Confession: I like to watch a lot of television. For my money, it doesn’t get any better than marathon sessions of shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Stranger Things (yes, that last one’s technically still television). The compelling mysteries, plot twists, and story arcs in these series are like digital catnip to me, but […]
Five Supporting Science Fiction Characters Who Steal Their Shows Read More »
Yesterday, I saw a bumper sticker that read “If you’re not hustling, you’re part of the problem.” As I sat at a traffic light and stared at that sticker, I began to examine my life. I wondered, what does this guy know that I don’t? Should I be hustling? How, exactly, does one hustle? Is
Success: It’s All About the Size of Your Hustle Read More »
In 1961, at age 19, I began teaching first grade in western North Dakota. My students consisted of Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara children, descendants of the native tribes who’d lived there for centuries, with equal numbers of ranch kids and those whose dads worked the oil fields. Only fourteen years earlier I had been a
As I write this, humanity is nearing the end of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, or so I’ve heard in hushed whispers here and there. Who am I kidding? The Rio Olympics is all I’ve been hearing about over the past few weeks, whether I was listening or not. Person A swam/ran/tumbled/threw something faster
The Full-Blown Spectacle of It All Read More »
The summer of 1984 was a fun time to be alive. Sure, we all thought the USSR was going to bomb the bejeezus out of us—and they were thinking the same thing about us—but movies like The Day After notwithstanding, there was more to life that year than the looming specter of World War III.
Real Life Lessons: The Designated Doofus Read More »
From 1989 to 1993, the NBC science fiction show Quantum Leap chronicled the adventures of good guy Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), a physicist who created a time machine that allowed him to inhabit the bodies of others who lived within his lifetime. Each week, Sam would leap into a new character. Some of them were
With All Due Credit to the Good Dr. Beckett: My Quantum Leap Moment Read More »