Decades ago, when I was younger and taller and faster and dumber, I found the big red Guzzi parked on a carpet of flattened beer cans and discarded condoms in the alcove under a staircase at our Mission-style barracks on Fort Sill, leaned down to the clubman bars, and rolled her out onto the wet … [more]
The Bill of Wrights
24-February-2017 by 3 Comments
Ten Commandments for Building an Authoritarian State (inspired by a true story) I. FREEDOM OF RELIGION, SPEECH, AND THE PRESS; RIGHTS OF ASSEMBLY AND PETITION Discredit the press until your populace accepts laws to outlaw criticism of the State. The people must accept information only from the Leader. … [more]
Born Country
7-February-2017 by 15 Comments
Nicholas and Johnny Fax weren’t the best miners who ever dug into a claim. Ambitious fortune hunters locked into the boom and bust of the Klondike Stampede, they’d spike rails for a season or two in the dry dust of Wasco County, Oregon, get grubstakes together and head north to the Yukon. The first time they … [more]
Blood Moon
10-December-2016 by 6 Comments
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son? And what did you hear, my darling young one? I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’ I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’ I heard ten thousand … [more]
American Literacy
11-September-2016 by 1 Comment
In the bookstore today, I dutifully reported to the display shelf adjacent to U.S. History, where I regularly check to see if our well-written, scrupulously edited, glowingly reviewed and woefully undersold anthology Operation Homecoming is still on offer. I did not find it there. The display of writing on our military experiences in Iraq and … [more]
Mad Dogs and Fear Biters
14-June-2016 by 4 Comments
I’m not sure how to say this, other than simply and clearly. An attack on gay Americans is an attack on all Americans. An attack on Muslim Americans is an attack on all Americans’ religious liberty. Attacking a Latinx dance party assaults every American’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of beats. Attacking gun culture … [more]
Word of the Day
10-January-2016 by 1 Comment
glibiot glibiot (n.) glib-i-ot /glibēət/ A person who foolishly believes their own stylish pronouncements, to the detriment of themselves and society. Ex. That glibiot believes that voting doesn’t matter.
A 9/11 Forget Me Not
11-September-2015 by 6 Comments
In a word, “no.” This day – one that will live in a lesser infamy than Pearl Harbor, as a time when our self-declared enemies intentionally selected non-military primary targets to show us our vulnerabilities and terrify those willing to be cowed – will not define me. It will not rule me by fear. It … [more]
"Jack Lewis takes the overall literary crown with his new book...there’s a lot more to Lewis’s work than what it feels like to ride motorcycles.” — Ultimate Motorcycling
"Insightful and from the heart ... a driven and much recommended look into the mind and conflict of the next generation of war veterans. " — Midwest Book Review (Reviewer's Choice)