Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Available Again — Sunny and Victor
Bears and rabbits are not supposed to be friends, but the story of how Sunny Bunny and Victor Bear became “best friends forever” is a tale of friendship, cooperation, and overcoming stereotypes. Sunny and Victor: Best Friends Forever, the children’s book that started my writing career, is available again on Amazon Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Victor-Best-Friends-Forever-ebook/dp/B0HCMP2JT6/ref=sr_1_1?
Your Next Job Won’t Be Any of These
When I substitute teach, I like to tell the kids that during their lifetimes they will probably have more than one career, and at least one of those careers will be a job that hasn’t been invented yet (solar-collector repair on Mars?). The converse of this is the professions that do not have much of
The Hidden Toll of Mass Shootings
The sad fact is mass shootings are all too common in this country. Each one takes a horrific toll on the victims, their families, and anyone close by. But is the impact even broader than that? I recently ran across an article that explores this in more detail: “The Death Toll of a Mass Shooting
What Are Your Favorite Weird Words?
Slang: a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. — Yahoo We’ve all used informal words that sound nonsensical. And yet they really are words that can be
Dinosaur Fossils on the Moon?
There are many natural wonders in the universe. Start with the sheer size — estimates of the total number of galaxies range from 200 billion to two trillion, with each galaxy containing anywhere from 100 million to 400 billion stars. And then there are the mysteries. Just what are dark matter and dark energy? How
What’s the Oldest Weapon?
I’m sure everyone is familiar with what claims to be the world’s oldest profession, so I won’t mention it. My question is what could be the second oldest? I would vote for the forces of arms — militias, paramilitary, military, whatever label works. I was reminded of this by a recent article, “What’s the Oldest
How Many Are Ready For School?
Suddenly it’s August, and school starts (for me) in 12 days. This year I’m telling myself I’ll slow down, and will not be substituting as much as in the past. At least that’s the plan, but I’ve said that before. Being a history nerd, I originally wanted to teach social studies. It took me two
Early Kings Who Might Have Been Queens
We tend to look at things through prejudicial lenses. Especially in early civilizations, we naturally assume the rulers were all men. But what if they weren’t? We do know of some exceptions. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt, ruling from 1479 to 1458 BCE as one of the few female pharaohs. Her record survived because her accomplishments overwhelmed
Book Review: Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
In his day, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. was the richest man in the world, the Elon Musk of that era. He was reviled as a ruthless businessman, amassing a near-total monopoly in the oil business. And yet, he was also very religious and revered as a generous philanthropist who aided a wide variety of causes,
Where Did That Name Come From?
How much do we owe the original inhabitants of this continent? When it comes to names, quite a bit. Take a word as American as you can get — barbeque. This word originated in the Caribbean with the Taino culture as a term for a wooden frame used for cooking meat over fire. Europeans adopted