September 28, 2026 You probably won’t be surprised that Trump is charging ahead at full speed with his “triumphal arch” on the Potomac. However, it’s not too late to speak out against this gold-plated, 250-foot, $100 million travesty. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an “independent” federal agency now stacked with MAGA types, has just… Continue reading Save our history. Stop the arch.
Category: history
Sins of omission: 1865 and today
Photo by Pexels.com January 20, 2026 Let's take a little quiz. Which statement is true? The January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol was instigated by George Soros and Nancy Pelosi. Only a few of our founding fathers were slaveholders. Troops from Alabama attacked Atlanta in the Civil War. World War II started when… Continue reading Sins of omission: 1865 and today
Six degrees of fake patriotism
December 23, 2025 Americans celebrate holiday with recent migrants Have you heard the phrase Heritage American? At first I thought it meant furniture, like Colonial, Traditional Revival, Empire, and Postmod Pretentious (I made up the last one). Unfortunately, it's a loathsome idea that's gaining steam on the right: that descendants of white, pre-Civil War colonists… Continue reading Six degrees of fake patriotism
Unfriendly ghosts
November 11, 2025 Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com In sepia, the image sears into my thunderstruck brain. The man staring up at me from Ancestry.com has my high forehead and deep, penetrating eyes, the same long jaw and a head too large for his shoulders. His mouth is narrow and unsmiling, his hands on… Continue reading Unfriendly ghosts
New short story: “And the Armies That Remained Suffered”
May 19, 2025 Photo by Pexels.com My latest short fiction, "And the Armies that Remained Suffered," centers around a veteran of our country’s most recent war who's drawn into a furor over a distant one. Clay is back in his hometown, making a prolonged recovery from a wound he suffered in Afghanistan, when a proposal… Continue reading New short story: “And the Armies That Remained Suffered”
Revolution remembered
April 15, 2025 When we celebrated the Bicentennial of our founding in 1976, I was fresh out of college, underemployed, and generally too busy to care. Now we're sliding into the 250-year Semiquincentennial (yes, that's a real word), beginning at Lexington and Concord with the anniversary of the shot heard 'round the world on April… Continue reading Revolution remembered