We moved to Houston in 1980, before my sophomore year in high school. That summer I attended my first Major League baseball game. Driving up to the Astrodome that first time was like a waking dream—I’d seen that massive metal dome often on TV, but now I was inside watching JR Richard pitch. And later that summer, Nolan Ryan. And Joe Niekro. And on one magical night in October, I attended Game 5 of the NLCS where the Astros were…
With what I’ve been through in life, you’d think I’d have learned by now. But no, I’m just as susceptible to fear and anxiety as anyone. Probably not as much as some of you–for whom it appears peace is an illusion with fear constantly raining down–but rest assured, I can turn it up pretty good sometimes. And every time I find myself in a rut when worry and anxiety ride my tinnitus like a highway to my brain, I beat…
You may not realize this, but not everyone who joins the military does so to be patriotic. Most of the enlisted guys I knew only joined because they had nowhere else to go. That was my story too. Thirty-five years ago today I arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, for my basic training. I had just turned 18. Prior to leaving home, I was given some advice by the brother of a kid I knew who joined…
Thanks in part to a powerful Hollywood monster, the idea of respect for women is currently at the fore of America’s mindset. Finally. And yes, I choose to call it respect for women instead of rape culture. I’m a father to daughters, I’m a husband, I’m a man, and I don’t understand the idea of rape culture. I do understand the idea of respect for women, however. My daughters are beautiful, strong young women who were raised to believe that they have the…
When an artist dies, it forces us to consider how their work influenced us. When it’s the unexpected death of an artist we like, it feels like a punch to the gut. When Jerry Garcia died, I remember WNEW asking everyone to tribute him by driving with their lights on in the daytime. For a week afterward cars everywhere drove with their lights on during the day. Whenever I’d pass another car doing this, we’d nod and smile a sad…
– Darkness creeps in on cat’s paws and roots in the hearts of the weak. There it accumulates and bides its time festering as indifference. “It’s ok, it’s just a little violence/lie/bullying/greed/rape,” it whispers, as it waits for a signal to lash out. We are all susceptible as these concepts swirl around us in popular culture. Be vigilant against consuming even the most innocuous forms of darkness. Identify it, name it, and wrap it in chains. That’s the only way we…
