The opera story you won't forget.

This story came to me when I was having lunch with a lady who supports the Jacobs School of Music. She was telling me about this man who she heard sing, and mentioned that he was IU's oldest freshman (30 years old) last year. I asked his name, we met for coffee, and I was fascinated by his life.

Read about his family, his voice, and the reason he'll forever thank the Target music section:

The Accidental Tenor.

Vegan + Venison

This Thanksgiving, my parents cooked a vegan feast. They are on a diet from this book.

We had tomato risotto, wine and garlic Portabella mushrooms, lentil Dhal soup, cranberry-pomegranate sauce, roasted asparagus and tomatoes, fresh salad from the garden, sweet potatoes ...


And then my aunt and uncle brought deer jerky. It's in the jar next to the vegetables.

My uncle killed the deer and my aunt marinated strips of the flank overnight in their secret wet rub. There's a ton of teriyaki in it. Vegan and venison. I'd say that's about as American a Thanksgiving as you can get, right?

I know you aren't supposed to love things ...

... but what if it's a really ugly turkey sweatshirt your brother picked out for you ... and it's gotten you through some very tough times ...

... sneaking around outside Eureka High School to connect to the server and copy newspaper articles (best friend and I were the dorky editors who just couldn't leave work alone) ...


... sharing sweet BBQ with other best friend's grandparents in Japan ...


... holding meat in trees ...


... lulling a crazy google-eyed dog to sleep ... finally ...



... last day working at F&S next to a big wild animal ...



... and so what if it inspired purchase of the coolest hand-tooled leather flask you've ever seen?


I guess I know what I'm collecting for the rest of my life. Thanks, turkey sweatshirt. Happy Thanksgiving.

How to slaughter a turkey.

I love this Esquire post. No frills, no censoring.

Just bloody, delicious turkey.

It reminds me of the photo series I did on Nathan killing a chicken.

Except, as always, Esquire does it better.

Happy cluck cluck.

Girl, putcha records on.

When my grandpa was in the military in the 70s, he picked up a record player for his kids (my mom and Uncle Joe). The kids spun their Simon, they spun their Garfunkel. And when they left home, the record player sat and then was shuffled during moves.

It ended up in my grandma's office in my grandparent's home in my favorite place in the Smoky Mountains in the most beautiful state. North Carolina.

This summer, when I visited my grands, we fiddled around with the darn thing until it made some noise. The inaugural record? Peter, Paul and Mary's "Ten Years Together."

Here is my grandpa, overjoyed that it works. The song playing was "500 Miles." I think he just said his famous phrase, "Egads!"


But that's not the end of this player's story. My grandparents, on a visit to my parents in St. Louis, brought the thing with them, and then my mom and dad drove it to me this weekend.


Again, some fiddling was neccessary. Luckily, my mom remembered putting it together as a kid. The inaugural song this time? Jackie Wilson's "I Get the Sweetest Feeling."

And I do.

IU Bass Fishing

Update: They won.


Props to Field & Stream for giving me the guts to pursue fishing reporting. This weekend, the team fishes regionals.

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