Independence Day 2020 is certainly different from any we’ve seen, and the challenge of addressing the subject of freedom is both more challenging and more necessary than ever. I had begun this piece in a pretty sarcastic mood initially. I thought of the calls to Continue reading
No Substitutes Allowed
For years, Mom used to bless me on special occasions with her signature version of an applesauce cake. She had monkeyed with the recipe a bit over the years, and her rendition was unique and really quite delicious. As Mom got older and life became a little more challenging, she began more frequently to replace things she might be out of with substitutes. If she ran out of Continue reading
A “Grand” Father’s Day Reflection
A classmate named Allen was my best friend in the early days of high school, so when we had an early dismissal from class one day, it seemed like the ideal time to invite him to come with me to my grandmother’s house. It was a six or seven block walk from school, but I knew the walk would be compensated with more Continue reading
Out of Strength, Made Weak
Strength is universally appealing. In my mid-teens, a magazine filled with pictures of muscular guys posing on beaches surrounded by beautiful girls caught my attention and led to one of my first major purchases, a set of barbells. I committed myself to work tirelessly and do whatever it took to look like those guys in the magazines. After about three weeks of faithfully working out whenever I felt like it, it was time to check out my progress with a look in the mirror. There was Continue reading
Weaponizing the Dictionary
Introduction: A Word about the Context ~
As you read this, the Gallagher compound is officially (well, almost) on the road to our new home in Tennessee. The article that follows is a slightly edited piece that we published a couple of years ago, but the message is certainly relevant now. We’ve seen chaos and anarchy before, but nothing recently compares with the violence, looting, and property destruction we’ve been witnessing for the past week. The inflammatory rhetoric that is interwoven with dramatic videos is the primary mechanism that keeps the rage alive and the inner cities burning. Interestingly, the article that follows was not written in reference to what’s going on now, but it easily could have been, and the message certainly fits. Continue reading
