Sage advice from an IU gratitude professor
I enjoyed coffee with Y. Joel Wong over the holidays. Joel is a tenured professor in the Counseling and Counseling Psychology Programs at Indiana University. One specialty of his is…
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A Facebook farewell & other 2024 meditations
2024, for me, was a milestone-year marking sincere attempts to trim brain fat while in pursuit of improved mental well-being. I started using Prozac and meeting with a mental health…
How I Broke This, ep. 10: Pizza Drone
COLD OPEN (actual recording of a Nov. 24, 2024 local radio WHCR live news dispatch): Ladies and gentlemen, this is Stu Clampitt again in downtown Fishers, Indiana. Well, I ……
Blind Boys of Alabama helps shed light on his concert-going ways
I saw the Blind Boys of Alabama last month. The gospel group, with roots reaching 80 years back and a history of helping break down racial barriers, truly lifted my…
“How I Broke This” ep. 9: Shy Bladders Anonymous
“Should I stay, or should I go?” – The Clash GUY RAZZ: I’m Guy Razz, host of How I Broke This. Welcome to my narrative journey about business ineptitude and…
First came paper football, then came girls
Four seventh-grade boys. Four seventh-grade girls. Two telephones – rotary dial dinosaurs adhered to parents’ kitchen walls. Thick, twisted, dangled cords, like entangled anacondas in heat. Four seventh-grade boys on…
Myriad of brain droppings on his mind
In 1997, comedian George Carlin published his very funny book, Brain Droppings, which, according to the cover, contains “jokes, notions, doubts, opinions, questions, thoughts, beliefs, assertions, assumptions, and disturbing references”…
New way to eat a banana appeals to him
My father-in-law died. Tom Tappan. Down in Athens. Heart issues. A time bomb ticker. He was an ideal father-in-law. Super nice. Good sense of humor. Our politics matched. He was…
A good cry at a psychic fair
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in Next Avenue on Oct. 31, 2024. Last October, Brynne showed me an advertisement for a psychic fair. I arched a quizzical eyebrow, in…
Goodwrench & Son (1987)
Editor’s Note: Scott’s dad experienced a stroke this week due to 99.1 percent blockage of the carotid artery. He is currently recouping in a rehab facility. This is one of…