“Spread out, ya knuckleheads!” Our drill sergeant barked at us in his normally cheerful tone. “One grenade’d get all y’all!” Murmuring alarm at the inevitable bloody future awaiting us, we shut up and spread out, thus facilitating getting dropped to the red, South Carolina dirt for a smoke session. The lesson held: crowding together equals … [more]
A Case of Hatback
18-January-2020 by 15 Comments
He looked a certain way. Besides size and presence, Grandpa was a hat-wearing man.
Light One Candle
6-January-2019 by 8 Comments
I don’t know his name and never will. That candle is hard for me to label, and even harder to light. May his memory, tough though that is, be for a blessing.
Yesterday’s News
28-October-2018 by 9 Comments
She put on a brave smile this morning, ate some French toast, and saddled up to go help teach at shul. Pretty Wife made sure our teen was snugly ensconced in her little Toyota, engine fired and seat belt on, before looking away from the window and letting the tears come. There are no safe … [more]
Settle Down
27-November-2017 by 8 Comments
If you believe only G-d can judge you, but you blithely affirm that gays are sinners… If you believe every woman has the right to an abortion, but no man has the right to a gun… If you’re pretty sure the definition of terrorism turns more on egalitarian memes than on the motives of murdering … [more]
Sword of Gabriel
10-October-2011 by 3 Comments
SPACE-TIME UPDATE: The following article about YAMAM was written as a sidebar for Motorcyclist magazine, where it did not run due to size constraints. Because I admire the guys profiled here and because Middle East conflicts are perennially timely, I’ve elected to run it here. Mounted police officers seem to spend most of their time … [more]
Goyim Prayer
17-September-2010 by 3 Comments
A couple of years ago, I sent a note out to friends. Because it still seems generally relevant to my little life, I’ve reproduced it here (thanks to Gutenburg, Eli Whitney, Bill Gates et al for reminding us of the convenience of modular bits). Tonight begins Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. I’m not Jewish, but of … [more]
Going away, coming home
20-April-2010 by 4 Comments
It’s different from back home. At Ben Gurion Int’l Airport, you should plan to come early and stay awhile — that’s just the same. When you’ve been on the No Fly list since before the U.S. government admitted to having a no-fly list, you become quite accustomed to hurry up and wait. It wasn’t a … [more]
"Jack Lewis takes the overall literary crown with his new book...there’s a lot more to Lewis’s work than what it feels like to ride motorcycles.” — Ultimate Motorcycling
"Insightful and from the heart ... a driven and much recommended look into the mind and conflict of the next generation of war veterans. " — Midwest Book Review (Reviewer's Choice)