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…
Stylish New Look
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Beautiful Eyes
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Wise Old Man
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The Masked Model
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A Stylish Stud
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A Monk Walks His Path
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Young Man In The City
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Hip Young Woman
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Umbrella Rides The Wind
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The Soul of the Person Holding the Match
When I think about book burning, the first image that comes to mind is a Nazi rally in early 1933 in Berlin, in the course of which about 20,000 books were put to the torch. These were works by Jewish authors and others considered by the Nazi regime to be...
Turtles All the Way Down
Last night, before I fell asleep, I thought to myself, “I need to write a column tomorrow.” I proceeded to dream about a strange quest in which I piloted a stolen dirigible, rode an avalanche down a Himalayan mountain, and steered a raft through deadly...
Lighten Up, Vampires. It’s All Good.
The fan above my writing desk has been spinning all summer. Most of the time, I’m not aware of it. But several times a day – more than several, if the writing isn’t going well – I’ll lean back and notice the irritating sound it makes,...
Confessions of a Literary Obsessive
Everyone knows what an obsessive is. He’s someone who washes his hands every two minutes. Or organizes her fruit by ascending size and color. Or can’t leave the house without tapping the corners of the oriental rug twelve times with his bare toes....
A Roundabout Way of Saying Yes
As a driver who crosses Sterretts Gap with some frequency, I can tell you that the intersection of Sunnyside Drive and SR-34 is no picnic. It’s often evening as the Olshans are climbing Sunnyside Drive up the southern face of Blue Mountain. The Cumberland Valley...
Bureaucrat Advances Healthcare: Film at Eleven
Everybody loves a good rescue. The world celebrated with Chile last week as all thirty-three of the miners who were trapped thousands of feet underground by a cave-in on August 5th were whisked to the surface, one by one, in a custom-made capsule appropriately...