Latest Posts

  • My Not-So-Wild Wild Life

    My minister asked us this morning to think about how we experienced nature early in our lives. Here goes. I grew up in suburban New Jersey and, as a kid, my wild place was behind our house. We lived in… Continue reading

    My Not-So-Wild Wild Life

  • Mouse Mind

    We’ve had a mouse problem. It started with a text from Virginia on my Monday morning walk that said “Mouse! Come home!” I came home, seemingly trapped it in a bathroom and went to get some mouse traps. By the… Continue reading

    Mouse Mind

  • Meeting My Father-in-Law, Who Died in 1974

    I was going through a photo album from 1968 made up of photos mostly taken by my father-in-law, and it was as if I was meeting him for the first time. Which, in some ways, I was. Charles Christopher Kirk… Continue reading

    Meeting My Father-in-Law, Who Died in 1974

  • The Lure of Sunflowers

    I’ve never been much of a flower person. I’ve let Virginia do the work of encouraging things to grow and be beautiful, and I water, yank up weeds and prune when things get unruly. But last year, I decided to… Continue reading

    The Lure of Sunflowers

  • On Being Bill Clinton

    A Piece of American Trivia As I browsed in a Hallmark store one day in the mid-nineteen-eighties, I found a card listing famous people who have the same birthday as me. I was startled when I saw my own name.… Continue reading

    On Being Bill Clinton

  • Why Legacy Looks Forward, Not Back

    My friend David Jack is one of the most inspiring people I know. He is a fitness professional whose work is deeply tied to his commitment to seeing people thrive spiritually and physically. He is huge—6–4 and lots of muscle—yet completely approachable.… Continue reading

    Why Legacy Looks Forward, Not Back

  • Why Laughing at the Seinfeld 9/11 Spec Script Felt So Wrong and So Right

    Lately there have been a few things coming together and making me wonder about the long shadow of 9/11. I just finished re-listening to Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, which is an exhaustive take on Osama bin Laden, from his… Continue reading

    Why Laughing at the Seinfeld 9/11 Spec Script Felt So Wrong and So Right

  • I Want to Be a Little Old Man

    This is a poem I wrote in 2014 as I felt I was coming around a bend and could see some re-assessments coming. Eight years later, it’s kinda true and kinda not. (Image credit: Photo by Mohammad Rezaie on Unsplash)… Continue reading

    I Want to Be a Little Old Man

  • The Practice of Practice

    Allen Iverson did not have a positive relationship with practice, as he made clear in a famous end-of-season rant. But, did I agree with him? Continue reading

    The Practice of Practice