Holiday fails. Parents so excited about creating a bright memory of a holiday first, they inadvertently create a moment of panic, shrieks, and tears. The first visit with Santa Claus and a child, arms outstretched, screaming to get away from the lap of the big-bellied, bearded man in the loud…

On June 17, 1972, the police caught five men burglarizing the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee located in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. It was the summer between my fourth and fifth-grade years. I don’t remember what I was doing that day. It was a Saturday, so…

I’m on two diets. One to lose weight and the other to shed news. My doctor convinced me it was time to start counting calories. I realized on my own it was time to start counting subscriptions. Newspapers have always been a part of my life. Growing up, it was…

“I don’t know anyone here.” That’s what I thought the first time I got one. I was traveling down a two-lane dirt road in Montana. A driver passing in the opposite direction raised the fingers of their hand wrapped around the steering wheel in a slight wave. …

It was the afternoon of the first day of my road trip to Montana. I fly there more than I drive, but when I checked the cost of flights and cars a few months before, I decided it was cheaper to take the truck. That was before gas rose sharper…

John Hinckley, Jr., assassin, wants to change his brand. The man who tried to kill then President Ronald Reagan with a .22 caliber revolver loaded with bullets designed to explode inside a body is upset with how the public perceives him. “I’m an artist. I’m a musician. Nobody knows that…

I was nine years old and heard the announcement of his death on the car radio. My mother was taking me to a doctor’s appointment. The reason for the visit has long since faded from memory but learning the director died is still clear. Hoover served eight presidents and became…