Journal

Watch or listen to this journal: Vodcast | Podcast Being seen and heard might sound simple, but most of us spend a lifetime craving both. I learned that again this morning while sitting in a quiet lab chair, waiting for my turn to get blood drawn. The walls hummed with the sound of centrifuges, and … Read more

Keep moving forward is what I tell myself when the morning feels heavier than the coffee. The neon at a little Route 66 diner flickered awake as I pushed open the door, and the bell over the frame gave a tired hello. A couple of ranch hands argued gently over who was buying, the kind … Read more

Watch or listen to this journal: YouTube Vodcast | Podcast Faith and Money, Great topic! It started, like most stories do, over coffee. The kind that comes in a heavy white mug, sitting on a diner counter somewhere between hope and habit. I was talking with a man who called himself a social media expert. … Read more

Woke at the counter… Anywhere is good! There’s a diner off old Route 66 where I sometimes stop when the road gets long. The coffee’s decent, the counter’s chipped, and the regulars know exactly how long to leave you alone before asking where you’re headed. Last week, I was there again, same stool, same view … Read more

Turning Into Our Parents Might Save Us after all. You’ve seen the commercials. A brand-new homeowner walks into a hardware store, and before long, they’re doing it… turning into their parents. They’re talking too loudly, offering help to strangers, pointing out signs no one asked about, or fumbling with a paper map like it’s still … Read more

Staying Neutral in Politics with Courage, is that even possible? I’ve spent enough time in diners to notice how politics creeps in like background noise. One TV over the counter is tuned to one news channel, and the other screen is blasting its rival. Half the room nods along, half the room groans, and the … Read more

Watch or listen to this journal: Vodcast | Podcast Change The Tire on Route 66, again! I was somewhere between mile markers, that long stretch of nowhere where the horizon starts to feel like it’s running away from you. The kind of road where you learn quick that cell service is more suggestion than promise. … Read more

Watch or listen to this journal: YouTube Vodcast | Podcast Healing Old Wounds in a Chaotic Present, that was this week’s reminder that the present has a way of pulling yesterday’s pain back into the room. My wife shared how today’s noise and leadership chaos echoes the chaos of her childhood, a home shaken by violence, unpredictability, … Read more

Authentic storytelling isn’t about numbers, and there was a time when numbers were everything. I knew the Arbitron ratings when I worked in radio, I knew how many listeners tuned in, what time and for how long. How many households watched the TV shows I appeared on, how many tickets were sold at movies I … Read more

Grassroots storytelling starts in quiet places, with a notebook open and coffee cooling while I tune the tiny things no one sees. Titles, keyphrases, alt text, commas that play nice with readers. It is not glamorous, it is honest. Most nights I am tightening bolts like a roadside mechanic, so the next mile is safe. … Read more