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They have a name for me. They call me a Grinch, a curmudgeon, a Scrooge, and a grouch. The number of words available to describe me, and others like me, says something about how common we are. We are legion. And for good reason. Christmas is an overblown, garish exercise…
Read moreCaves are cool. Slipping out of a hot, muggy day into the cool environs of a cave is the pre-modern equivalent of air conditioning. What’s more, caves are a world unto themselves, unique ecosystems akin to tropical reefs or desert floors. So it’s no wonder human beings have always been…
Read moreField of Dreams is about dreams, magic, life, and what is quintessentially American. Naturally, some people despise it. In the spring of 1988 a film crew rolled into the small town of Dyersville, Iowa to begin making a movie that the Philadelphia Inquirer came to describe as “not so much…
Read moreI suspect my daughter is a hillbilly. That is, I think she may have hillbilly blood running in her veins. How much hillbilly blood, you might ask? Well, check this out. Her mother’s name is Marie Hatfield. Her grandfather’s name is Clarence. His father’s name was Floyd, and he was…
Read moreKaydan awoke in the middle of the night demanding Deet. I told him to go back to sleep, told him I was not his servant, which didn’t faze him. Kaydan was on a roll. Had been all night. Earlier he had been demanding Tom’s pup tent, the tent Tom had…
Read moreLincoln wanted to get away. He said, “Find me a dock on a lake somewhere up north where I can dangle my legs in the water and fish.” I like to impress Lincoln so I found him a lake – in fact, I found him 10,000 of them, many of…
Read moreIt was once hailed as “The Mother Road,” saluted as “Main Street U.S.A.”. There have been songs written about it, books, movies, a television show. In our collective imagination it carries us back to a more innocent time, when America was young, when entrepreneurialism was grass roots, before cookie cutter…
Read moreIn a peculiar reflection of our nation’s current economic woes, the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League gave their star quarterback, Peyton Manning, a five-year, $90 million contract extension. The move clearly hampered the Colts’ ability to sign other players, weakening their roster. Then disaster struck. Manning was forced…
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