Mike Matson

The staircase steps were small and closely spaced on purpose, designed for children. Taking them one at a time felt like a lot of work without much visible progress. Two or more at a time was just as uncomfortable.   The comfortable balance was never found.   The broadcasting operations owned by what was then Stauffer Communications (one TV station, two radio stations, and three radio networks) were housed in a building that started life as a schoolhouse for Security Benefit

Social media post: “ Deadline for my next newspaper column is 24 hours away, and I’ve not a clue about what to write. Crowdsourcing ideas.”   A welder from Abilene: “The weather.”   Public radio station manager in northern California: “Writers block.”   Education advocate: “The mess that is college athletics.”   Fellow author: “If I had an idea, I would write about it. A weekly column is torture.” (Mine’s only twice a month, so maybe not torture. What comes right before water

When I go out to eat, I don’t walk into the restaurant and holler out my culinary preferences. I wait to be seated, enter into a social contract of sorts with the system and select from a range of choices presented via a menu. They bring my dinner, I eat, pay up and leave.   I expect to be served a meal. They expect me to pay for it.      When I get up in the morning, brew a pot of strong enough to walk and pull up my favorite newspapers online, I have an expectation that the