And soon discovered I’d been locked out for the day — Summers were not known for being terribly hot in the small, central Kentucky town where I grew up. Our home, like most of the simple, brick, ranch-style homes where I lived, did not have air conditioning. We did have a window unit in the kitchen, but otherwise, it was open…

Whatever it takes to win — Paul easily won election to the Mayor’s Office. It was his second time running, and this time, he hadn’t made any mistakes. He’d been organized and focused and he hadn’t slept. He’d met with all the key players and exchanged what he had to in order to earn their backing…

Learning a lesson the hard way — I write a lot about consumer protection — about the mainstream businesses that harm consumers through nefarious practices. However, there’s still the threat from the good, old-fashioned scam. A story from Orrin Onken about some Birkenstocks that never arrived offers some key lessons in how to avoid being scammed. I’m a Tech-savvy Know-it-all Lawyer and I Fell for the Online Birkenstock Scam Because I wanted it to be true.medium.com

The weather’s cooling off, but those triple-digit interest rates still burn — Just. Don’t. Do it. Maybe you feel like you need some extra cash just because the season changed to fall. Or, you’re in a car near a mountain and think: “High-interest cash would make this trip better.” Well, you’re wrong. You don’t need an extra cash advance from a cartoon…

A simple explanation — During the pandemic, when schools were closed due to the uncertainty of the impact of COVID and the lack of a vaccine, many policymakers and pundits lamented what they called “learning loss.” This was the idea that since kids were not in school, they “lost” or “were losing” learning. That…

The content sharing site has some benefits — It’s Monday. That means it is the day when I learn whether I was a Top 10 writer on ManyStories in the past week. This past week, I was third. All of the Top 10 writers and readers have their profiles featured on the ManyStories front page. That increases the…

But here we are — Medical debt is gross. It is clear evidence that in American capitalism, profit beats people every time. Insurance companies are the biggest winners in our healthcare system. But other profiteers are eager to get their hands on cash from people unlucky enough to fall ill or face a medical emergency. …

Building up and burning down — Alex sat at a large desk carved of cherry wood. On a coaster to the right of him sat a beautiful glass. He’d just gotten up to place three cubes of ice inside it. …

Back in the Top 10 — After a couple of weeks off, I’m back in the Top 10 over at ManyStories. I attribute my “fall from grace” to taking some time to read at Medium and subsequently writing less. Plus, the new formula here at Medium has been more rewarding with less content output, so I’m…