Dangerous Nation: A Review
This is a review of Dangerous Nation: America’s Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Robert Kagan. Vintage Books, November 2007
When it comes to America’s...
A Conversation with Kochkar, the Loader
His name was Kochkar,
and for the past two years he’d worked as a loader,
traveling up and down the Nile with Hadhoud about five times a year.
His true field of expertise was botany,
which he’d...
The Conman's Guide to Bagging an Oscar
I’m an “opportunity man:” a man that knows how to take advantage of the chances that life slings your way. It's easy. You just have to know what to look for and how to think on your feet –...
Thanksgiving, My Grace
I've been, naturally, thinking about the whole thankfulness concept, and what, in particular am I thankful/grateful for right now. I was reminded of the mess we went through with child #4 starting...
Slave to Fate and desperate men
.!.On July 1, 2002 a Bashkirian Airlines passenger plane and a DHL cargo jet collided over the German countryside. Eyewitnesses reported seeing fire in the sky, a noise like thunder stirred the...
Living Las Vegas
Las Vegas only makes an impression if you don’t look past the illusion. Peek beyond the veil that the corporations have cast and its nothing more than a series of asphalt lanes and bus routes. For...
Love from Gabriel
I left word with God that I’d borrowed a book off him when he wasn’t looking – not one of the big ones, just a collection of verse by someone small who never left the mountain and drew water...
Pirates and Parallel Parking
Lucy Peterson wouldn't describe herself as the kind of girl who teaches Russian men how to walk the plank, plucks old ladies' whiskers to gussy them up for dates, and avoids parallel parking…but...
Short Poems
Light Rain the glowing smartboard in the darkened room of teachers Afternoon faculty meeting one of the bosses talks in front of the stuffy, overheated room; outside, the hedge trees shiver in the...
The Beauty Monster
I grew up in a family that did not hold beauty in much esteem. Abilene Town full movie Both of my parents were uncomfortable around people who fit the cultural standard of physical attractiveness....