Other Contributors

We are born into a world of words. Like countless others, words define my life — first as an avid reader of stacks of Archie comic books, later as an educator, later as an author.  It’s easy to think of words as tools, mere instruments of communication, or sonic stepping-stones […]

Often, I wonder if the universe utilizes my days and nights as a personal comic book for itself. When life gets too relaxed or predictable on my end, the universe seems to say: “Nope, today you’re my entertainment, Rob.” It was May. The buds on the trees were bursting in […]

First love arrives like sunrise over a sleeping city. Equally inevitable and undeniable as dawn slowly flooding everything with impossible gold. It is a new beginning… one you had no idea you were waiting for. Suddenly, an ordinary life lifts into a new unpredictable world. The simplest gestures begin to […]

If you’re anything like me you may sometimes notice your thoughts jumping around rather wildly. When our minds are jumpy we tend to feel unsettled and find it hard to focus on one thing at a time. This can be frustrating to live with. A lack of focus usually slows […]

It was a Tuesday night, the kind of late spring evening that isn’t quite warm yet but carries the conjuring of seasonal change. My best friend Dan and I merged onto Interstate 94 with purpose. A mission. A destination. The goal was simple: Tool’s long-awaited album Lateralus was being released […]

There is an incredibly special place—a short southbound drive from our beautiful borderland, just past the town of Eveleth. Equal parts sanctuary, summons, and spark. It is a place of pilgrimage I’ve returned to for the last twenty years for silent reflection. On October 4, 2025, I again walked the […]

My friends packed into the Canada Life Centre to see Korn this weekend. They came back buzzing – elated from the power of the show. Listening to them reminded me of another band etched into the soundtrack of my youth – one that may not carry the same global recognition […]

If you fall in love with a language that you speak and teach, could that very language redefine your concept of love all together? I think so.  In fact, I know so. Knowing, learning, and speaking a language can affect and shape the way one thinks. This is because every […]

For decades, educators and science communicators have wondered how to get more people interested in science, STEM careers, and the staggering wonders of our universe. Personally, the bite of science bug only took one moment on an early summer afternoon to capture my imagination. Sitting in the grass under a […]

So often our minds can seem like they are against us instead of for us. They sometimes bombard us with worries, bad memories, frustrations, distractions and discouragements. We’ve been exploring some different aspects of managing our minds including identifying and changing negative thought patterns. Managing our minds is vital to […]

The words were like a beacon. A constellation. Like arcane parchment, a conscious remnant from some ancient heart. Reaching forth from the outward-facing spine of the book, the title might as well have been incandescent. Far left. Top shelf. “Citizen of the World.” For years, it was as if the words, with […]

To this day, it’s not uncommon for my friends and I to debate in my living room until sunrise about what’s happening with the Rogues Gallery in Gotham, as if it’s a real city. For many of us, comics and science fiction are more than fun stories. They’re modern myths […]