All articles filed in Reflection

I can’t imagine the grief around State College right now.  I just can’t. Joe Paterno passed away today.  He was 85. If this had happened last year, we would have read obituaries with words like “longtime coach” and “icon” and “Nittany Lion pride” and “hardscrabble” and “unstoppable” and “national championships.” And today, the obituaries read…

The cashier at the Dunkin’ Donuts looked at me as if to say, “Who are you and what have you done with the Chuck Miller that usually comes in here and only orders the wake-up breakfast wrap and a diet cola?” But there was a reason for doing this.  Sometimes it’s all you can do.…

We start each year with wonderful thoughts and good wishes. And through the year, we lose many of our friends and companions and loved ones and admired ones along the way. Goodbye, Sam Carey. You made a positive impression on every teammate you ever had. Goodbye, Tyler Rhodes. A wonderful and brilliant life… taken too…

I sent a contract to a stone-cutting company in Massachusetts last week.  And if all goes well, I’m completing a promise. I promised that every penny I earned from my photography awards this year, every penny that came from the sale of an artwork, every penny I earned by helping someone out – all that…

There are those who swear that in the morning, when they wake up, they remember everything about their dreams.  They claim to remember every moment, every word, every comment from their slumber. Me… all I can remember is maybe a word, a phrase, a note, a number.  And no earthly reason why I would even…

Friday night.  October 14, 2011.  8:30 p.m. “Hurry up, hurry up, get in your seats, the event’s going to start any second now!” “Am I late?  Did I miss anything?” “No.  They’re just doing the initial introductions.  You haven’t missed him.” “Good.  Where do I sit?” “Okay, I have to make sure of the list. …

I initially didn’t want to make this video.  I wasn’t sure how it would be received.  But after seeing the increased cyber-bullying and taunting and belittling going on today, both nationally and locally, I could remain silent no more. And the kicker was reading this morning about Mitchell Wilson, a boy with muscular dystrophy who…

My friendship with Amy Biancolli goes back to our days as Hamilton College students.  We didn’t take the same classes, but we had mutual friends.  When Amy wrote her biography of Fritz Kreisler, I purchased a copy.  She purchased a copy of my record collector’s guide.  And in June of 2010, at our 25th reunion…