On January 1, 2000, I pulled a U-Haul into the Colony Apartments across from SouthPark Mall in Charlotte. We were arriving in town after a few chaotic years in Florida, following a couple of intense years in NJ, and were hoping to find balance in our life together as a newly married couple. The move represented the turning of a leaf. The fact that it occurred on the literal turn of the millennium was not lost on us. In the…
I have been losing my hearing for a long time and have fought hard to keep from doing anything about it. Because pride. Today I swallowed that pride.
Once upon a time, a group of wealthy men decided to join forces to ensure that their wealth and power would never diminish. They needed a way to control the people who lived below them so that they needn’t worry about revolution. But their home nation was long ago designated for free people, and free people have desires of their own. And to the wealthy men, any desire by the masses to glean power, and wealth, would lessen their own…
I caught wind of a story today about a book being banned that set me off. Then I found out that the story is from two years ago, but decided to be mad anyway. Because this isn’t about a book. It’s about our desire to take the easy road when faced with problems in life. I speak from experience when I tell you that in some places of the country, the truth is hidden away. Locked in a cellar. Never…
As we approach the day she leaves us, I wanted to share some things about our daughter Agatha Rose that most people don’t know. From afar, most people know her as a pretty girl with good hair. You might also know her as a good soccer player. Her friends know her as fiercely loyal. But there’s more. She’s also extremely competitive and will give up her body on the field of play. This isn’t always evident unless you get really…
I had just been fired from the agency that brought me and my wife to Charlotte 18 months before. I was told that I was “too fiery.” And maybe I was. I was a new copywriter, after all, and had a way of beating the hell out of ideas in order to test whether they could hold water. In some ad agencies this would be fine, but in a conservative one like mine, it was a little too intense. This…
