Category Archives: Columns

It wasn’t that long ago, in a conversation with our millennial familials, that I used the term “Oriental” in describing someone. Oi! One would think I’d uttered the actual name of God and that the Earth was about to be rent asunder. Apparently, unbeknownst to my wife and I, the term had entered the realmContinue reading “The “O” Word”

Generally my musings in this space run to a pretty uniform length. But this time I’d like you to consider just three images from the recent news. First, the whining and literal weeping of Gen Z’ers over their inability to spend hundreds, if not thousands, to purchase Taylor Swift concert tickets. Next, the news footageContinue reading “Giving Up?”

Maybe it’s a function of old age. Or it could be the tinnitus I trace to that earplug-less airboat ride in Florida many years back. But I am increasingly annoyed by the noise that permeates our culture. I’ve previously written how I love our nearby Target because they have no blaring music to accompany myContinue reading “Quiet, Please!”

There are times, happenings, even moments, in our lives that truly change their courses. When this thought recently occurred to me, I looked back on my 76 years and thought about the most significant in my own. Likely the first was when my father died. Funny, that Sunday he’d called and asked if we wereContinue reading “Deflection Points”

Having just gotten back from a trip to coastal Georgia and having my TV watching there bombarded by Ron DeSantis political ads from just over the border, I returned loaded for bear. People in the know told me what a mean, vindictive person DeSantis is, so I’m thinking that we might be better off toContinue reading “Crossing the Line?”

Originally published in the Lititz Record-Express, June 11, 2015 (but still unanswered) We have become a culture saturated with information. But, despite the flood of round-the-clock news, the overload of marketing missives and the continuous intrusion of smart phone patter, there are three questions to which I can never seem to get answers. Perhaps someContinue reading “Three Burning Questions”

When I went to work on the old 1994 Chevy pick-up that I bought to use as a commuter “rat car,” I was amazed to find that it employed metric fasteners exclusively. This was the first domestic vehicle I’d ever owned, so I’d thought that only foreign cars used this simpler system. Now my questionContinue reading “Measure This!”

It’s great to shop at our local Target, because they don’t play music. Instead of being assaulted by the tinny sounds of the shrieking of current pop divas or the bleating of Christian rock, there is just silence. It’s like a vision of heaven: Quiet, peaceful and full of good stuff. Now that I’ve openedContinue reading “Good Vibrations”

Originally published in the Lititz Record, March 11, 2021. Reproduced here because it was probably the best received of my seven years of columns in that paper. You likely don’t know what a Forstner bit is. Despite being a mechanic and “tool guy,” I spent most of my years not knowing, either, until my goodContinue reading “Picking Through My Threads”

The art of the political cartoon has, like everything else in our culture, been diluted by over exposure. There are so many outlets for their product that cartoonists have been driven to specificity, focusing their visual sarcasm on the minutia rather than the broader issues. I was heartened to see the exception to that inContinue reading “A Glimmer of Hope”