Carlson

By: John Carlson— The dirt strip bordering the fence in our small back yard is now heartily sprouting plants. You ask, what kind of plants? Well, you know. Plants. Green ones. We had a few out there before, some with stalks and some, like, without stalks. But then one day, during an overcast afternoon when the storm clouds were roiling and lightning flashes visible in the distance, our personal professional gardener, Mary Beth Lambert, swung into action. As an un-fit,…

By: John Carlson– In the photos from his most recent competition, a glowing Brad Warner smiles confidently in body-building poses, displaying muscles most of us never knew existed. To all appearances, even his muscles have muscles. “When I step on stage,” Warner explained, “I have to have every muscle showing.” As he spoke, he was momentarily resting on a couch at his fitness center, Studio 22. Inside its mirrored confines were rack after rack of black barbells, exercise machines, colorful…

By: John Carlson— A beautiful new day of health and self-confidence has dawned for me, all without even buying a bunch of Richard Simmons’ workout videos, let alone actually watching one. What I bought, instead, is a wok. Well, my wife bought a wok, but I am taking credit for it. You see, we recently took part in a huge, four-family garage sale. What Nan did for this event was gather our sale items, clean them, price them, load them…

By: John Carlson— If you are a chubby person like me, you are probably alarmed by the latest fashion trend. The big new thing is “active wear.” Active wear is that sort of sleek, colorful, sporty apparel that clings to your body like an extra epidermal layer. It shows off every bulge you’ve got, whether you’re running in a marathon, or just running to the grocery store to restock your training table with some nutritious Hostess Ding Dongs. Not that…

By: John Carlson— It was an accidental find, of sorts. In the process of moving my 90-year-old father into a nursing home recently, my sister Patty came upon a Purple Heart – the medal that honors those Americans injured in combat – pristinely packaged and shining splendidly, tucked away in his chest-of-drawers. I don’t know that I had ever seen this particular medal, which appeared to be a government reissue, but the fact is that now, with it cradled in…

By: John Carlson— MUNCIE – Standing before you with a worn ball glove on his left hand, a baseball in his right and a flop of brown hair falling across his forehead from under a ball cap, Kade Oliver looks like the 14-year-old kid that he is. But when he’s winding up on a pitcher’s mound, his arching right knee seemingly chin high, he looks every bit the athlete he’ll likely be five, ten, even 15 years from now. In…