It was in fifth grade when I first read a handful of James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” My teacher, Mrs. Dalton, used Thurber as an example of descriptive writing, what she referred to as “Show, not tell” or SNT for short. I vividly remember writing a story similar to Thurber’s Walter Mitty,...Continue reading
You Might Be Tough, But Your Brain Isn’t! People feel the risk of injury outweighs the gain of winning a starting position on a team, a game or even a championship. Well, that’s not true when it comes to your brain and it’s great to see many athletes are finally speaking out about their falls...Continue reading
The Effects of Concussions The following Monday afternoon I went to football practice and sat with the team in the locker room to review the game film with the coaches. The head coach stopped the film after the kickoff and said, “The coaches and I have never seen a player run so fast down the...Continue reading
Why I Quit Playing Football Thirty years ago, I abruptly quit playing high school football while my team was preparing for a playoff game in which the winner would advance to the 1985 New Hampshire Division I-High School Football Championship. My teammates and coaches were upset at me and confused as to why I just stopped...Continue reading
In today’s world, the difference between success and failure is measured in milliseconds not minutes. Striving to be better, faster, and stronger, pushing the limits of human endurance… becoming super human. To reach such heights is difficult to achieve, let alone maintain. This pressure to achieve super human levels leads some to use steroids. Despite...Continue reading
With the solstice behind us and the last few days of June ahead, summer is here. And the reminders are constant: warmer weather, relaxed dress codes and recurring vacation ads on television. Along with the official start of summer, the month marks an important awareness period for men’s health. Events and activities centered to encourage...Continue reading
On June 12, 2016 a community that is often marginalized became very visible through an act of violence. I was deeply shocked and angry at the carnage of human life and moved beyond words at the act of compassion displayed by the residents of Orlando and the world. Love is the defense against hate and...
Masculinity is a complicated thing. And there’s no more masculine way for a man to express his, well, masculinity than by making babies. That explains why being infertile or having erectile dysfunction (ED) is so strongly connected with depression (in both directions—depression itself can cause ED, and ED and/or fertility problems can cause depression). Infertility...Continue reading
When I was about 12 years old, my mother took me to visit one of her cousins. As the evening approach, she and her cousin decided to go to a concert and they left me in the care of her cousin’s husband. Since I didn’t really know him, I decided to go into one of the...Continue reading
Thomas Wolfe says, “You can never go home again.” However, to go forward, I have to go backward from time to time. I return to the places where the dreams began: my hometown and the small college where I did my undergraduate work. That’s where I’m sitting right now, writing these pages. Through the windows I see the amphitheater...Continue reading