Thursday, January 14, 2021
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
An Editorial Review: Man Stuff: Things a Young Man Needs to Know
Loved it! 😍
A transformational book that outlines tangible, ordinary steps any young man can take to produce extraordinary outcomes.
Knust uses an informal conversational style with clinical details aimed at producing young men of merit who can relate to other fellow human beings and ultimately become valuable members of their community. In Man Stuff - Things a Young Man Needs to Know, the author tackles topics like the art of conversation, shaking hands, demonstrating gratitude with a thank you note, the importance of punctuality to mention some of the issues discussed.
I wish I had read this book a bit earlier in my career as I would have learned that in spite of saying thank you after a valedictory function held in my honor, it would have been ideal to follow this with a thank you card. I cringed at the chapter on bathroom etiquette, but I am sure that many fathers will be satisfied by the practical and gentlemanly ethics shared in this chapter.
Knust brief reminders of the importance of exercising and sleeping are timely and relevant in the digital age amid Covid 19. I was a bit disappointed that these two crucial dimensions were not expounded upon even more.On the other hand, I was particularly impressed as an educator and a parent with the chapters on goal setting, gratitude, and leadership.
In my former place of employment, I was at an all-boys college with a library that needed several copies of a text like this one. The young male audience would be enriched intellectually and spiritually from encountering this text. As such, I would unreservedly recommend this text to young boys, young men, and parents concerned about grooming sons who would make them proud. Moreover, this text empowers single moms clueless about getting their little boys to develop into responsible and sensible men. Man Stuff's is a transformational book that outlines tangible, ordinary steps any young man can take to produce extraordinary outcomes.
REVIEWED BY
I am a Global citizen residing in one of the Happiest Caribbean Countries: Trinidad and Tobago. I am a Teacher of English and Communication Studies. Reading and creating book reviews are my favourite pastimes. I wrote several reviews currently published on Amazon and Goodreads.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Who Should Read "Man Stuff"?
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Man Stuff
When my son was in seventh grade, I saw a need for some kind of youth organization that ALL young men could belong to – even those who were not athletic. I started the Explorers Club, a boys service club for 6-8th grade Chamberlain Public School and St. Joseph’s Indian School students, in the fall of 2001. Since then, over 350 young men have worked to raise over $125,000 for their school and community which has help fund over $650,000 in projects for the area.This money has helped construct a new baseball field (with scoreboard) and new soccer field; purchase new playground equipment at two parks, new slides and equipment for the municipal swimming pool and A/V equipment and an AED device for the school; construct a fishing pier in the municipal campground, a new picnic shelter, and a community Frisbee golf course; and purchase trees, 60 new flag poles for community flag park, and equipment at Veterans Park. They have given financial support to the local “Meals on Wheels” and “Relay for Life” programs in addition to many other things.They volunteer for an impressive list of service projects including cleaning school grounds, assisting with Veterans Day programs, assisting with sports tournaments, serving meals at high school athletic banquet, hosting Halloween parties for mentally handicapped, and performing various chores for elderly community members. They raise money for numerous people fighting health issues. They truly are the “go-to” organization for service and help in the community.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
March Sadness and The List

I have documented in this space my love of college basketball and my annual trip to the Final Four with a great group of friends. Over the past thirty-eight years, I have been fortunate to attend 115 Final Four basketball games (semifinals and finals) since my first one in 1982. Needless to say, some of those games have been blowouts, some have been very competitive and some have been classics.
Since there aren't any games this year, a lot of lists are being created. Twitter is full of them. This is MY list. A list of the best games I've seen.
When I think about what makes a classic college basketball game, I think of story lines, buzzer beaters, stakes and upsets. The stakes for all of these games couldn't be higher. All of these games are for a berth in the National Championship game or for the title so that almost eliminates that factor. But I have broken these down into semifinal games and championship tilts. While there have been some great semifinal games, there is a special place for games played with a title on the line.
Here is the pool of games that I have witnessed and from which these lists are compiled. The games in red were one possession games. Click on year and date for full tournament bracket.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
“Can We Talk About Communication?”
Every trade association I know of struggles with communication. That means both sending information to and receiving information from their members.
Our SDADA Bulletin, in its current printed form, is not an efficient mode of communication with our dealer members. Certainly a quarterly publication no longer qualifies as “news”.
So we are taking a page from the playbook of many other associations, inside and outside the auto industry, and going to an electronic newsletter. We don’t want to jam up your email box up so we will start with a semi-monthly (1st & 15th of each month) publication and adjust from there.
Friday, September 20, 2019
The SenTree
I think the tree is some kind of elm but I don’t know for certain. I’ve never touched it. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten within 20-25 yards of it. By the time it factors into our deer hunts, the leaves have long ago fallen and it would be difficult for me to even determine what kind of tree it actually is - not that it matters. When you look at the tree during the day, it is extremely unremarkable.
During deer season, however, the sun rises directly behind this tree when you sit in our deer stand. It transforms from “just another tree” to “the tree”.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Bird Droppings
Tom Apke’s Bluejays opened the 1978-79 season with six straight victories, including a 78-61 drubbing of in-state rival Nebraska. Things changed when they went on the road and by the time Larry Bird’s #5 Indiana State Sycamores came to town in late January of 1979, the Bluejays were stumbling along at 9-6.
The Sycamores were undefeated (15-0) and on cruise control headed toward their March championship game against “Magic” Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans. The Bluejays and Omaha were nothing more than a bump in their road coming in. But the sellout crowd of just under 9,000 fans in the old Omaha Civic Arena had different ideas.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Bluejay Baptism
Even though it was a mid-major Creighton team, the visiting Big 10 Ohio State raised the profile of the game considerably. Ohio State dominated the Big 10 in the 1960's. Under Fred Taylor, they won three outright conference titles, shared three others, won the the 1960 National Championship, and finished national runner-up in 1961 and 1962.