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Today is the first day of African-American History Month. It’s also the day the world learned that Don Cornelius, the creator and most famous host of Soul Train, committed suicide. I hadn’t thought about Cornelius in ages, but Soul Train was huge for us kids of the ’70s and ’80s. I’m about as Caucasian as [...]
Does the body rule the mind Or does the mind rule the body ? I dunno… – The Smiths One summer during my middle school years, I had to mow the lawn at my dad’s house. My father was a big believer in kids starting on regular household chores as young as possible, and he [...]
Nothing dies. Nothing ever dies. – Ian McCulloch, “Start Again” My Grandma Mary died 23 years ago. It was Election Day, 1988. I was a freshman in college and excited to be voting in my first Presidential election. Just before I left my dorm room to go vote, my dad called to tell me my [...]
It was 20 years ago today, but I can remember so much of it crisply, like it only just happened. It was the day after Hallowe’en, and it was snowing. It seemed way too early in the year for snow, even for Iowa. I was working at the checkout desk at the south entrance of [...]
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in the strange, the uncanny, the mysterious, the wondrous, the supernatural. But when I was in 1st grade, I became somewhat obsessed with ghosts and haunted houses, UFO sightings, legends of vampires and werewolves, and cryptozoology. This went on for years. I checked out as many [...]
GLAAD has declared today, October 20, as Spirit Day, a day for people of all sexual orientations to show support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth and to show support against bullying. I’m heterosexual, but I have many people in my life of various orientations who I love dearly. And know people who have [...]
I’ve posted this story online before, but never on this blog. So for posterity’s sake (if nothing else), I’ll post this now. Are you ready? Read on for the story of… My Night as a Male Stripper! When I was an undergrad at the University of Iowa, my friend James lived with two friends in [...]
When I was a kid, I wrote and drew a lot of comics. It was one of my burning passions, and I still kick myself for giving up drawing. (I gave it up because it got too hard. I didn’t want to have to practice, I just wanted to be able to draw the things [...]
