Jack Armstrong was a retired Marine Corps Colonel. But he wasn’t what you would think based on your unconscious biases. He had confused and perplexed a lot of folks who came in contact with him for most of his adult and professional life. …

Rock-strewn coastline Boulders here and there, Navigate the rocky bottom - Sarsens everywhere. Frigid, stabbing water Hits my exposed skin Bodysuit barely helping, Board scrapes stone again. Struggling to paddle out - Watch the exposed crowns, Of underwater boulders Everywhere around. Hard to read the current, Twisting and unfair; Waves…

Although studies show the numbers of players, spectators, and watchers are steadily declining, we cannot dismiss the possibility that football will continue to survive in some form; not in spite of its violence, but precisely because of it. “The game, the game: here we go again. All glory to it…

Learning to Leverage the Normal and the Good When Back Among the Denizens of D.C. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” -Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz. What’s it like to live in the Washington, DC, area? I don’t mean to visit. Indeed, everyone should visit the nation’s…

The Second Chapter An ode of sorts to an area and the friends we have there. As my time out here is almost complete, I feel like I need to say something memorable to mark it. Whether I have it in me or not is another matter. After all, when…

Observations on Taking a Different Path For Patty. “Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did…

Jack Armstrong had always been fascinated by that place Superman went to think and be alone. But he had always wondered why the Man of Steel had built it in the arctic cold. That just didn’t square. After all, Superman seemed the smart, logical type. Why was his escape house…

Chapter One Jack Armstrong awakened. The first rays of dawn’s light were filtering through the blinds, giving the room that new brightness, washing away the night’s dreams. He loved the moment. He’d lay there unmoving, only the eyes working, taking in the new day’s first minutes of light. The rest…

“I’ve been first and last, Look at how the time goes past. But I’m all alone at last, Rolling home to you.” -Neil Young, Old Man The call I thought I would always dread came on a brilliant, late January, Friday afternoon. I was about three months into a year-long…