For more than five years, I wrote a weekly opinion column for The Perry County Times and its affiliated papers in southcentral Pennsylvania. I saw this as a way to give something back to the rural community where we have a little farm called Pencil Creek, but the columns become an important part of my writing rhythm. In the world of novel-writing, where six months’ work can vanish in an instant and completion dates are reckoned in years, it’s not a bad thing to have a weekly deadline.
From time to time, when I wrote on a topic of regional or national interest, I published one of these pieces in a larger newspaper, but mostly they’re a reflection of my state of mind in any given week. Not to mention a launching-pad for my curiosity!
Here’s a complete archive of my Op-Eds. There are over 300 of them. Perhaps you’ll find one or two that agree with you…
Getting in Touch with Your Inner Genghis
In my line of work, there isn’t a whole lot of what you could call “management.” According to my tax return, I’m a self-employed writer. I don’t really have a boss, nor do I have employees. Shana, on the other hand, has lots of bosses and...
The High Cost of Fast Food Medicine
It’s probably not very smart, but I tend to avoid going to the doctor. I have nothing against them personally. In fact, I like talking to doctors, much the same way I like talking to highly competent people in any field. There’s always something to learn,...
The Wealth (and Unhappiness) of Nations
Right now, reading these words at the kitchen table, or on the sofa, with your fingers curled around the edges of this newspaper, are you happy? Really and truly happy? You’re not alone if you say, “No!” It turns out there’s solid research to...
You Call Them “Pinkletinks,” I Call Them “Tinkletoes…”
One evening in late March, our first year on St. Peter’s Church Road, we were startled by some very strange sounds coming from the little pond by the pole barn: a demented whistling, or beeping, or pinging, like a thousand tiny submarines going nuts with...
When Time Crawls, Get Out There and Dig!
Waiting is a big part of the writing game. Waiting for inspiration to strike. Waiting for a character to speak. Waiting until a story is finally right. Writing a novel takes patience. The worst part, at least for me, is waiting to hear back from publishers. Times like...
The Tattered Legacy of a Glorious Revolution
I learned a lot about Haiti this week, thanks to a writer friend of mine, Madison Smartt Bell. Madison is a white Southerner, raised in Tennessee, but his love of the island and its people is genuine and deep, and gave rise to a critically acclaimed trilogy of...
A Single “Yes” Is All it Takes
All week, I’ve been haunted by a strange and disturbing feeling: happiness. I suppose I could blame it on the weather. The unseasonable heat a few weeks ago that forced the landscape into bloom has given way to the kind of dry, warm days and crisp nights usually...
A Year in 52 – make that 53 — Columns
April 29th isn’t exactly a date that lives in infamy. The musical “Hair” opened on the 29th back in 1968. It’s the date in 1945 that Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun got hitched in a Berlin bunker, and thus the day before their romantic double...
When the Reptile Brain Meets an Open Mike
It is a truth universally acknowledged that one should always treat a microphone as if it were on. Joe Biden could use a little help on this point. Also, more recently, the U.K.’s beleaguered Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. One of the signature humiliations...
That’s “Shermans,” with an “S”
Back in September of last year, I asked what I thought was a pretty simple question: when had the name of Perry County’s beloved stream changed from Shermans Creek to Sherman Creek? I wasn’t the only one who noticed the change. Several readers emailed me...
Ekalled by Few & Exceld by None
Sometimes a column will simply hijack itself. For instance, this week I sat down to write about one of my pet peeves: overconfidence. Overconfidence, whether it’s issuing from the mouth of a salesman (“‘Toyota’ means ‘reliability’...
Creek-Thievin’ and the History of Longitude
While champagne corks were still popping in celebration of the restoration of the long-lost “s” to Shermans Creek, eagle-eyed public servant Dave Unger was puzzling over the official letter from Lou Yost of the United States Board on Geographic Names. You...
X Prizes, Time Zones, and Impossible Clocks
Last week, after taking a few moments to praise an astute employee of Perry County and lambaste the state of Montana for its alleged role in stealing Shermans Creek, I wrote about the history of latitude and longitude. Actually, I only got as far as latitude before I...
When the Work Itself Is the Reward
We left off last week in the middle of the great space race of the 18th century: the international competition to solve the problem of finding longitude at sea, kicked off by an Act of Parliament in England in 1714 that established a huge cash prize for anyone who...
What an Oriole’s Nest Can Teach Us about Politics
Over the years, I’ve built some strange things: a floating dock; a revolving bookcase; central air conditioning. But I’ve never gone it alone. At least, not completely. For guidance, there’s always been a magazine article, or a website, or, in the...