The Morning Paper and Our Foundational Freedoms The mornings are my favorite time of the day. The house is perfectly still, save for the rhythmic ticking of the old clock in the hallway. I pour a cup of black coffee, sit by the front window, and watch the early light catch the leaves of the […]
A Memory of Dust and Deeds I have lived in this country my entire life, and I have watched countless seasons change the colors of our neighborhoods. I still clearly remember standing on the wooden front porch of my grandfather’s small farmhouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The wood was weathered by years of harsh winters, and […]
A Quiet Morning in the Harbor I remember standing on a ferry boat decades ago watching the morning mist roll gently off the waters of the harbor. The air was crisp and tasted of salt and immense promise. The mighty city behind me was waking up as a giant engine of steel and glass looking […]
A Memory of Dirt Roads and Endless Horizons I still remember the smell of sunbaked earth on long summer afternoons. When I was just a boy, the world felt impossibly large. We did not have much in the way of material wealth, but we had the sky. We had the wind blowing across the fields. […]
A Quiet Nation Before the Storm Have you ever stopped to look at a rushing river and thought about what secrets it holds? The water just keeps moving. It never stops to tell you where it has been. I spend a lot of time watching rivers these days. They remind me of our history as […]
The Kitchen Table of Yesterday I remember the steady clatter of silverware against porcelain in my mother’s kitchen. It was the early nineteen fifties, and the world felt both vast and wonderfully simple. We lived in Peoria, Illinois, in a modest two-story house with a sprawling elm tree in the front yard. In those days, […]
The Arrival of Autumn I can still remember the exact moment the autumn air would change. It happens every September without fail. The oppressive heat of summer finally breaks. A crisp breeze sweeps through the neighborhood. You can hear the distant rhythmic thumping of a local high school drumline practicing down the street. That sound […]
The Gentle Hum of Twilight The late afternoon sun dips below the rooflines, casting long, golden shadows across the cracked sidewalks of our neighborhoods. The streetlights flicker to life with a quiet, electric hum. It is a beautiful sight. This gentle fading of the light signals the end of another day of labor, ambition, and […]
The Quiet Woods at Dawn The morning air always smells a little sweeter when you are standing under the shade of an old pine tree. The wind carries a chill from the river, rustling through the leaves and whispering stories that are older than any of us. It reminds you that the earth is alive […]
The Echoes of the Glass Palaces I remember the soft echo of water splashing in the grand indoor fountains. If you close your eyes, you can probably still smell the warm cinnamon pretzels and the roasted nuts drifting down the long, brightly lit corridors. For a long time, the massive indoor shopping mall was the […]