Stuff in the Basement

  “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the re...

To my knowledge, Stephanie Ruhle broke the story.  That's silly language in the Trump era--as if anyone was needed to be the lead report...

Bierstadt, The Last Buffalo [If you would prefer to listen to the podcast, click here .]  "Now, boys, is our time for fun." That...

To be sure, it's not my favorite day of the year, ranks among the worst, in fact, although there are others upcoming, I'm sure, that...

“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble.” Edward Taylor, who lived from 1642 to 1729, was probably just an ordinary Purit...

Truth be known, in my life I don't remember really raucous New Year's Eve parties. The  one I'll never forget is the very first ...

  You can see, I'm sure, the problem. It's vanity, I know, but were I to walk around in public with these monster shoes holding up m...

She's just about come to the point where her name can be invoked simply by way of her initials--MTG. She's not quite risen to the le...

   Breughel, The Massacre of the Innocent s This morning, just hit the "Listen" button and don't bother reading. https://www.k...

First, you are to think always of God, of Wankan-Tanka. Second, you are to use all your powers to care for your people and especially for th...

  “. . .surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.” I’ve been to Japan, studied Shintuism a bit, and not been seduced.  ...

It could be that I have no place in the commemoration, but something in me says that I do. The two of us hail from the same background, alth...

When it came time to play them, we couldn't help wonder what the Catholics were thinking when they named the school "Immaculate Con...

Technically, the story is over when Bea ponders the star her mother deliberately placed beneath the linoleum cover they put on their kitchen...

If we were to analyze the arc of the story via traditional means, we could say, right now, that the story itself--the conflict that pushes i...

There's a significant revelation in the next two paragraphs. You'll see it. Remember, what I want to do with this story is somehow b...

This edition of my weekly radio podcast Small Wonders  (KWIT, Sioux City, IA, an NPR affiliate) has to rank as one my all-time favorites. It...

To say Bea Van Klay is "haunted" by memories is going too far. The memories stick with her, in part, because they feed her anger a...