Of history, warfare, leadership, and alcohol
Take heart, all you who grow unsettled at the time of year where the narrative of friendly Pilgrims and American Indians is spread around to make us feel good about a brief moment in American history before everyone started killing each other. Thanksgiving as a national holiday is actually about another time when everyone was …
Dear PBS, So, I don't say this enough, but I really doggone love you. You launched my passion for history. You made me read more books. And you made me tolerate and almost become interested in science. Which, as my mother could tell you, is a real feat. And you did this at the cost …
Continue reading "Viewers Like Us: A Love Letter to PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting"
I will not apologize for my horrendous title. You deserve it. When the world is a mess, you lean into your reading list. Hard. This month was a solid mix of military history and historical fiction, with author Naomi Novik once again dropping some bangers. She is rapidly turning into one of my favorite authors. …
Continue reading "April Showers Bring May Books"
Reader, in an attempt to break out of my writer's malaise (sounds far better than "writer's block," doesn't it?), I am going to break one of my cardinal rules as a blogger: not reviewing books. See, once you start reviewing books, it becomes an expectation. And once something is expected of you, it stops being …
Continue reading "April is the Cruelest Month, but not for my Reading List"
Dunno if you're like me, but I was raised on stories of America, the survivor. America, the scrappy. America, the fighter. The country that came from behind, stood for truth and justice, took some punches, and then came out the other side - stronger than ever. The Sons of Liberty. The Underground Railroad. Rosie the …
Continue reading "America, Get your S**t Together"
With all-due apologies to Dylan Thomas. As Christmas rolls around, my all-too willing mind is pulled back to Ohio, to the wide and rolling drab-colored fields dotted by stout wood copses, to the gray and leaden skies that sat like a lid on a silent universe. Snow, never early, always late, sometimes on time, would …
Continue reading "A Child’s Christmas in Ohio"
For years, I was blessed with a marvelous ability: to be able to just sit down and begin writing. And then to finish writing, with an actual product. And like with most abilities, I took it for granted. I would jest about writer’s block as if I truly knew what it meant, even though for …
Continue reading "When the Words Stopped"
Ok, so, as most of you know, I normally don't do book reviews on this site. I'm breaking my own rule because I lost a bet to an author about who could run more during one specific weekend. 17 miles and some extra sprints later, she got .2 miles on me and here we are. …
Continue reading "Pantheon Book Review: Or, How I Lost a Bet"
Sometimes, as you trod along the road of life, you look up, trying to get a glimpse of what lies ahead. Sometimes it's dark and gloomy, and you realize it's been been growing so for some time. There isn't much to see. Peering through the murk is exhausting, as is trying to navigate with the …
Continue reading "Mental Health in the Military: A Parable"
The Angry Staff Officer 
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