Rise of the pods

March 18, 2026–A most pivotal change in culture happened in our lifetimes. Yet I would bet most of you haven’t recognized it. This simple conversion changed at a base level how we view and interact in the world. No part of society is untouched by it. Yet in a way we...

The Decades Question

March 11, 2026–Today I’m asking readers a question my 10-year-old granddaughter asked me that I cannot answer: Which 10-year period in your life was your least favorite? And which 10-year period would you exchange it for? First of all, I have no idea where this...

Insecure Security

Mar 4, 2026–Processes created to increase our security actually make us less secure. One tangible example is door locking. As home and office security became more critical, the sophistication of locking mechanisms also grew. This made protected areas almost impossible...

Critics & Confidence

Feb 25, 2026 “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who...

Grammar Grouch

Feb 18, 2026–If I had to learn to read today, I would be illiterate. Like most of you, I learned to read and write a lifetime ago. I’ve been a teacher, author, columnist, songwriter, and I even wrote letters in cursive when stamps only had presidents on them....

Hearing Voices

Feb 11, 2026–Do you have a recording of your parents’ voices? I recently followed a story of a radio DJ trying to track down any recording of his late father’s voice. It turned into a quest worthy of the Holy Grail. His last sample was on a phone answering machine,...