WEEKLY COLUMN ARCHIVES
It’s time for a new beat, but one last thing before I go
I started writing my column in the spring of 2014, and oh how things have changed since then! Barack Obama was president, and Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana. There were already Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly, and...
Crime in America is down, but please don’t tell anyone
It was a lovely September morning in Indianapolis in 2018. We had been living in our new townhouse downtown for about a year, relocating from a house just two blocks up the street. I was still a consultant back then and this was still my offseason. So, I had casually...
The ‘Ministry of Truth’ shoots its highest ranking messenger
To me, “1984” was originally a rock album, the last studio collection of songs by the original members of Van Halen. It was July 7, 1984, when the 16-year-old version of me earned his way to a spot right in front of Eddie Van Halen’s place on the stage at Roberts...
Reading might make you cry; Not reading definitely will
On Monday night, I sat in my recliner writing my third novel. I’m about halfway done with it, and my editor is expecting that first half by the end of the week so she can do a midpoint “assessment” of the story. She worked on my last book, and I know how she operates....
Dignity and reality force Stutzman to cross the MAGA line on immigration
It’s never been a matter of “if.” It has always been a matter of “when.” Last week, GOP U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar of Florida, filed “The Dignity Act of 2025,” a bipartisan immigration reform package that would provide legal status for certain undocumented immigrants....
Why the new lie about the old lie is rattling the loyal believers of lies
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced there will be no release of the “Jeffrey Epstein files.” It’s hard to predict when people will have finally had enough. The tolerance level of undesirable traits and behaviors from other humans will vary from person...
Newsflash: Teaching fewer things leads to a population that thinks less
Oh, to have existed in a period of time named the “Renaissance,” a French word that means “rebirth.” As explained by Brittanica, “it was primarily a time of the revival of Classical learning and wisdom after a long period of cultural decline and stagnation.” The...
People will feel the one big, beautiful bill, and it will be ugly
Every semester, the students in my business writing class are divided up into teams and are assigned a real-life challenge from a company looking to elevate its performance in any number of ways. It’s an opportunity to research the complexities of a market, to create...
Maybe sexual harassment by elected officials shouldn’t end happily for them
Author's note: This column was written for publication on Tuesday, June 24 before primary election results were complete. Both Andrew Cuomo and Anthony Weiner lost their contests. I spent last weekend in New York, as I try to do once a year, for the...
Three days of shock and awe illustrate an American culture in turmoil
A quarter century ago, as a young bureaucrat, I had a disagreement with my bosses. Energy commodities markets were going through an historic price spike, and my agency set the final rates customers would pay. I wanted rates to mirror the market to send “price signals”...
Purdue’s breakup with its student paper feels like a gun shot
I am working on publishing a new book this year. So, I’m spending time with other writers, readers, editors and consultants to make sure the finished product is as good as it can be. While online the other day, an editor wrote: “The purpose of fiction is to ask the...
Lt. Gov. Beckwith’s nasty warnings about Pride Month are exactly why Pride is needed
I love June in Indianapolis. School’s out for me. The gardens, flowers and lawns around town are blooming and greening with optimism. And the city is quiet as it recovers from its traditionally hectic month of May. As my favorite performer, David Ryan Harris, sang in...