Susie Merrin of the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Technically, this was an award given for 2019, but I’ve chosen to title it in the year it was given (2020). *“The people who live in darkness have…