By Bill Eckel A-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah. The sirens wailed. No longer a watch or a forecast. The tornado was on the ground. It was ten minutes to six, April tenth, nineteen seventy-nine and I was about to experience the most memorable day of my life. At the time, I had lived in Wichita Falls, Texas, for thirteen … Continue reading The Most Memorable Day of My Life
Sun Tzu and Entertainment: Koihime Musō’s Fall of Ukitsu and Chojo
By Andrew Nickerson There have been many great leaders that have put their thoughts/theories about combat on paper for future generations to study. Depending on the source, they emphasize any number of tactics or strategies for victory. The use of frontal assault, piercing the enemy lines with tanks, sitting behind defenses, wielding air power alone … Continue reading Sun Tzu and Entertainment: Koihime Musō’s Fall of Ukitsu and Chojo
Soulmate
By Allen Wittenborn Another day, another tour group arriving in China from the US to experience the “oldest civilization on earth.” I had left my room at Hong Kong’s plush Mandarin Hotel for three weeks of the grime and grunge of China travel. Now, I stood in the cavernous waiting room at Beijing’s Capital Airport, … Continue reading Soulmate
Home, What Happens When You Don’t Have One
By Debra J. White Home can be a studio apartment with leaky plumbing, a cracked ceiling and pesky cockroaches or a spacious mansion with a neatly manicured lawn and a four-car garage. For cats and dogs, home can be with an owner who lives in a lakeside cabin or with a senior citizen in a … Continue reading Home, What Happens When You Don’t Have One
My Little Star Girl
By Lana M. Rochel Originally was written in 2018 and published in Multiply IQ in September 2018. Rochel updated the essay in 2021. More information about the essay will be posted after the essay. I'm looking at a white blank laptop page in front of me. “Hey, mum! Tell the story of your girl!" I … Continue reading My Little Star Girl
Their Time: Female Biathletes, a Landmark Anniversary, and the Battle against Climate Change
By Kris Haines-Sharp She came with two kids, two guns, and a dog. The dog and children stayed. The guns? Another story. One sold to a man in his forties who had taken up biathlon. The other, propped in a case in the back of our bedroom closet. I stopped reading the stickers, plastered on … Continue reading Their Time: Female Biathletes, a Landmark Anniversary, and the Battle against Climate Change
Me and the Chandler Mall
By Debra White In mid-October 2001, a sprawling shopping complex including a two-level mall known as Chandler Fashion Square, opened in the East Valley area of Phoenix to rave reviews. Critics said malls were fading away and questioned whether the new mall would succeed. I shrugged off the doom and gloom. Someone always nitpicked, didn’t … Continue reading Me and the Chandler Mall
The Stranger at Our Doorstep
By John F. Zurn When I was a young boy, one of my most troubling problems proved to be sensitivity. This difficulty handling emotions often embarrassed me because it made me appear immature. Any type of scolding would trigger tears, but so could hurt feelings, or mourning the death of a pet. Whether at school … Continue reading The Stranger at Our Doorstep
Seeking the Color of the Shadows
By Chitra Gopalakrishnan I sit with old and young relatives in Coimbatore, in Tamil Nadu, in the south of India, in my aunt Radha’s home, or rather on her balmy thinnai, her long and wide red oxide porch, its polish alive and glistening at a level of perfection that can be achieved only by hundreds … Continue reading Seeking the Color of the Shadows
My Three Pandemics
By Janet Yoder 1. The Asian Flu, H2N2 When I was five, I learned the words Asian Flu. On July 19, 1957, my mother gave birth to her fourth child, my youngest sister. While she was still in the hospital, my mother was visited by a woman who, along with her husband, were trying to … Continue reading My Three Pandemics
Academy of the Heart And Mind 