This summer was an interesting one to say the least. I had the opportunity to drive several hours from home to a desert town, where I knew nobody, and had no resources. As a volunteer campaign organizer, I learned how to subsist on donated carbohydrates, how to surrender control … [Read more...]

Phil is about to open the medicine cabinet when he spots it in the mirror. Until now, his morning ritual moved along as it did every day, practically without him. He barely remembered the shower, giving more thought to the lottery numbers he would play that day than his hands as … [Read more...]

People always ask me: How did you get that burn on your hand? Did you fall asleep next to a lit stove? Did you get too close to a roman candle at a Fourth of July party? But I merely reply, "No, it's from sulphuric acid." It happened on my way home when I was still in high … [Read more...]

First there was Michael Phelps, then there was Shawn Johnson, but the big scuttlebutt seems to be surrounding a local Minneapolis mother of two, who recently received a gold medal in the latest post Olympic event. “Endurance Crying.” Given that the Olympics coincide with the … [Read more...]

I turned 16 in 1986 and was given the family station wagon to drive. If you’re envisioning a large, clunking, gas-guzzling wood-paneled, Ford Country Squire in metallic peat, relax. My car wasn’t that eye-catching. My wheels were attached to a murky-white automatic-transmission … [Read more...]