All Episodes
TreeHouseLetter — 193 episodes
Is it still there? Flag Day and Those Who Serve
I deny that I died for anything.
One Thing My Daughter Has That I Did Not
A Veteran's Four-Word Rule
Old Boys Rugby: "Scum of the Earth" Sings Second
Tsundoku and Goodreaads giveaway
Stick Season, 10000 Hours, and a Book on the Way
Punch, Roll, and Breathe: The Art of Audiobook Narration
The Man in Row 9
On Fathers and Storytelling: The Merchant of Saigon
Poetry for Emergencies: Love Fiercely
When Life is Like a Country Music Song
In the Bardo: Referring to the Dead in the Present Tense
Saigon, 50 Years Ago Today
In Search of the Blue flower
You're Not Wasting Your Time . . .
Sirsasana, King of Asanas
The Monk, the Nun, and the Poet
Nice or Not-so-nice? A $14,000 Dress
Ichigo Ichie: One Time, One Meeting
Water, Water: A Year-end Muse
Giving Thanks for Civility
Giving Thanks for Civility
A Sutra on Solitude
An Angel Number, 1111
Why an 84-Year-Old Goes to the Polls
An Omen and 3 Ravens
They'll Grow In Their Own Sunlight
Living on Hot Dogs
Dinner with Obama
Queen Amahn, the Third Circle of Hell
St. Louis and the Sublime
My Car and a Helicopter Got in a Fight
"These United Colonies . . . are Free and Independent States"
A Stoic on Stupidity and Plumbing
The Curse of the Bootlegger's Daughter
Northeast by Northwest: How Travel Changes Me*
"Well-Intentioned Fools"
Memorial Day Speech: We're Here Today Because They Lived
"We Lived, Felt Dawn, Saw Sunset Glow"
That Teacher, You Know the One
Midwest Mandala
Semper Fidelis
On Poetry, Spring, and Transition
Small Delight: The Unexpected and the Good
Dirtman and Dillard on Signs of the Apocalypse
Deez Nutz*
Who Does Not Prefer Civility to Barbarism?*
How to Improve Your Writing - Part 2: from Confucius to Lincoln
What Men Live By*
How to Improve Your Writing - Part 1
Superior to the Saint, the Scientist, the Philosopher, and the Poet?
An Alabama Road
Town Mouse and Country Mouse
Living Outside the Page
Books for the Casual and Serious Reader
Involved and Implicated: Narcissism and Poetry
Giving Thanks for a Man I Never Met
On Flesh-Eating Beetles and the Sins of the Mother
In the Company of Heroes
Spooky Hour with Spirits of the Dead
What's in your trunk?
Why Do I Run?
Fall is Like a Country Music Song
Trailway to Heaven
Through the Keyhole
The Ever Restless Soul
Confusables, Contronyms, and Jane's Potato Salad
The Music in Stories: Pavan on Borges
Beyond Grade-School Sentences: Adding Depth and Texture to Writing
On Theft, Death, and the Moon
The Master Sentence and the Centenarian
Three Days in Sun Valley and the Best Writing Teacher
Classic Prose: Thought and Presentation
Biblical Times - Fire and Flood
July 4th Declarations: a Nation, a Panda, a Soldier
Goggins, Pushup Yoga, and the Art of the Paragraph
Where's Your Cathedral?
Degree of Separation
What makes a speech great?
"It is precisely because life is so precious to me that I am prepared to die."
The Cure for Resentment and Cynicsim
Weasel Words
What makes a single person's death feel large?*
Wild Horses Dragged Me Away
Go Slow to Go Fast
Sleep on It: Darkness Helps Us See the Light
A Day With the Night Stalkers
Hey, why aren't dogs alcoholics?
The Edgeless Sound and the Night Owl
Belief is a Powerful Elixir
Presciption for Life and Rumi's Cow
Two Things Everybody's Got to Do
Good Luck and Smooth Sailing in the Year of the Cat
How to Capture a Life in 400 Words
Punch In, Punch Out: the Profession and the Side Hustle
Pithy and Practical - Time in Memoir
Giving Thanks for Dissent and Cookies
On Perfect Love and Longing
"Kinda This, Kinda That" in the Mid-pack
What to Say When People Thank You for Your Military Service
Everyone Should Write
What can music teach us about writing?
