My 500 Words

  More than two decades before I was born, a pheasant hunting trip turned deadly for one of the most recognized military leaders in United States’ history. Weeks earlier General George S. Patton’s long-time driver left Army service and a new driver was assigned to handle the General’s transportation. En route to the hunting site, Patton’s limousine collided with an army truck and while other passengers suffered mild injuries, Patton hit his head hard enough that it left a bloody gash and paralyzed him from the neck down. The subsequent complications from this accident led to Patton’s death twelve days later. I was three years old when the movie “Patton” premiered in theaters and six when it was first released on television. Like “The Ten Commandments,” “Patton” became one of those films that ABC aired around Easter annually. I was probably eight or nine when I first remember watching “Patton” but I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw that first television broadcast.  As an impressi...

2026 represents the final year for the Utah Grizzlies in my town because an NHL team has come to Salt Lake. When the Grizzlies moved to Utah in 1995 they had just won a championship, but the Avalanche had come to Colorado and it was time to move. The Grizzlies originally competed at the Delta Center, though current owners want to remove the word the. In its first season in Utah, the Grizzlies brought a home-grown hockey championship back to Utah, something that hadn’t been done since the Golden Eagles won the Turner Cup in 1988, while playing in the Salt Palace.  At the same time the Grizzlies moved to Utah, Salt Lake City won the rights to host the 2002 Winter Olympic games. Organizers partnered with West Valley City to build a new hockey arena that would host the Olympic and Paralympic hockey events. When the city first tried to name the arena, it found little interest. Without a sponsor, the facility became known as the “E Center.”  I unsuccessfully promoted an alternative ...

I experience a particular disconnect when it comes to images of the plates of food that people will post on social media platforms. My problem is I enjoy seeing them in my feeds, especially when they are accompanied by a story. I appreciate when the poster includes details about the quality of the food beyond its obvious presentation and when they point out flavors that came as a surprise and that you could not ascertain from the image alone.  I also experience a small level of annoyance when people are taking these photos. I am not so annoyed that I would ever ask someone to not take a photo of their food. If I tried, I would have to start with my own family. But when the photograph of the meal becomes more important than the meal itself, I sometimes wish restaurant owners would just take photos of everything on their menu and make images available for posting.  Emotional disconnect aside, I hope you all will keep sharing your images and offering tips of new and fun dishes to...

In his final year of high school, Jonah appeared in “Puffs.” He was cast as two very different characters. He first portrayed Cedric Diggory. In the original canon, J.K. Rowling describes Cedric as someone who is exceptionally handsome, modest, fair-minded and brave. I admit that my view could be skewed, but it would seem that Jonah checked all of these boxes. In addition, Jonah exceeds six feet and most consider him tall. With the exception of sporting blond, rather than dark, hair, it was a part that did not appear much of a stretch.  In the second half, Jonah took on the role of Voldy. This snake-like character embodies evil, and his for power threatens what should be a peaceful and orderly school of magic. Jonah developed a particularly cold and high-pitched voice to match the nature of Voldy, a voice he said was based on the tone and phrasing  his mother would use when reading the original Harry Potter series at bedtime and on road trips. Jonah’s capacity to adopt a role...

I learned My Favorite Things while attending elementary school. I loved its imagery of raindrops on roses as it reminded me of my mother’s and grandmother’s flowers. And getting snowflakes to land and stay on my nose and eyelashes became a just out-of-reach goal as they always seemed to melt on contact. Yet, the most exciting part of the song occurred when it turned very briefly dangerous and melancholy with the dog bite and the bee sting.  Turns out that last Friday I was putting final touches on a legal brief that needed to be filed when I received an animated, yet succinct, message from my dear wife informing me that she had just been bitten by a dog while walking by the tennis courts near our neighborhood. After a couple of exchanges, I knew she had been attacked hard enough that she required medical attention, but not so bad that she couldn’t transport herself there.  While relieved, the gnawing concern for rabies and potential scarring nagged at me and felt deep concern ...