September marked the passing of a cultural icon. Love him, or despise him, Hugh Hefner almost single handedly changed American society…and the lives of many adolescent boys! His passing sparked the memory of my first encounter with his magazine. I grew up in a small town. It was the 1960’s. Watch a rerun of “Leave […]
July 19, 2017: The day the music died. July 19th the world lost Mark X. Hatfield, and, yes, on July 19th…the music died. Mark as an organist. A church organist. He brought his gift to thousands around the world. Words cannot describe the majesty of his music. I urge you to listen to some of […]
On June 13, 2o17 I was honored to be the headliner for Sparks Talk’s Fifth Anniversary. The transcript of this timed-talk follows. It’s 1780, August. You are a young Shawnee teen. Early in the afternoon you climb up the ridge east of the village and look down across the valley. The summer sun beats down […]
Divine Coincidence, the term an old friend of mine (thanks Melva) uses to describe those moments in life when the unexpected happens in an otherwise routine day. These might be moments of “small world-ness” (like flying to Paris, taking a train, bus, and taxi to an old castle, walking into the grand hall of the […]
We’ve come a long way, but, we have a long way to go! April 2017 marks the 47th anniversary of the launch of Earth Day and it’s sister organization Earth Month. In 2008, I launched Rivers of Thought. While it has morphed over the years, it’s original focus was on environmental issues. Recently, I […]
There is an old proverb that states, “Blood is thicker than water.” In modern-day, it has come to mean that family bonds (blood) are stronger than friendships (water). “Love is thicker than blood” was my attempt to state love relationships are even stronger than blood relationships. As is my practice when quoting something, I wanted […]
I see a red door and I want it painted black No colours anymore, I want them to turn black I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes I have to turn my head until my darkness goes I first met Brandon Tidwell in 2009. My son Brad was launching his Hip […]
Rivers of Thought passed a milestone of sorts in November. Eight years ago I launched Rivers of Thought as a platform for blogging and speaking. It started with a whisper (I love that song by the Neon Trees, don’t you?) but has grown to so much more! Eight Years of Blogging Welcome to Rivers of […]
July 9, 2014. My day as a Chicago Cub. Yes, two years ago…and I am just now writing about it. Proving once again, I am not above jumping on a bandwagon or leveraging current events to get a few more views on my blog! But, yes, July 9, 2014, the day I became a Chicago […]
It started with an Angel. An Angel named Mary Ellen. The three Princes were gathered in the palace of the King. The Princess could not join them, not well enough to make the long journey. Nor, in fact, was the King present. He, being on a journey of his own. Days before, prior to his […]
