This is America

This is America

The happenstance collision of Donald Glover’s music video and the new NFL rules about protesting the National Anthem reminded me of my America, the one I have experienced. Those who challenge the popularly-accepted narrative of America are pushed to the side,...
Working Out After College

Working Out After College

Staying fit after college can feel impossible. The freshman fifteen continues to accumulate and leaves the journey to peak fitness an insurmountable climb. You’re busy trying to get steady work and affordable housing. The last thing you want is another element of...
Teach Them How to Pray Goodbye

Teach Them How to Pray Goodbye

In the little-known Broadway musical “Hamilton: An American Life” there is a song, One Last Time, in which George Washington is telling Alexander Hamilton how important it is to teach future Presidents how to say goodbye.  During my years of working in Higher...
A Mother’s Day (to) Lament

A Mother’s Day (to) Lament

Judy Louise (Fiala) Malnick died of primary peritoneal cancer on December 8, 2014. Judy was a South Dakota farm girl, a blue ribbon pie winner, an inspirational poet, a church choir singer, a piano player, a marching band percussionist, a shorthand notetaker, an...