January 25, 2023 The truth of it is, we had our own George Santos A good brain holds data in neat filing cabinets, alphabetized and ready for recall. Others, like mine, have stuff stored every which way, in…
January 20, 2023 Emergency Rental Assistance program gets high marks It’s hard to get people to agree on anything. For example, just 84 percent of Americans – and 66 percent of millennials – were…
January 16, 2023 More than you need to know about my LPs This shouldn’t take three months, but it probably will. I’m reorganizing my stereo LPs. I hesitate to use the word “collection” to describe what…
January 10, 2023 If you’re fightin’, you’re not winnin’ If you’re fightin’, you’re not winnin’ In 1974, during my sophomore year at Notre Dame, two of my classmates got fed up with the…
December 26, 2022 My excitement for the day The neighbors two doors north were rocking their car back and forth, stuck in the driveway. If the wind chill hadn’t been minus-23, I…
December 17, 2022 Unfair all-star vote a lesson in racism 60 years later Sometimes we feel that the past is past, and there’s nothing we can do about it. But sometimes there are lessons waiting for us…
November 29, 2022 Lessons linger from a first-grade teacher Among my father’s keepsakes is a letter written many years ago by Lottie Pickerl. Mrs. Pickerl had been my first-grade teacher at German Township…
November 23, 2022 Searching for something in my sleep One of the last conversations I had with my old friend Mike was about dreams. It came as little surprise to me that our…
November 7, 2022 Here I am, horking up another essay I have a fair idea how I became an expert on bad writing. My first full-time job as a grownup in 1976 paid me…
November 2, 2022 One if by land, two if by sea In my glum moments, I have found a new worry. I had made peace with the likelihood that, within five years, my neighbors will…
October 13, 2022 Successful golf: Think like a caddie and don’t get hit in the goolies My birthday present a few years ago was a golf lesson. Instead of meeting me at a driving range for an hour, Ben…
September 12, 2022 Heroic (and fictional) Chip Hilton would be a tough fit in today’s college sports One of my first sports heroes was pure fiction. Chip Hilton was the main character in a series of books written by Clair Bee…
September 8, 2022 How many words will you need for your legacy? A few years ago, my mother and I were talking about death. She had passed her 90th birthday, and she was surprised that she…
August 28, 2022 We all need to stop yelling “Loser!” and be kind Thirty or so years ago, my son Bill joined his first basketball team It was at the Michiana YMCA, and this league for the…
August 19, 2022 Next civil war could happen without a single gunshot I’m frequently wrong about things. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, there was immediate talk about going to war in Afghanistan. I…
August 1, 2022 A class reunion can be a good time for long-overdue apologies The prom stories came out last weekend for my 50-year class reunion. Mine bordered on the pathetic. Through a fluke in the voting process,…
July 23, 2022 If you look hard enough, you can always find a nastier job than yours One of my earliest memories is of picking strawberries in a rocky patch east of our barn on Old Cleveland Road. Later in the…
July 4, 2022 Given the opportunity, she got game too The first time I watched a girls basketball game, I tried to keep my yap shut. It was sometime after Thanksgiving in 1976 in…
June 20, 2022 So was an old schoolmate my version of a hero — or just somebody else’s sucker Every now and then, I think about Al Sondej. He was a constant presence during my first two years at Notre Dame. Tall, blonde…
June 7, 2022 Rides are short but chats rewarding at ND reunion I could feel the bones slide as they moved to new places in my hand. I don’t know if I winced. I do know…
