Stories from the Steps

father

  • Vol.1 Chronicle 40

    DUCATS WITH DAD: This was intended to be a rant against overpaid & overhyped coaches, the NIL & Tennessee’s “10% talent fee” on next season’s ticket package. I spent yesterday banging the keyboard between my ears foraging for nouns &… Continue reading

    Vol.1 Chronicle 40

  • Vol.1 Chronicle 38: Farewell 9/2/2021

    CHINSTRAPS & HEROES, A FAREWELL TO JIMMY: I wasn’t expecting to cry today. I especially wasn’t planning on one of those heaving cries that convulses down to the gut. I’d already been a little emotional in dreading next week, a… Continue reading

    Vol.1 Chronicle 38: Farewell 9/2/2021

  • Vol.1,  Chronicle 31: Mirages

    MIRAGES OF GRIEF, THE PRODIGAL, VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 31, STORIES FROM THE STEPS: Maya Angelou wrote, “I answer the heroic question ‘Death where is thy sting?’, with it is here in my heart & mind & memories.” I seem to… Continue reading

    Vol.1,  Chronicle 31: Mirages

  • Vol.1, Chronicle 28

    VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 28, BOTH INDEPENDENCE DAYS & PLYMOUTH ROCK: INTRO: The 6 or 7 minute read that follows in 3 chapters, is my pastor’s fault. This Sunday past, he basically told our congregation, those that weren’t thinking of beating… Continue reading

    Vol.1, Chronicle 28

  • Father’s Day

    VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 26, FATHER’S DAY 2024, ABSENT YET PRESENT: Sometimes I write, to paraphrase Maya Angelou, because it’s agony to bear an untold story in the soul or like today, I’m an empty penitent seeking a filling communion, seeking… Continue reading

    Father’s Day

  • Vol.1, Chronicle 25: Streak of Love

    STREAK OF LOVE: In Philadelphia, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, sits a legendary gymnasium named The Palestra. Outside that old barn’s front doors is a plaque that reads: “To win the game is great. To play the… Continue reading

    Vol.1, Chronicle 25: Streak of Love

  • Vol 1, Chronicle 23, Casualties of War

    VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 23, MEMORIAL DAY, CASUALTIES OF WAR: By the time most read this, local scouts will have spent their Saturday morning placing flags on white markers at National Cemetery in observance of Memorial Day. My Dad returned from… Continue reading

    Vol 1, Chronicle 23, Casualties of War

  • Vol.1, Chronicle 15: Dash

    VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 15, DASH: This weekend I received a text from one of the great cheerleaders* in my grand crusade of fingers poised over the typewriter keys to be the next great Southern writer like Faulkner, Capote, or O’Connor.… Continue reading

    Vol.1, Chronicle 15: Dash

  • Vol. 1, Chron. 12

    DADDY’S, WEDDINGS, & FULL TREES: Yesterday morning, I drank coffee in a dark silence broken only by the light & sound of the TV & The Andy Griffith Show. I’d seen the episode, “Opie the Birdman”, the one where Opie… Continue reading

    Vol. 1, Chron. 12

  • Vol. 1, Chron. 10

    VOLUME 1, CHRONICLE 10, GEOMETRY OF A MENSCH, let me tell you two a story from the steps: Today would’ve been my dad’s, your Great-granddad’s, 92nd birthday, it’s my 11th time without him & while he’s no longer present, he’s… Continue reading

    Vol. 1, Chron. 10