Among the things that I’ve never had nor have ever wanted is a nickname. My first name is unusual enough; I have no need for a nickname to set myself apart from other Arvids. I’ve only met a few. For as long as I can remember my siblings have called me Arv. That’s okay because it’s an ...

In our church Christmas pageants there is one primary character who doesn’t get many, if any, lines: Joseph, the quiet nice guy in the Christmas story. Have you ever wondered what Joseph was feeling and thinking during those months preceding and following Jesus’ birth? Times and customs ...

Convenience store and grocery store news racks are not as “captivating” as they were a few decades ago when there were some fascinating “rags” on display. They displayed headlines like “Two-headed Gator-Man eats dentist!” “Spice Girls begin breeding in attempt to create Spice ...

It is 1949 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Capt. Edward Murphy is an engineer working on a project to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash. After discovering that a transducer was wired wrong, Capt. Murphy curses the technician responsible for the error and ...

People struggle. But there is a fictional world that wants us to deny this. In that fiction, everyone has a set of bootstraps connected to some miraculous source that, if simply pulled upon, will lift them from their struggles to the magic of prosperity. Folks, that’s a Hallmark ...

Welcome to the Diet Club. This is the comedy club for people who feel the need to diet but would rather laugh about it. The season of excess calories is upon use. All those high-calorie holiday foods and sitting around watching TV during the cold weather will take their toll. Soon it will ...