Archive for June 2020

Pole vaulting is hard. After running as fast as you possibly can for about 24 steps, you raise one end of a 15 foot fiberglass pole over your head while simultaneously slamming the other end of the pole into a metal box set into the ground. As the pole strikes the box, you throw your…

I should not be surprised – yet I am – by the myopic and tone-deaf nature of the Trump administration. It seems like at least once a week, Trump or one of his sycophants says or does something so clearly stupid, hypocritical, or bumbling that could have been avoided entirely if someone with just half…

I often find myself in a situation where people are drinking alcohol. A football tailgate. A backyard cookout. A dinner party. Brunch. Hanging out in a bar. At these gatherings, I’m often offered alcohol or someone offers to buy me a drink, and I almost always decline. When pressed or offered an alternative alcoholic beverage,…

Some of the things that children can do aren’t fully appreciated until it’s too late. This level of flexibility plus cuteness is one of them.

On episode #97 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our follow up segment, we discuss the events taking place in our country right now and how we hope to begin moving in the right direction. We also discuss upcoming shows and workshops, all online! STORYTELLING SHOWS 2020 June…

Yesterday, Elysha, the kids, and I attended a rally in the center of our town in support of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and anyone who wants to bring an end to racial injustice in our country. Before arriving at the rally, we discussed the purpose of marching with the kids and explained why it’s…

On Saturday, for his eighth birthday, Charlie received an Iron Man gauntlet containing all six Infinity stones. He’s been snapping me out of existence ever since. Six, by the way, is a strange number. Don’t you think? Five and seven make perfect sense. ThEse are numbers associated with power. Three makes sense, too, though three…

Every time I hop on my bike, I can’t help but reach for my seatbelt, and then, for a second, I’m astounded that there is no seatbelt. Every time. I understand why there is no seatbelt, and I understand why it might not even be safe to have a seatbelt on a bicycle, but decades…

As a person who was once arrested, jailed, and tried for a crime he did not commit, I have always been nervous around police officers. When I was beaten and robbed at gunpoint just three months after my arrest, I insisted to the police officers that I was fine when they arrived at the scene.…

At the end of each month, I report on the progress of my New Year’s resolutions (or lack thereof). Here are the result through the end of May. PERSONAL FITNESS 1. Don’t die. I managed to avoid COVID-19 and two jerks who ignored stop signs and nearly ran me down on my bike during the…