When I was a boy, nothing beat a night at Grandma’s. It was free, the rooms were nice and cozy, and the award-winning food was, well, worthy of winning lots of awards. Even though she lived in Cleveland, her kitchen was sautéed in southern hospitality and smothered with goodness. One whiff of her chicken and…
He was here. He made an impact on this world. He was a common, everyday man with a few bucks in his pocket. That’s what people told him. Count your blessings. Thank God for the man you turned out to be. You matter. And people are lucky for having known you. The little things. A…
One more time across every bridge in Cleveland circle the flats cross the river smooth, rhythmic strides to Whiskey Island touch the abandoned lighthouse and hightail it to Edgewater knees up, on toes along the sandy beach waves crash against our calves a sandstorm brews like the dust bowl behind us grains inside our socks…
Not all junk mail is bad. If he hadn’t taken the time to open last week’s batch of circulars and special offers, he would have never received the news. News that he was now a full-fledged member of the Adventure Club of North America for Outdoor Enthusiasts. Here’s how: somewhere along the line, someone found…
I think John Wayne and the pilgrims get along for the first couple of days. “I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do, pilgrim,” I can imagine John Wayne saying. “Have you seen my hat, pilgrim?” “Are you gonna finish that biscuit, pilgrim?” “Hey pilgrim, pull my finger!” At first, the pilgrims bite their tongues and…
“Hello boys and girls. I must say, I feel honored to be standing up here in front of you today. To think, the Benjamin Franklin 5th grade Career Day! It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in your seats. Does anyone know what a drover is?” I pan a sea of blank faces and…
As a kid growing up in Cleveland in the 1970s I dreamed of two things happening. One, the Cleveland Indians would make it to the World Series. And two, my favorite player would make the highlight reel of This Week in Baseball. Well, the Indians never made it to the World Series. But one of…
In theory, sleigh bells and muckrakers go together like Nicholas Sparks and Stephen King. So what compelled me to lump them together in my first e-book published earlier this year? I had written some stories and allowed them to simmer on the back burner for a while. The Internet and the explosion of publishing without…
M: Hello, elated? E: Is that you melancholy? M: Yeah, it’s me. E: How you hanging in there good buddy? M: I’m melancholy. How do you think I’m hanging in there? E: Right. Well cheer up because it’s a glorious and beautiful day! M: I suppose. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you on winning…
Police responded to a disturbance last Tuesday at approximately 6:55 PM in the parking lot at Arby’s on James Street. An elderly woman named Miss Othmar, who played the teacher in the Charlie Brown TV specials, was taken into custody and later released on $25,000 bail. Surveillance video of the entire incident was secured and…
Tracy Kidder writes in Home Town ‘how small a piece of time the living occupy’. In this instance he is referring to a place where a mental hospital once stood, now a mound of dirt covered in snow where children go sledding. This transformation is just one example in Northampton, Massachusetts – the physical cornerstone…
This is an article I wrote in January of 2012. It was published as a letter to the editor by the nice people of “The Neighborhood News” in Garfield Heights, Ohio. The content remains relevant because it concerns K-12 public school funding in Ohio and some of the challenges that school districts face when school levies…
i make words go vroom. 