Category Archives: Weekly Column

“No one trusts a skinny chef.” In my business— if you posess the body style I walk around with every day— that comment is often heard. I think most times it comes from a place of love. But when broken down to its raw meaning, it’s someone saying, “Dude, you’re fat.” I’ve heard that commentContinue reading “It’s A Tough Job but Somebody’s Got To Chew It”

Everyone has “that” friend. He or she is the friend that doesn’t sugarcoat his or her comments. It’s a straight-talking friend who will tell you exactly what he or she thinks. Tact is sometimes involved, but other times not. I rank my straight-talking friends by degrees. A level one straight-talking friend is a basic friend.Continue reading “Friends On the Level and Restaurants Off the Track”

“I cannot forget from where it is that I come from Cannot forget the people who love me Well, I can be myself here in this small town And people let me be just what I wanna be” — John Mellencamp I’m a small town guy. I have good friends who live in New York,Continue reading “Small Town Guy”

CHICAGO— I have been coming to this city almost every May for the past 35 years. This time of year is a perfect time to be in Chicago because the weather is brisk, the throng of summer vacationers have yet to arrive, and the restaurants and bars are jamming. The reason they’re so busy isContinue reading “Windy City Rendezvous”

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver It’s graduation season in Mississippi. I didn’t deliver a commencement address this year, but I have combined, tweaked, and added to two letters that I gave to my two children when they left for college. The resultContinue reading “TO THE MISSISSIPPI GRADUATES OF 2023”

YPRES, BELGIUM— Friendships in the 21st Century carry a different dynamic. A constant connection throughout the World Wide Web has its share of positives and negatives. Many spend more time looking at small screens and stupid videos that make no sense to me. My 21-year old son finds them hilarious. There’s that, but I alsoContinue reading “A Bridge Not Too Far At All”

AMSTERDAM— A sliding door moment is a seemingly inconsequential action that alters the trajectory of future events. I am sitting in a bakery at 8:30 a.m. in the city center of Amsterdam, due to a board game. That is a sliding door moment. There’s a theory that the simple act of missing a train orContinue reading “The Curious Case of a Sliding Door Monopoly Game”