I was thinking how much my language has been derived from farming.  Terms such as “Living high on the hog,” “A cut above,” “Walking in tall cotton,” All hat; no cattle.” Thank you Farmers.  I grew up with the family farm being the hub of our clan’s wheel.  I once asked my grandfather if after I graduated from High School, if I could come work on the farm (as my career.)  As I remember, he said “No” with a few expletives about my even asking.  I imagine his response was a lot

There is a restaurant in Nashville that I frequented often when I lived there.  It is now the first stop I make every time I return.  I get off the plane, rent a car, and head straight there. When I am in Nashville and lunchtime rolls around, the question inevitably comes up: “What about lunch?”  (or breakfast or dinner). Whether I am with others or not, my first thought is Wendell Smith’s.  (53 rd and Charlotte).  If I am with some friends or clients, I would never recommen

I went home recently.  Back home, my childhood home.  To Ohio. Not the kind of home with a welcome mat or a key hidden under a rock, but the deeper kind.  The one that lives in muscle memory, in the soles of your feet, in the way your chest tightens before you even know why. I went back to the places, people and land that birthed me, raised me, nurtured me, shaped me, marked me. I did not go alone. I was accompanied by my sister, whose beautiful presence made the journey feel

Loneliness, I’ve come to think, might be defined as that moment when I reach out for an arm to steady myself… and find the shirt sleeve empty. CNN is doing a special series featuring Anthony Bourdain—years after he took his own life. Unless his family is benefitting in some way, I can’t help but see it as profoundly exploitive. Something about it doesn’t sit right in my bones. The other night  I watched a movie called Rez Ball, and suddenly I was back on the Navajo (Diné) r