Album in the Key of Me: Breakfast in America
I stumbled across someone hearing Supertramp’s Breakfast in America for the first time and unexpectedly rediscovered questions I had nearly forgotten.
Decades later, “The Logical Song,” “Take the Long Way Home” and “Lord Is It Mine” sound less like old favorites and more like an album that was asking some of my questions before I knew how to ask them.
What Happens When Nobody Remembers the Enemy?
Why is iodine added to table salt? That random question led me from goiters to polio, MMR vaccines, water fluoridation and a larger question:
What happens when we win a war so thoroughly that nobody remembers the enemy?
The Winds May Be Changing in Texas—but It’s Not Because the Oil Patch Went Woke
New polling shows Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick in surprisingly tight races.
Are Texas voters suddenly turning blue?
I’m not convinced. Maybe something simpler is happening: politicians who have dominated the state for decades have become better at fighting culture wars than listening to what ordinary Texans are actually worried about.
Songs in the Key of Me: The Way It Is
Some songs become memories. Others become companions.
Why Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is has stayed with me for nearly forty years—and the question it never stopped asking.
Before the Orders Are Given
A military awards ceremony became something far more personal when I realized the young soldier in the video would never come home. A reflection on service, sacrifice, and accountability.
Death Deserves Compassion; Legacy Deserves Honesty
The recent death of Senator Lindsey Graham prompted me to think about something I suspect many of us will wrestle with more than once in our lives: how should we respond when someone dies whose public life we found deeply disappointing?
A Sheriff Screamed “Who’s Running This Show” and Somehow It Explained the Entire Federal Government
An Oklahoma sheriff lost it in a parking lot over jurisdiction–yelling “Who’s running this show?”
The video of the incident is more than a viral moment. It’s a metaphor for how unchecked power and ego are tearing down cooperation at every level of government.
The 24th: Camp Logan, Houston and the Sad History I Never Knew
For 65 years as a self described Houstonian, I never heard that Black soldiers were executed after a 1917 riot on what is now Memorial Park. Learning about Camp Logan has shattered my “Houston is better” myth—and reinforced the negativity of slogans like “Make America Great Again.”
Can a Culture Survive on Trust Alone?
Can a society thrive on trust alone?
After watching a vintage episode of TV show ‘To Tell the Truth’ featuring the founders of a community called Auroville, I found myself reflecting on culture, human nature, and the realization that every community eventually becomes a reflection of the people who inhabit it.
Handing the Keys to Aviva’s Generation
Sometimes the most meaningful questions begin in the most ordinary places. A Facebook ad for laundry detergent prompted me to think about stewardship — not just of money, but of the world we’ll eventually hand over to our grandchildren. This isn’t a post about detergent. It’s about legacy.