The title of this post is pretty self-explanatory. I’d like to share with you my countdown of the top ten most shocking things as seen from a car while driving in Kenya. There’s one thing I do need to clear up though, I was not the one doing the driving. Oh hell no!...

When I was a kid, my family moved around. A lot. My grandpa was a successful real estate developer who, among other ventures, built nursing homes across the Midwest throughout the 1970’s. My parents would swoop in to get everything running smoothly, then move on to...

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of the plural noun vital signs is as follows: clinical measurements, specifically pulse rate, temperature, respiration rate, and blood pressure, that indicate the state of a patient's essential body functions. As someone...

Today in America, the color purple takes on a lofty, yet elementary idea: red + blue = purple.  As I see it, we can come together as conservatives (red) and liberals (blue) to create a blended, more harmonious and representative landscape for our country...

Be kind. Please rewind. If you're old enough to have wasted hours of your life perusing the aisles of a Blockbuster Video store only to walk away with an old standby that you've seen fourteen times, you’re likely familiar with the plea to "Be kind. Please rewind." It...

The vaccine is beginning to roll out and the decade of 2020 is finally coming to an end. Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus! It’s been a rough year for everyone. Unfortunately, the social isolation isn’t going away anytime soon, and for me, neither is Zoom. My job has...

It’s been a shitty year, there’s no denying it. If anyone gets too Pollyanna about it, they’re likely to get punched right in their cute little button nose. These days it seems like the punch Pollyanna threshold is at an all-time low, so I’d like to share with you a...

This is the inaugural installment in the ongoing series I’ve titled, “I’m sorry … what?” It will contain the stories of interactions with colorful people that have left me speechless for a beat, before blinking a few times and muttering, “Uh ... I’m sorry … what?” The...

“I don’t want to sound all Pollyanna, but …” Most of us have said this at least once or twice in our lives, right? It got me thinking … what’s so wrong with sounding a little Pollyanna? Why do we roll our eyes and assume the worst? Most of us have a vague notion of...

In an earlier post titled On Urgency and Writing. I shared my Three Steps to Failure process in terms of writing. Unfortunately, it isn’t exclusive to that one aspect of my life. Quick review of these steps: Get excited about storytelling and buy something to solidify...

Evolution refers to the cumulative changes that occur over time. Things mutate or combine in different ways to create new characteristics passed on to future generations. If we’re talking about the evolution of me as a writer, there have definitely been some changes...

Every school report card from my formative years held some variation of, “Noelle is inclined to visit too much. Her constant socializing keeps her from reaching her potential.” Because of this, it is bewildering for me to acknowledge that finding my voice has been my...