Poet Reporter
A different kind of reporting, through the eyes of a poet.
Putting Upside Down Kingdom on the Roof
Belated Happy Earth Day, All! Here’s a little thinking outside the box… Upside Down Kingdom is sponsoring a straw bale this summer! Söntés Restaurant in Rochester, Minnesota, where I work, write, and because my office is there, essentially live…
Inspiration Behind Library Talk March 28
I’ve been invited to speak at the Rochester Public Library at 7 p.m. this Thursday (March 28) as part of the Library’s Visiting Author Series.Months ago when we set this up, I thought when the day finally came I’d be terrified to speak. But I said yes…
How Many of Me Do You See?
What have I been doing lately, you ask? Ta da! What follows is a Tall Tale speech I gave that took first place at my ToastMasters Club in February, and placed third at the Rochester Area level competition last Saturday…
Landstuhl Postcards
Excerpt from my Germany 2012 travel journals, with my friends Keith and Johanna…
It’s late summer here in Landstuhl, Germany. The sun is shining and the air is clean…
Sea of Galilee
Excerpt from my 2011 Israel journals… This morning, we went to the Chapel of the Primacy along the edge of the Sea of Galilee. Our guide Hani explained that this church was made of black basalt stone.
Hani told us how the Sea is really a lake, and how the original transcribers translated it incorrectly...
Welcome Home
This excerpt is from my Israel travel journals. As some of my good friends have traveled back to Israel this week and I am excitedly reading their updates, missing them and the land itself…
Distracted
On a January Monday, a table of three came in for dinner—a couple with their adult daughter…
Disclosure
The following is what I wrote for the final phase of our ServOlympics contest at Söntés, read yesterday to the waitstaff…
ServOlympics
We’re entering our final week of the Söntés ServOlympics—the contest Tessa invented so (we do her bidding)…
OmaGoodness
Want to know what the restaurant staffers do on their day off? Here’s a conversation that took place on Sunday, the only day of the week that Söntés is closed, via Facebook Messenger. The part of Chef will be played by Söntés’ own Chef Bryce Lamb…
Sauerkraut Soup
It's traditional in my family to eat Christmas Eve Wigilia "Vuh-LEE-uh" dinner. Wigilia means Vigil…
Books, Body, and Soul
[Originally written for Söntés blog] Need a stocking stuffer for that person who has everything? Need time to collect your thoughts and unwind? …