Archive for January 2024

One of my students said that I’m “a wretched man with lifeless eyes.” Later that day, I told Clara what my student said. Her response: “Only sometimes.” Children are terrible.

Last week, I posted my lessons learned after 15 years of parenting. Today, I’ll add this (upon request from the parent of a newborn and a pregnant mother): The Three Most Important Parenting Decisions Elysha and I Have Ever Made Decision #1: We found a way to allow Elysha to remain home for Clara’s first…

Charlie is away this weekend, camping with the Scouts. He’s actually sleeping in a cabin, so I don’t really think of it as camping. In my hundreds of nights spent camping outdoors as a Boy Scout, I never once slept in a cabin. Never enjoyed heat, indoor plumbing, or electricity of any kind. Tents, lean-tos,…

Have you heard the news out of St. Paul, Minnesota? For the first time in the capital city’s history, the people of St. Paul have elected an all-female City Council. In fact, St. Paul is believed to be among the largest cities in the country to have an all-female city council. But the firsts do…

My daughter celebrated her fifteenth birthday yesterday – January 25. Happy birthday, Clara. When she turned two years old, I posted a list of lessons learned from two years of parenting. I updated that list when she turned five. Then again, when she turned ten. Five years after that, I update it again. ______________________ 1.…

There’s nothing unusual with someone: Purchasing Storyworthy – my book on storytelling Reading to the end of chapter 2 Downloading The Moth app Listening to the latest episode from the organization where I told my first story That happens a lot. I know so because I’m told similar things by many of my readers. If…

My childhood friend, Danny, passed away last week. I last saw Danny at Yawgoog Scout Reservation two years ago, where he and I spent so many glorious summer days. Danny and I had planned to see each other again this summer at the annual camp reunion. Instead, I’ll be thinking about my friend as I…

Simple but important: A lot of judges, election workers, politicians, attorneys general, and similar public servants are receiving a great many bomb and death threats these days. Can we all agree that people who make these kinds of threats are lowlife cowards? I think the message needs to be loud and clear: Anyone who anonymously…

One of the best ways to construct a story is to first define the purpose and plot in its simplest form: “I needed to find the perfect gift for my wife, then I found that perfect gift.” “I needed to find the perfect gift for my wife, but I failed to find anything she would…

In their book, Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting and Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace, Robert M. Galford and Cary Greene examine the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” a guide published by the OSS (the predecessor of the CIA) in 1944 to assist European spies undermine the Axis powers from within.…