"One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are." Steve Jobs I knew I was going to meet a hero on Wednesday. It was Captain James Hawkins, commanding officer of the Great Lakes Naval Base in North Chicago, one of the largest and most important military training facilities
Ah, the joys of growing old. My latest checkup revealed that I've allowed my weight to sneak up (about 14 pounds since my last doctor's appointment) and my sugar numbers to spike back up into pre-diabetic territory. I blame it on several different dietary indiscretions, including consuming hundreds of Altoids that I mistakenly believed were
I'm always grateful when life serves up a wild, invigorating array of experiences in the course of a single day- and Tuesday the 17th was such a day. It began with a phone interview with an NFL legend and ended with Mozart's The Magic Flute - and sandwiched in between were a couple of
This weekend Kathy and I finally got around to stripping our 9-foot Christmas tree of its ornaments, dis-assembling it, and hauling it down to the basement for safe storage. We also boxed up all of our Jim Shore Christmas figurines - a complicated and time-consuming undertaking - and put away just about all of
It was just over a month ago that about a hundred singers from Carthage had the amazing pleasure and privilege of standing on the stage of one of the most beautiful performance halls in the world - Orchestra Hall in downtown Chicago - and singing a concert that brought the audience to its feet.
It began with an S.O.S. from Jim Schatzman back in December. He had just lost the services of the baritone he had hired to sing Melchior in the Choral Arts Society's performances of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. Could I ride to the rescue? Of all of the exciting moments I
The myriad angels raise their song. O saints, sing with that happy throng! Lift up one voice. Let heaven rejoice in our Redeemer's song! (From the beloved Norwegian hymn "Behold the Host" - as translated by Gracia Grindal.) I'm sure that most of us who gathered at Decorah's First Lutheran Church on Thursday night
