They say when everything changes, change everything. What happens if you don’t want to change, though? What if you want things to be exactly as they always were? What if you’re a little bit reluctant to go out into the unknown, preferring familiar pastures, preferring the safe, known, and familiar? They also say that things…

Welcome to the “Iron Man: Crash” graphic novel database review entry. Journal log: 6-4-25.  This data upload processes 1980s comics history: Sub context: 1988. Reflection: the 1980s — a decade of big hair, neon lights, and comic book experimentation. Things got weird through  experimentation. Comics were deviating from their established trajectory. Boy Scout capes and…

Don’t let the headline excite you or fool you. An IMAX theater is not coming to Rutland, or anywhere else in Vermont for that matter, any time soon. And if I know Vermont like I have over the past decade, it’s never coming, so don’t hold your breath. Anytime the request for a new movie…

Over the last 15 years, Hartford, Vermont, has undergone a quiet but impressive transformation, reflecting the vision of its residents and meeting the needs of the community. Its village center—White River Junction—now hums with new life in the form of boutique shops, a Turkish bakery, seasonal flower stand and even a Prohibition-style restaurant.  Powered in…

My interview with Fred Tackett of Little Feat happened because of their publicist, Dennis McNally. I didn’t know who McNally was, but my friend Annie Sullivan questioned if he was the same guy of Grateful Dead fame. A Google search confirmed they were one and the same. McNally became the Grateful Dead’s biographer in 1980…

One of the TV talk shows I was watching recently discussed fears. The comment was made that we outgrow most childhood fears, but some remain. Fear of the dark is a common one when you are young. I remember a night light solved that problem for me. My bedroom door was left open, and there…

Forming a new friendship with someone in your 40s is challenging enough; try doing it if you’re an introvert. Writer/director Andrew DeYoung’s comedy “Friendship” is a hilariously dark look at male bonding with a leading performance from Tim Robinson that audiences won’t soon forget.  Where to begin with this movie? I guess, for starters, a…

Rolling out of bed, I grab my Apple watch and check my phone. Confusion and delight spread across my face as I see that the sky is supposed to be blue today. All day. Like a normal spring day. There isn’t a cloud on the radar nor a bloop in the hourly. It’s confusing, all…

Now that my son is in his 20s, working and taking college classes, my time with him has diminished considerably. He still lives at home, so I see him in passing, but the quality time I used to revel in has long since passed. Throughout his childhood, my son and I were connected at the…

One of the most exciting rites of spring is the alewife run, an annual event where throngs of fish race upstream from the ocean to inland water bodies on a reproductive journey. These “river herring,” as they are categorized, actually spend most of their lives at sea. Come spring, when the water warms to at…

As the old month becomes new, there’s an opportunity to start afresh. The skies look very different this week than they did last week, and as such, it may require you to think a little bit differently, too. New circumstances often bring new opportunities and, therefore, new choices to make. Though this week and in…

“In God we trust, all others bring data,” said W. Edwards Deming. Human beings are hardwired for narrative, storytelling, connecting with other humans by sharing experiences and detailing characters, plot, dialogue, spectacle, theme, and action. We tell stories to build relationships, establish rapport, teach, persuade, inspire, establish credibility, create empathy, entertain, persuade juries, and accomplish…

We were surrounded by red, white, and blue. The stars and stripes were everywhere, repeated over and over across the field in front of us. We sat next to my mom and dad, trying to read the names on the memorial that stood proudly in front of us. We saw the name Jones repeated over…

When I was a young man, the legal drinking age was 18. That meant that a good chunk of teenagers could go out to the bars while still in high school. Admittedly, this caused some problems. I should know; I was one of them.  When I was 20 years old, the state of Vermont changed…

If you’re a mosquito and it’s a warm spring afternoon, you’re out cruising the air currents on your tiny wings. But as you buzz around, the sun warming your exoskeleton, the clouds roll in, heralding a spring shower. Balls of water up to 50 times heavier than your body begin plummeting out of the sky.…