Columns

Dear Barb—Masking the Danger

Dear Barb: My 80-year-old grandmother is in the hospital with covid-19, she was on a ventilator for almost two weeks and is now recovering.  No one in the family has been able to visit her.  We are all heartbroken that she would have to suffer like this.  She has always been a loving caring grandmother… Read more »

Fly on the Wall—Learning to Love the Blank Screen

“I’m stuck.”  A plaintive cry rang out through my elementary school classroom as another student fell victim to that mysterious vortex comprising blank page syndrome.  To demonstrate resistance to the gnawing emptiness of staring for too long at an empty sheet of paper some kids would expertly place their textbook on their desk and, like… Read more »

Homemade is Better—Camp Like a Champ II

We recently camped with some friends near Smoky Lake, and when it came time to make dinner, we had realized none of us had a pot large enough to boil the corn for our crew.  Enter ingenuity!  We had just roasted our potatoes in the coals and I realized I should just put the corn… Read more »

The Creative Spark—When the Wicked Witch Becomes our Hero

There’s a new fad in fiction where authors rewrite fairy tales, myths, and biblical passages from the point of view of—not the hero—but the villain.  When we read the tale from the villain’s eyes, we might grow to love him. But what about the villains in movies and books?  They are so despicable that they… Read more »

Beats from the Basement—Supertramp

Album: Crime of the Century Artist: Supertramp As much as I love rock music, I’ll admit that it can get stale without some creative risk-taking.  I sometimes wonder if new or aspiring musicians are intimidated by veterans of the genre because they fear they can’t emulate that level of impact on our culture. I think… Read more »

Dear Barb—The Cat House

Dear Barb: I am a guy in my twenties and have been dating an awesome girl for the last year.  I live at home with my parents and she has her own apartment.  We have started talking about moving in together and we both feel we are ready for this move except that I have… Read more »

The Struggling Student Rants—Til Debt Do Us Part

Typical Western society refuses to talk about money in its raw form.  We may discuss the abstract concept of wealth and the financial state of our local economies, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty we have learned to zip it.  This topic, just like politics and sex, is so taboo we won’t even… Read more »

Homemade is Better—Toasted Green Beans

We’ve been under a new normal for a few months now, and the number of people who have decided to garden has been understandably increasing, why not start a new hobby?  My family and I finally got around to turning our weed patch into something useful.  We planted carrots, corn, onions, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, chives,… Read more »