Coming Out

This is a sad story: My first reaction, which I shared on Facebook and Twitter, was this: Nine-year-old boys come out? Since when? Something is off here. I admit, the old man inside me wanted to yell at the clouds and say kids that young can’t possibly know they’re gay, but something told me not to, and […]

Another Nickel on the Grass

I disagreed with most things John McCain stood for as a politician, but although I consider myself socially progressive I was also a career military officer and that informs a lot of my thinking. If I held public office half my socially progressive brothers and sisters, probably more, would hate my guts. So I try […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News Why can’t kids just read Officer Friendly coloring books instead? South Carolina Cops Have Thoughts On Your High School Reading List. Here’s more on the same subject: “Union says depictions of brutality in The Hate U Give and All […]

Thursday Bag o’ Updates

That’s my physical therapist, Jenny, who has put me through the paces for the last time: stretching, bending, climbing, riding; she who encourages patients, and me in particular, to work through the pain and get better. You know what? I’m going to miss her. From this point on I’m on my own with home exercises and a local gym […]

Another Milestone

In my previous post I waxed enthusiastic about getting back on the motorcycle after a long break and a new knee. Not so fast, said the moto gods. When your bike sits in a hot garage all summer, the battery croaks. Fortunately I have a trickle charger and this morning, after applying a heating pad to my knee to loosen it […]

Milestones

Passed another one this morning. A milestone, that is. I lowered myself down prone on the concrete garage floor to pump up the rear tire on my motorcycle (the Goldwing’s non-removable saddlebags won’t allow me to do it any other way). I got down and up without assistance. Hey, don’t scoff. That was a biggie. My 5 1/2-year-old titanium knee had to bear the brunt […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: Fiction, SF/Fantasy, Cheap Thrills

“Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe.” — Jesmyn Ward: Sing, Unburied, Sing Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward From the Faulkner novels I read in college to Ace Atkins’ paperback Quinn Colson thrillers today, I can’t recall a single Mississippi novel that hasn’t centered around grinding poverty, […]