In 2002, I left corporate America for the first time, returned in 2004 and walked away with finality in 2012. Although I enjoyed the many trips I made to Latin America with my friend Dwight, I gained little satisfaction from the corporate world, only money. I left in 2002 with the desire and commitment to …
Author Archives: tVM
Medicine Wheel
In 2010, Ash Wednesday occurred on February 17th. Mrs. tVM and I attended the early morning service at the Redemptorist Renewal Center (RRC) in Picture Rocks, Arizona, 3.5 miles from our home on the edge of the Saguaro National Park to the northwest of Tucson. It was the first Ash Wednesday service I had attended …
Water
I am midway through my ninth week of living minimally ‘off the map.’ Excepting the broken leg from a week ago, it has been an exhilaratingly positive experience on all fronts: spiritually, mentally and physically. I was schooled in the ‘whole man concept’ as a cadet at the Air Force Academy 50 years ago. That …
Lessons from the Forest
Three months ago, I wrote about the lessons the Kinnickinnic River taught me when I kayaked in high, rapid water with my friend Adam. Nature continues to teach me, and once more, the hard, humbling way, but that approach is certain to capture one’s attention… Since moving up to the hill with Clarence, I have …
The Peak of Summer
A strong storm rumbled across the upper Midwest this morning. It carried a message. “This is the peak of summer,” the strong wind proclaimed. Although autumn is my favorite time of year, I am sad to see this particular summer end. Oddly, I don’t recall feeling this way since the summer of 1966 as I …
Mail Order Annie
I acquired my first Harry Chapin album in the fall of 1972 when I arrived in Anchorage. Heads & Tails it was titled. It was the first of 11 albums Harry would produce over his too-short career that ended tragically in a car accident in May 1981, the same month and year my best friend …
Beauty in Nowhere
I’ve not read poetry by Hayden Carruth, but I will. Garrison Keillor notes that last week was Mr. Carruth’s birthday as was my daughter-in-law’s. He would have been 98-years old; she is not. I have read three good books by Wendell Berry who Mr. Keillor refers to in his notes on Mr. Carruth… “Carruth then …
Happy Birthday, Dad
My father would have celebrated his 97th birthday today. As it is, he passed peacefully in his sleep in his own bed on June 3, 2015. My father was a good man, worked hard, cared for his family and was honest. Earlier this year, I posted his ‘obituary’ on my other website. It is a …
Huxley and Orwell
As a young man, I failed to read two important books that continue to be revered as classics, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both describe a dystopian society of the future. Huxley wrote his masterpiece in 1931; Orwell wrote his in 1949, the year I was born. In his …
Beyond Politics
I saw a bee on a flower this morning and recalled these words from Celtic thinker John O’Donohue… “Animals know nothing of Freud, Jesus, Buddha, Wall Street, the Pentagon or the Vatican. They live outside the politics of human intention… they already inhabit the eternal… the dignity, beauty, and wisdom of the animal world [is] …