Passing through the great room, I glanced at the HGTV show Mrs. tVM was watching this afternoon and noticed that the ‘star’ of show wore a t-shirt that read, “Let Your Smile Change the World.” Great stuff. Ever since I saw Forrest Gump run cross-country – literally ACROSS the country – I thought Forrest Gump […]
Category Archives: Mind
Faith Amid Doubt… Lincoln Still Smiles
The American landscape has changed drastically since I played chip-up baseball with Johnny Senger, Ray “Ping” Connors, the Filio brothers, and a handful of other future big-leaguers from nearby neighborhoods on the vacant lot behind the swamp next to our house on West Housatonic Street. Kids don’t do that anymore. America has been far from […]
Life Lessons from Flat Tire
Two weeks ago, I experienced a flat tire on my 6am bicycle ride. I was three miles from home. Knowing Mrs. tVM would be on her morning walk, I walked the bike home, a good contemplative experience. The culprit was an unusually large nail that I removed from the tire. I replaced the tube and […]
The Nameless Giver
I have worked in the homeless community in Tucson ever since I met my friends Carl and Chuck in 2012 in the book store at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Picture Rocks, Arizona. Homeless himself for a while, Carl is the Director of the St. Francis Shelter in Tucson where Chuck is a board member […]
Four Truths
Ten years ago, I completed and published my second novel, The Hamsa. The Hamsa is about human dignity, the fact that every child is born with human dignity, that it has NOTHING to do with race, religion or status in life, that NO ONE can take our human dignity from us. We can give it […]
“My Feets Is Tired”
As a student of history, dates stick in my mind. Throughout my life, I remember ‘things’ by associating them with dates. As an example, my beautiful home in River Falls was located at 1890 Golf View Drive. Easy for me to remember because the massacre at Wounded Knee occurred in 1890 not so far away. […]
Extremists
The lawlessness and chaos of recent days are greatly disturbing. Many years ago, I defined my three greatest heroes as Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. They were extremists and the three men have made the most profound and positive impact on humanity since hominids began to walk upright. Common to each is his […]
How Good People Can Be
Every time someone shows me how bad people can be, someone steps up to show me how good people can be. Years ago, a friend recommended to Mrs. tVM and me the PBS series Call the Midwife. I have been around since the dawn of TV. I remember Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob Smith. I […]
Meet Me in OZ
I love America. I love the freedoms bestowed upon me as an American citizen, freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution and its 27 Amendments. As much as I love America, that is how much I dislike the selfish way too many Americans interpret our freedoms such that they consider themselves entitled and refuse to be considerate […]
Lessons from Grackle
We have many birds in our neighborhood and one of the most popular is the Great-tailed Grackle. Like all birds, they rise exactly 30 minutes prior to sunrise, and I hear them throughout the day and see them on the adobe walls in my backyard. Last week, Mrs. tVM saw a nest in our neighbor’s […]