So it goes...

This year we have a series of weddings we are attending as a family. Weddings and funerals are one of the few times in our adult lives that we are expected to wear a suit. As a guy who is most comfortable in jeans and a Henley shirt, suits for me are an uncomfortable obligation. At the same time, I do like how I look in them when I finally get around to wearing one. Because the only suit I have is over 20 years old, it was time to upgrade. My son who will also be attending the wedding also needed a suit, so we decided to get it all done in a single visit to a local clothier this past weekend. Jos. A. Bank is a men's fine clothing shop in Brookfield and came with recommendations from a couple of people.  Now, realize I dislike any kind of shopping at all. Add to it that it would be in an upscale men's clothing shop and you'll understand that I wanted to get in and get out. We walked in and made our way to the suit section, sucessfully avoiding the two very busy salesmen wor

People may or may not know that from a writing standpoint, my current work in progress is a short story collection. It is my first heavy foray into fiction, after publishing four memoirs and a handful of poetry books. I’d dabbled in it over the years, writing some short stories just to change things up, but it was never a full-on pursuit like this is. Fact is, I took all of those stories and am working them into this collection. I have to say that it is exactly what I needed at this point in my writing. I’ve kind of run out of ideas for memoir at the moment, so figured I’d take on something different. I will probably return to it at some point but am enjoying the ride in the land of fiction for the moment. I won’t lie though, at times it is way harder than memoir/nonfiction. Unlike memoir, none of it is done from memory, it is entirely new creation. It isn’t as easy as trying to remember a situation or a story and getting it down. I want to do justice to the genre and am learning a

  I’ll chalk this week up to being one of a couple medical check-offs. I had a physical yesterday and I am scheduled for a colonoscopy on Friday. (Don't be jealous!) I’ll spare you the details of both, because nothing says you’re old more than talking about your health, or lack of it. But my visit to my doctor provided a reminder of my current read. I am reading Bill Bryson’s book, The Body: a guide for occupants. The book is fascinating at so many levels and has given me a new appreciation for the complexity of the human body. Each chapter addresses a different part of the body and I can tell by how it’s written that Bryson did a ton of research in writing it. It’s a 500+ page book, a size that will usually dissuade me from even checking it out, but I have to say, I am hooked on it. I find myself telling my wife and kids some of the trivial facts that are in it. Things like: 1. The average person blinks 12,000 times a day. Enough time that your eyes are actually closed for

For a number of reasons I spent nearly six years pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Geography and Anthropology. As part of it I spent a year as President of the Anthropology Club, a nonprofit, student led group of peers that met for talks, speakers and social events. As part of that we organized a Spring Conference every year that was held at the Itasca State Park Environmental Station.  I'll spare the details of the conference, but my last year there I met a woman, Christine, and we sort of hit it off. I seemed to have an affinity for shorter women and she was no different at just about 5 feet. She was also spunky and feisty and rode a motorcycle. In this case, she had even ridden hers four hours up to the conference, which is an amazing feat on any motorcycle, especially the little Kawasaki 400 she had. Well, anyways, after the conference we dated a few times. I quickly found out she was a fairly strong feminist, which I totally respected. When I asked her if it was okay if I

Well, it's been a long hiatus for the So it Goes blog. Other than the short post in 2021, I think it's been since pre-COVID that I actually posted regularly. I think I just needed to step away for a time and take a break from the commitment. It was beginning to get a little robotic and obligatory and so I just put it on the back burner for a while. Much has happened since then I think. I've published a couple of books since then, Cretin Boy and At the Lake. Both give me a great sense of accomplishment, despite the fact that they are not NYT best sellers. I can't imagine not writing, and having four memoirs and a handful of poetry books is about nine books more than I ever imagined, so that's something. I have missed some of the nice feedback that my blog used to give, I'll tell you that for sure. Looking back there were some that even said my blog was what led them to checking out my books, which is pretty cool. I think I will stick with keeping it to a weekly p

 As I mentioned last week, my son, Ben graduated from UW - Madison this past weekend. We were fortunate enough to be able to watch it via a YouTube stream, which was the best we can do in these strange times. I've said it too many times, how proud I am of him. He finished in 3 1/2 years having had many of his AP credits transfer. With both of my kids, I've kept a journal of major events and milestones in their lives, from birth until they graduate from college. These entries can go from back-to-back entries all the way to not writing anything for 6 months. I wrote as I felt inspired or led. I gave Sarah hers in 2018 when she finished school at the University of Minnesota. She was emotional when she opened it, knowing exactly what it was, but not expecting it. Read about that,  here . Well, this weekend was the chance to give Ben his. We had a small outside gathering of friends at a local brewery here to celebrate. When I gave him the gift he had no idea what it was. He opened a