Category: Uncategorized

Dragin’ Main: Cruisin’ Glory Days on Rural Blacktop By Andy Lee Before we could drive alone, Dragin’ Main rendered weekends legendary. We’d cobble carpool crews to prowl main street seeking action. For country kids pre-internet, just looping the same downtown for hours equaled peak entertainment. Gas money garnered far less debate than shotgun privileges. Because … Continue reading Dragin’ Main: Cruisin’ Glory Days on Rural Blacktop

Gen X Icons: From Madonna to Michael Jackson By Andy Lee Let’s take a hot tub time machine ride to revisit two icons defining the pop culture skies of my early teen years: Madonna and Michael Jackson. As a card-carrying member of Generation X born in 1971, I hit peak impressionability just as these rule-breaking … Continue reading Gen X Icons

I Was Thinking About...The Lost Art of Passing Notes By Andy Lee Long before texting, we Gen Xers honed covert communication skills by mastering the delicate art of passing notes. I’m talking old school scribbling on loose leaf between classes, triangular folds disguised as origami creatures. Slippery acts of folding paper fortune-tellers or craning just … Continue reading The Lost Art of Passing Notes

The Gen X classic film and theme song St. Elmo’s Fire By Andy Lee Rewatching this ensemble drama whips me back to 1985 alongside recent grads facing life after college. Beyond mere nostalgia, it reveals striking parallels to my own uncertain independence phase when ideals collided with reality. The film tracks seven Georgetown friends chasing … Continue reading St. Elmo’s Fire

Saluting Fellow Okie Toby Keith: Big Talent, Even Bigger Heart By Andy Lee As fellow Okies mourn the untimely passing of beloved country icon Toby Keith, I recall the oversized spirit of this larger-than-life local legend who poured so much homegrown heart into our shared roots. Like many natives, some of my fondest memories of … Continue reading Toby Keith 1961-2024

I Was Thinking About…School Dances and Mixin’ It Up By Andy Lee Dudes, remember middle school dances? Still get hives thinking about all that awkwardness under crepe paper streamers. Yet those gymnasium shindigs occupy prime real estate in my memory logs. Recall the rush scoping out who’d be there while drowning myself in Drakkar Noir … Continue reading School Dances

I Was Thinking About...Perception vs. Perspective By Andy Lee Lately I’ve been pondering the difference between perception and perspective. How we perceive things isn’t always the full picture. Our perspectives give context to perceptions and shape how we see the world. Consider an iceberg. Sailing by, we perceive just a small tip peeking out of … Continue reading Perception vs. Perspective

I was thinking about...Saturday Morning Cartoon Nostalgia By Andy Lee My fellow Gen Xers, do you yearn for the days when Saturday mornings meant one thing only - cartoons! Before the explosion of 24/7 kids programming across countless channels, Saturday cartoons held an almost mythic status. I have fond memories of waking up early, bowl … Continue reading Saturday Morning Cartoon Nostalgia

Today I’d like to discuss a rising issue that has me deeply troubled about the state of political discourse and polarization in America. More of an op-ed than my usual content, I feel compelled to speak openly about a phenomenon – ideological “echo chambers” and lack of perspective-taking across divides – that poses profound dangers … Continue reading Echo Chambers: The Dangers of Only Hearing What We Already Believe

Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1987) "You couldn't score her in a million years. A, you're too shy and closed up to even approach her, and B, she'd kill you!" - Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) I was thinking about...80s Teenage Celebrity Crushes By Andy Lee As remembered by a … Continue reading 80s Teenage Celebrity Crushes