Intro to Rec

I am currently working on a series of essays about the differences between the American style of education and the  Chinese/Taiwanese style. One of the subtopics is students’ willingness to disagree with their teachers. The following story came to mind… When I...

Bike on the Back Patio

Today I took my bicycle off the device that makes it a stationary bike. I added air to the tires, oiled the chain, and took my first real bike ride of 2022. My legs are not in summer biking form, but it was fantastic. Snow was sparse, the pavement was mostly dry, and...

Sauna in the UP

Jack needed to drive from his home in western Wisconsin to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to pick up the barrel-shaped, wood-fired sauna he’d ordered. Clint had the heavy-duty trailer to haul it on.  I was the one with access to a cabin where we could stay during a...

I Missed Our Anniversary

This year I missed Manyu’s and my anniversary. With it being so close to Valentine’s Day and with me not even knowing which day I’m supposed to celebrate, I don’t always give the day the recognition it deserves. Never before had I forgotten it completely.  Our...

Katherine of Katherine Lake

A month and a half ago Chris Brannan, Purdue University Press’s graphic artist, contacted me about the cover design for my forthcoming book. He asked me to send him a few nature photos I’d taken and then select several more from a large collection of high-resolution...

A Reason for My Blog

My favorite book about writing is Stephen King’s On Writing. At one point in it, he describes good writing as the ability to kill your darlings. By this, he means one of the hardest parts of writing is deleting a good sentence, a well-organized paragraph, or an...
Steven Simpson