The march back is a 14 mile ruck with full gear and M4 rifle for 1200 new cadets in the West Point Class of 2026. It is the culminating event of Cadet Basic Training at West Point. Learn about the march, the Long Gray Line, and listen to life-changing stories. 

A visit to Augusta's Indie Book Store and local bakery. Learn about the cult pencil's limited volumes Blackwing 651 named for Bruce Lee, a prize purchase at The Book Tavern with insight on a fighting triad and writing. 

Word of the week. Dig into the word's roots--in architecture, psychology, philosophy, even philately--for a surprising and stirring take-away on function and beauty. 

Pitch is purely a psychological construct. If so, why do we love the music we love? A philosopher, a neuroscientist, a dog, and Roy Orbison help us understand why. 

In her 2019 collection, Alison Lurie wrote an essay, Their Harvard, which describes her life at Radcliffe in the 1940s. It has fascinating and humorous insight on her experience as a second-class citizen, a poorer relation to the men of Harvard.  She also includes a passage, shocking by today's standards, about the men and war.  

My latest canine addition, Simba, had his Dog DNA analyzed. What's in the analysis and what does that tell me about Simba? Word play on his breed types as a new designer breed: Bel-Ger-Sam-Box-Sky, BelGerBoxSky. Does it make a difference now that we "know" what he is? Embark public profile, Breed Reveal, Simba's Family Tree. We did learn why he has a curly tail and one floppy ear, his expected weight, and his percent wolfiness!

Reading a year of love stories, with examples of simile and metaphor. Why an apt metaphor makes the writing sing. Two book recommendations: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. The music in the prose. 

For fame, for money?  The creative process of writing and the incredible joy it can unlock. 

The soldier's pack list today includes items for women. Learn about the four types of paragraphs and the rites of passage for a family with generational service in the armed forces. What is the climactic paragraph or the turnabout paragraph? See how to create interest through suspense, concrete details, and idea development. 

Listen to "new" or lesser-known poems by Poet Warrior John McCrae, best known for his poem In Flanders Fields.