Stephen Lawrence Brayton's Blog (200)

I thoroughly enjoy my featured authors because they take me to places I might not ever go myself. Today, we're in a cedar log cabin somewhere in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. Below us is a stream where we caught our limit of trout. This after a trek through the wilderness – so I've done my exercising today. The hired chef is grilling the fish, given my guest her Manhattan. I brought along a dry white from Nearwood Winery in Knoxville, where…

First week of September but summer is not over quite yet. This week's featured author wants to hit the beach. But not just any beach, one just outside the noisy throng of...Bangkok. That ol' hot sun is tempered by a cool breeze and around us is a lush oasis with the piece de resistance...a forty foot waterfall. We sit on a log and just enjoy…

So, I'm sitting around this morning wondering what to post for this week's blog. Then the doorbell rings and when I open the door a gentleman with a book is standing there.

"Mind if I take over your blog today?" he asks.

I look at him skeptically. I mean, I don't just let anybody waltz in and post whatever they please.

"What's in it for me?" I shoot right back. 

He shrugs. "Well, you don't have to write anything today. I…

This morning, I pick this week's featured author who gives me simple instructions. "Interview me while we're enjoying a campfire." 

So, I set the controls for a place I haven't visited in many years, Lake Keomah, a few miles from Oskaloosa, Iowa. I used to go out there on summer (and sometimes winter) nights, build a campfire, listen to an audio book, and enjoy being…

Near the middle of August, the weather turns hot. So, I'm particularly thankful to this week's featured author that he wants to have our interview while walking on some Colorado mountain trails. Cool air, scenery and green and rocks and maybe we'll catch site of some wildlife...as long as it's not a cougar. Or a bear. Or a wolf. Or a rattle snake. In fact, let's not encounter any wildlife and just…

“We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow.”

Yellow sand? Who peed on the beach?

***

Because the complaint mentioned a supposed mistake in a brochure, this brings up the topic of making sure you're as correct as you can be before writing down anything. I've discussed before about authors needing to be…

So, this morning, I pick up this week's feisty guest author and we're off to sunny Ochos Rios, Jamaica. We're lounging on the beach with a plate of fried breadfruit between us. Sun, sand, surf...ouch! What? Well, isn't that wonderful? She slapped my hand when I tried to take a piece of breadfruit. Now she threatens to do more bodily harm. What? Open a can of Whoop-Ass if I don't get my own plate?

Whew! Better get to the…

“The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.”

What did you expect the beach to be? Covered in tile?

***

Some of these complaints are more inane than others. I think my snarky comment, while made in jest, brings up a valid point. What did these folks expect when they went to the beach? A beach, one for tourists, is mostly sand. There are rocky…

“I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.”

And when I'm bored, I usually eat. Usually I get bored at home on my nights off. You know, it's three in the morning and there is nothing on television and I'm bored with watching downloaded television shows or movies. I long for either a salty snack or something sweet. Sometimes both. One…

On this warm May morning I pick up this week's featured author and she sets the transporter's controls for...wait a minute, where are we going?

Where is this place? What a shabby looking coffee shop. Uh, Ms. Munier, you realize I don't drink coffee.

She doesn't care, orders two brews and we sit at a rickety and scarred wooden table and look at each other in the…

So, this morning I was sitting around trying to think of what to post for this week's blog. How do you follow three wonderful weeks of author interviews?

Then someone knocks on my door and when I answer, there stands a man weaing a hat that shadows his face. He hands me a large…

So I'm in the transporter to pick up this week's featured author. He enters and suddenly the entire machine goes haywire. When we step out, we're on a strange island with a table set up for two, strange colored drinks waiting and the entire world has changed. I smack the side of the console, the dials spin, and then report that we're sitting…

So, this morning I pick up this week's featured author and since she shrugged her shoulders on an interview site, i decided  to hit an all night coffee bar in Des Moines. Of course, I don't drink coffee, but they have a wonderful selection of teas. We're ensconced in a back room so the jazz quartet out front doesn't disturb us.

Onto the interview...

1. Who are…

I wind up the three part series of essays written by two of my students. This week, they discuss community inner strength.

Noelle

How can inner strength be used to better our community?

Let's start with this question: what is inner strength? My personal definition for the phrase 'inner strength' is: “the power to resist…

Last week, I introduced Noelle and Elijah, two of my taekwondo students, who wrote essays in February on how to use inner strength at home, in school, and in the community. This week, I present their essays on school inner strength.

Noelle

How can inner strength be used to make school a successful endeavor?

Let's start with this…

For a long while, I have putting up a monthly theme at the taekwondo club. I have several posters, large and small, or themes such as Attitude, Courtesy, Respect, and Motivation. I've been through all of them several times. So, for February of this year, I reached out and tried something new. Inner Strength.

I am part of the Karate For Kids program developed by my parent organization. …

“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” - Buddha

In…

C04“We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it be included in the price.”

I don't know about you, but even if the park DID provide swimsuits, I don't think I'd wear one. Even if it has been washed fifty times over, how many other bodies have worn it?

***

So what do you think about when you see the price for something? Everybody has a personal opinion on if a product or service is too expensive. It…

Many moons ago I attended a taekwondo tournament in the Minneapolis area. I was either a Second or a Third Degree Black Belt at the time and my competition consisted of some excellent martial artists. In the sparring competition, I faced a gentleman who, within a minute, executed a spin hook kick to my head. My hands were not up as far as they should have been and I was not fast enough to block in…