America has a crisis in leadership. That sentence has to be the greatest understatement of this century. But not only do we have a leadership crisis on the national level, we have a crisis in leadership on other levels; in our elected representatives in the state legislature and in business and civic groups who are responsible for strategic planning for […]

Independence Day With our nation’s birthday celebration fast approaching I wanted to share some thoughts about our country. This country was founded by flawed people (just like us), people that didn’t always “walk the talk”. That said, the words and the principles that this nation was founded on are not flawed; We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all […]

Michelle Coston Longaugh, age 57, died June 10 in Wichita. She had been battling stage 4 anal cancer for 10 years. She recently said that she was seven years past her expiration date. She knew no strangers and touched many lives between 2010 and 2020. She and I met in 2011 when I helped her publish her blog about her […]

To the Editor, Serving as a licensed funeral director for nearly three decades, I have seen some amazing and troubling trends in how we pay tribute to loved ones that die. Death is a very uncomfortable subject for most and I understand that fully. That being said, I do wish to share some thoughts on why we have funerals in […]

My folks recently invited all of us over for hot dogs and hamburgers on a Saturday afternoon. We hadn’t all been in the same room since the stay-at-home orders began, and with things opening up and gathering sizes expanded, it seemed like a good time for the seven of us to socialize just a bit. As I have been doing […]

“They’ll never want to see a rake or plow And who the deuce can parleyvous a cow? How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm, After they’ve seen Paree?” wrote Misters Donaldson, Young, and Lewis in 1919. After this whole lockdown shindig, complete with stay-at-home orders, I know I’m not the only one who was going stir crazy. My […]

It was the summer of 2016. I’d just returned from a trip to visit my aunt and uncle in Florida with my mom and my sister. The trip was a small rest between coaching middle and high school track and field and the start of wheat harvest. I was grateful for time at the beach, but aching to get back […]

Forty years ago, Kathy Schroeder of rural Canton and I stood before friends and family at Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church near Goessel to exchange wedding vows. I felt extremely lucky to be marrying my best friend. I still feel that way after four decades. So much has changed, but our love has remained steadfast. And, for that, I am thankful and […]

Over the course of our marriage, Joey and I have developed a special ritual, where each of us tries to be the first one to ask, “What do you want to eat?” before every meal, as though the person who asks first is absolved from having to do any choosing. I mean, the answer is nearly always, “I don’t know,” […]

Joey and I were watching TV once, early in our marriage, and an advertisement for a brownie pan that would let you have all edges brownies came on. I reacted to it by laughing. “Who would want only edge brownies,” I said. “The middle brownies are the best ones.” Joey looked at me like I was crazy. “No, the crispy […]