“Brian, are you okay?” My immediate thought was not again! It was just a few months ago that I untangled my brothers injured and bloodied body from his bicycle on the gravel road leading to Stranger Creek. I immediately covered his wound with my hand and applied pressure to stop the gusher of blood pouring out of his head. “What are you doing? It doesn’t even hurt.” He must have been in shock.
It began as a normal day of exploring on our bicycles. Little did we know that it would turn into a bloody terror.
A big SHOUT OUT to my brother, Brian, and his colleagues for receiving the Kansas Adult Education Association (KAEA) Humanitarian Award!
I stayed up late last night watching a Netflix documentary on one of my favorite bands: RUSH! If you have never given RUSH a serious listen, you should! You can start with my Top Ten RUSH songs.
Driving in Japan is like driving anywhere else in the world; once you become accustomed to different traffic laws, signs, and a few idiosyncrasies, driving a car is driving a car. I’ve been driving in Misawa for about ten months and there are some things that have caused me to pause, think, and smile.
“Enjoy every sandwich” ~Warren Zevon
My family moved to a farm in Northeast Kansas when I was in the 2nd grade. That meant a new school and a new mode of transportation to get to school: a big yellow school bus.
Although rock and heavy metal are my genres of choice, variety is the spice of life. My love for music was born out of the many genres I was exposed to growing up in Kansas. Country music was played in my house a lot growing up. So, I’ve listened to Johnny Cash all my life. Cash’s music is the reason I connected with one of my oldest, and dearest friends.
I wrote “The Bittersweet Tree” in 1988. It was always a favorite of my Grandmother’s. It was published in the quarterly magazine Sunflower Petals back in 1989. The poetry magazine was published by the Kansas State Poetry Society. I have revised it a few times since that first publication, but it is still pretty true to my original composition. I hope you enjoy my poem.
This Japanese ramen joint will solve your winter cravings for warm Japanese comfort food!
A Thousand Miles from Kansas 