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The Last Generation of Mad, Wild, and Free Kids
Growing up, back in my day, when you wanted to talk to a friend, you didn’t send a text or drop a WhatsApp message—you got on your bike, pedaled furiously through the streets, and knocked on their front door like a proper human being. And if they weren’t home? Tough. You’d find some other bunch…
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The Salad Bowl, Mad Cows, and Algebra: Notes from a Salinas Interlude
By someone who kept showing up, and somehow became part of the scenery. During those foggy interludes when life had decided to dropkick me in the face, I found myself back in California—specifically, Salinas. I’d gone there not for the scenery, which is mostly lettuce and a worrying amount of dust, but because it was…
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“Do You Remember?”
By someone who still believes in mornings and the echo of old speeches. Do you remember? Back in October 1962, a young American president from Massachusetts stood his ground against a Soviet titan playing with fire 90 miles off our coast. John F. Kennedy — a Democrat — didn’t blink. He showed them what American…
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Of Bridges, an Ark and Pontoon Boats: An American Story- A trip back to Indy Part-2
By Me, unfortunately. Still in West Virginia—because apparently, I enjoy humidity and odd signage—we decided to go see the New River Gorge Bridge. This is, for those unfamiliar, a giant piece of civil engineering slapped across a massive canyon like a suspension bridge built by someone showing off at a high school reunion. But before…
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The Road to Laguna: Traffic, Hot Dogs, and Mild Madness
By someone who survived a Malibu jam with only a Hyundai and a hotdog memory. Years ago, I decided—because why not—to take a road trip from Salinas to Laguna Beach. And not the usual efficient, soul-crushing, Interstate-5 kind of trip. No. I took the scenic route. Monterey. Big Sur. That glorious, winding stretch of coastline…
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Tennessee: Land of Tall Tales and Southern ways
There’s something about Tennessee that courts the imagination and livens out the heart with dreams of accidental romance, and the chance of an 80 degree weather with blue skies allover. Maybe it’s that charm where people talk in the most southern way, a combination of English and Molasses, that always seem to end a sentence…
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Into the Appalachian Twilight: A Story of Excitement, Panic, and A Bad GPS- A trip back to Indy Part-1
By a man who just wanted to visit his sister but apparently signed up for West Virginia’s “Worst Roads and Existential Crises” tour. Years ago, I used to drive from Virginia to Indiana once a week. Like clockwork. Didn’t even need directions. Just coffee, an audiobook, and the vague hope that the car wouldn’t explode.…
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Bumper to Bumper with Buffoons: A Driver’s Rant
By someone who used to be chill, but then you parked like a clown. I’ve been watching people lately—just sitting back and observing the slow-motion car crash we call “society”—and I can’t decide whether the world is spiraling into the abyss, or if I’m simply becoming a grumpier, less tolerant version of myself. It used…
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Saudi Arabia, Sand, and Surprise Barbecue
1998 — Saudi Arabia. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building. Me, a skinny engineering graduate with the wide-eyed optimism of a chipmunk in a nut factory. And let me tell you, if you’ve ever wanted to experience the majestic thrill of absolutely nothing, the desert kingdom delivers in spades. Miles and miles of beige. Not gold.…
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Nostalgia, Travel, and the Myth of the Idaho Girl
By someone who’s been around a bit and still wonders what happened to all the people who vanished quietly. Lately, I’ve been feeling… well, nostalgic. And not in the soft-focus, violins-playing sort of way, but more like someone opened the floodgates in my brain and out came everything from school uniforms to the smell of…
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Superman, Storms, and the Death of Common Sense
by someone who just wanted a quiet life, a decent sandwich, and a planet that hadn’t completely lost the plot. So here I am, staring at a blank screen, attempting to string together a story, something, anything— but all I can think about is how worryingly uninspired I feel these days. Not because life has…
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I Want to Eat Healthy. Honestly. Just… Not Right Now.
By a guy who once ate a full cheesecake standing up in front of the fridge and called it “portion control”. Lately, I’ve been trying—and I use that word with the full weight of British understatement—to eat healthier. Not because I want to be one of those people who owns activewear in non-ironic colors, but…
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Cruising for a Bruising
In 2016, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea: a relaxing cruise. Just me, a big ship, the open sea, and perhaps a few dolphins joyfully following along as I reclined on the deck, engrossed in a Tom Clancy novel. I pictured people around me, civilized and happy, united by the common goal…
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Georgie: The Housemate Who Never Blinks
Living with Georgie is always having company—even when you didn’t ask for it. Not the spooky, lurking-in-the-shadows kind of company, but a small, fluffy dog with trust issues who seems convinced the world might fall apart if he’s not glued to your side. A little dramatic? Absolutely. He’s got the emotional range of a Broadway…
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Where the Past Walks Beside Us on Independence Day
Today as the sun comes up over in Richmond, Virginia— I find myself thinking about this city and its past. Richmond is not afraid to show its history. It carries it right out in the open, where you can see it, feel it, with the scars laid bare. It’s not hidden or polished. It’s in…
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When Cool Peaked and Never Came Back
GenX or as I’d like to say it, Gen Us— wasn’t just a generation—it was an 18-wheeler doing a burnout in the parking lot of history while Rock Ballads blasted through the tape deck. It was loud, proud, and occasionally covered in glitter and neon zebra print. Everybody—and I mean everybody—was there. Michael Jackson was…
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How I Accidentally Joined the Railway and Dodged a Missile Company
by someone who wore boat shoes to a railway interview Back in the early 2000s—when Nokia was king and broadband meant waiting three hours to download one photo of a car—I returned to England after a stint abroad. I had a young family, a head full of vague responsibilities, and a sudden awareness that baby…
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Richmond is Melting and So Am I
By a man who thought Virginia summers were supposed to be charming and full of fireflies, not the actual fires of hell. It is currently 102°F in Richmond, Virginia. That’s not a heatwave—that’s the sun filing a restraining order against us for getting too close. The weather app isn’t even pretending anymore. It just says…
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Driven Mad: A Life in Cars
You know how it is with people and cars. Some folks couldn’t care less—as long as it’s got four wheels and doesn’t explode every Tuesday, they’re happy. To them, it’s just a box to get from A to B without getting arrested. Others? They treat cars like rolling symphonies. Every curve is sculpture. Every exhaust…
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A Promise Worth Keeping
We are Americans. Did we forget? We were the ones who stepped in when others couldn’t. We stood up for the small and the voiceless. We gave hope when the world went dark. We didn’t always get it right— truth is, we messed up more than once. But falling short was never the goal. Our…
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Airport Survival Guide: Cry Quietly and Carry On
The airport. A monument to mankind’s ability to take something majestic—flight, freedom, the sheer glory of defying gravity—and turn it into a sort of bureaucratic cattle prod run by people who think “urgent” is a type of seasoning. Let’s start with getting there. You set off three hours early, because apparently, even though your flight…
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Lessons in Flight and Falling: A Midlife Mountain Biker’s Tale
There comes a time in every man’s life when he must accept the simple, horrible truth: he is no longer twenty and realises that the mountain is no longer a metaphor—but an obstacle. Before I hung up my mountain biking gloves and retired to the smooth, civilized tarmac of road cycling, where the road, for…
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What the Rain Brings
It’s raining. The kind of rain that doesn’t just show up, it settles in like it’s unpacking for a long stay. Looking at those clouds right now, I’d say they’ve paid the rent and brought a suitcase full of gloom. My little dog—wise soul that he is—is curled up in the corner, taking one look…
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