My first short story acceptance letter hangs framed by the back door. My first 100 or so rejection letters hung for the longest time in the living room, under a comic strip of Snoopy writing a letter on his typewriter. The letter that Snoopy writes reads, "Gentlemen, Regarding the recent ...
Over the summer I found myself in quite the squirmish to get my hands on a copy of the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle. I admit I can be a bit particular with how I like things, routine is very important for me. A part of my morning routine is to pick up a copy of the paper from a local convenience ...
I am like a dead tooth when it comes to horror movies, almost completely desensitized. And there is a reason for that. So, between my parents, and not ever really enjoying the outdoors, I got a good movie education as a kid. I'm not sayin' we sat around talkin' Fellini or the themes of ...
One of my favorite living artists is Johnny Sampson. He's known as the "Last Idiot Standing," because he is pretty much the last artist creating original artwork for Mad Magazine. Mad started mainly reprinting their classic comics a few years back, but Sampson still creates a new fold-in for ...
Now, please take a moment and seriously ponder that question. If you could bask in just one month of any year, enjoying every single day of that month, which one would it be? Would it be a month with a special holiday in it, such as Christmas, 4th of July, Valentine's Day or perhaps ...
It has been a tough week around town, there’s no doubt about that. I would like to start by extending my sincere condolences to the family of Sydney Culbertson. Though I did not know Sydney, I was involved in many activities she participated in, her involvement and commitment to her interests ...
A common cliche of runners is never shutting up about running, in today’s edition of Just Jonathan I will do exactly that. Confidence had always been an issue since my time as a collegiate athlete started. Being surrounded with sixty male teammates who all dedicated their lives to running ...
The thing about my Ma is that she can get along with just about anybody. This is a quality that I do my best to emulate. For example, my Ma works for the Department of Corrections Residential Facility in Marshalltown. She has for over 20 years now. People from all walks of life have passed ...
This coming weekend, our STC class of 1969 will get together for its' 55th class reunion. Wow, 55 years! Folks, that's a long time. Things have changed, haven't they? Muscle cars, egg-beater cars, paisley shirts, smokes rolled up in your shirt sleeve and words like "groovy, nifty and far ...
