All I Want For Christmas

…this year or any other year for that matter, is the following: 1.) Superlative coffee. Don’t try any funny business. I KNOW GOOD COFFEE. 2.) Cigars, preferably high quality, but I also have uses for White Owls and Backwoods. My favorite being Dunhills. 3.) Beer, even bad beer which I can alternatively use for cooking. [...]

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Saint Valentine’s Day Review

Parfrey’s Glen is a state natural area outside of Baraboo, Wisconsin and not far from Devil’s Lake State Park.  It is also one of my favorite natural places, though it certainly cannot qualify as being “wild” in any way.  The first time I visited Parfrey’s Glen I was a sophomore or junior in college, and [...]

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Everywhere, Good News

The good news is this: I just won a poetry contest.  The magazine is small but was recently favorably reviewed by The New York Times.  They are going to publish ten of my poems and I’ll be the feature of their next issue.  I can’t say anything right now about who the publication is, because [...]

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Parenting Perils

This morning finds me hiding from Henry who, at the moment, is between sleep and lucidity. I hear him cooing and gurgling in the other room, no doubt chewing on his fist and marking the movements of his rainforest-themed mobile. We live in an old house and everywhere I (or Regina) step is an audio-tripwire [...]

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Roast

New coffee essay in Fresh Cup. Much of the sentiment expressed in this essay isn’t news to the roasters out there at the cutting edge.  But too many roasters are bullied by inarticulate consumers/customers demanding a product preparation without better knowledge of the commodity as a whole.  I wanted to articulate that a diner does [...]

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