‘I’m here to fight robots, not bike racks’: Second BattleBots loss pushes HUGE team leader into corner

HUGE, the fighting robot with the oversized wheels, faces an uphill climb if it hopes to make the 32-team, single-elimination BattleBots tournament televised on the Discovery Channel. In the Jan. 8 episode, HUGE battled Hydra and lost a unanimous decision much to the disappointment of the crowd, which, because of COVID-19 protocols, included an audience

Onset of World War I turns Dad’s world upside down

I’m doing research on a book about my father and his mindset and those of other young Native men on their journey to World War I battlefields. #WWIBook In learning more about my dad’s history at Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kan., it’s interesting to learn about the enthusiasm young Native men at this boarding school

How Uncle Ed influenced my career path

What single moment in your life inspired you to take your chosen career? I “retired” from journalism after 40 years, but I’ve continued to use my skillset as a corporate copy writer and editor. But one moment did inspire me to drop pharmacy as a career and pursue a liberal arts profession. That moment was

How shop class builds strong minds, inflamed corneas

It might be the cabin fever, but I’ve noticed my son interested in hearing about my experiences in a rural school, especially shop class. Usually he rolls his eyes when he hears a yarn about to be spun. Last night, he listened: When the subject of soldering came up, my wife wanted him to hear

No bones about it … I’m not mowing again

Someone once asked why I hire a landscaper. Didn’t you grow up in the country on that big homestead? Surely, you had to mow. Surely you learned something from it. Yeah. I learned not to do it anymore. Mowing reminds me of the time when I was 10 and nearly killed by dad while mowing

Whatever happened to Mr. Green?

Ever since I saw my adoption papers a few years ago, I’ve always wondered about Mr. Otho Green. I’ve searched for his background and have found little information. Growing up around Eufaula, Okla., you’d see him often. He dressed in fashionable suits, wore a felt cowboy hat like my dad’s, and kept a pocket watch

Pandemic is nothing compared to what Dad lived through

People post about how rough this pandemic is getting. It’s been no picnic for sure. On the upside, it has prompted me to think more about my dad, Thomas Cummings, who was born in 1894, just in time to see some of the most trying moments of the 20th century. Dad survived World War I,

In my eyes, the mother of all Mother’s Days

I typically don’t celebrate such Hallmark holidays. But I had a memorable Mother’s Day in 1985. It was after my newspaper’s deadline on a Sunday night and I was checking a file that I kept for daily reminders. I noticed that it had been a full year since my mother, the wonderful wife of the

Six thoughts about ‘Breaking Bad’ … a show that I’ll really miss

Originally posted on I'VE SEEN THINGS:
Check Walt’s eye … completely fixed and dilated. (screencap from my DVR) All day Monday, I was asked my opinion of Sunday night’s season finale of AMC’s Breaking Bad. Here are my top six impressions of the greatest show to grace TV. (This post is lousy with spoilers.) 6.…

‘Bernie’: I got an important lesson in Texas geography

In the 2011 movie Bernie, I learned a lot about Texas’ geography and each region’s geopolitical personality. Now that Bernie Tiede, the East Texan whose story inspired the movie, is a free man I thought it’d be a good time to revisit that geography lesson. This is especially helpful for my out-of-state friends who believe Texas