Reading for Foodies: Zauner's memoir, Crying in H-Mart
Bringing Writers and Readers Together
"Old Age is Not for the Young"*
What Book Would You Take to a Desert Island?
Charlie Munger and the Art of Swearing
The Sentence Fragment
No Ordinary Hike: Marchback for the USMA Class of 2026
On Fighting and Writing: Blackwing and Bruce Lee
Spandrel: Byproduct of Evolution and Thing of Beauty
Thoughts on Music and the Brain
Essays that changed me: Alison Lurie and 'When most boys... joined the armed services.'
Simba the Designer Dog? A Perfect Combination of 5 Breeds
Notes on a Year of Love
Why I write
"The Q-tips Are for Your M4" and the Art of the Paragraph
"Keep the Faith For Which They Died" this Memorial Day
The Last Recital
"Django with One Finger," a Living Music Icon
On Puppies and Babies: a "Communion with Terror"
Books for Mothers and Daughters
What Makes a Speech Great? an Admiral Tells 3 Stories
Exercises in Style: a Writing Tribute
1000 Push-ups? Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Bedside Counselor on Parenting in Anger, in Two Translations
What I Learned Walking With a Friend
A Poet Warrior Learns Kindness
A Fool is Full and a Pool Not a Pull
Three Sunsets in One Day
Each sentence reflects 3 choices
Spicy Rooster and a Coffee Outpost
Firecracker and a Humble Queen
Essays that changed me: Rachel Cusk and “Making Home”
Writing on the Road and the Creative Process
Poetry for Emergencies: Ukraine, Howard Nemerov, and the War Dead
Sex Over 70 Years and the Synecdoche
Adult Child and a Zen Koan
Love in a Sad Cafe
A Valentine Canine and the Circle of Life
If You Want to Write, Your Writing Has to Have Rhythm
The Meaning in Music
Coaching Habit by Stanier: Short Take on How to Avoid Crappy Advice for the Wrong Problem
Books as Trophies, the Bibliophile vs the Bibliophagist
Thay's Miracle: Short Take on a Long Life (Thich Nhat Hanh)
The Sexy Semicolon, Really?
Poetry for Emergencies: Lain S. Thomas at Daybreak
New Year: Goals Versus Habits
Graveside Gratitude, Giving Thanks in November
Summer's End
Alaska Mountains May Spoil You For All the Rest
Father and His Letters
Memorial Day, Reflection and Celebration
April Dreams
Two Truths and a Lie, a Fools Game
I Met a Man at the Top of Chimney Rock
Family Travel in a Pandemic - By Air and By Land
Giving Thanks in 2020 & Simon's List
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (4) Toddler Vision
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (3) Visits From Beyond
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (2) Where the Driveway Ends
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (1) In the House
Learning to Run
Would You Kneel? A College Coach & a Veteran on the National Anthem
Birthday and Death Day, Catholics and Customs
The Vulgar Parrot
On Becoming Sheepdogs, A Modern Fable
Memorial Day Reflection - Two Poems and a Tribute
Why Nursing Homes Suck
Are We Killing the Fat Man? The Corona Trolley Dilemma
For The Class of 2020 During the Pandemic
The Three Gifts - What have you learned in 50 years?
On Presidents, Politics and War, and Poetry
Raise Your Glass! A Toast by W.B. Yeats
The Light in Your Day - a New Take on Winter
Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag - A Russian Novel About Your Life
A Book for Everyone, Even Nonreaders and Grinches
Giving Thanks in 2019 - Looking Back on Life's Big Questions
TikTok Connect the Dots - the United States and China
A View From Above: Army Colonel Ken Mintz on Afghanistan
You've tidied up your closet and your house. Why not tidy up your writing?
Murphy's Law and the Army Ten-Miler
On Poetry and Mondegreens and Teenagers
The Making of a Myth or Legend - Stephen Siller
For the Love of Milk
A Case for the Personal Letter
Suicide and Suffering - Army Veteran and Secular Buddhist on the Four Noble Truths
Whales, Migration, and Back-to-School
In These Walls
Kili at 50 - Episode 3 -Summit Assault and Days 5 & 6
Kili at 50 - Episode 2 - Jambo! Dreadlocks & Day 4
Kili at 50 - Episode 1 - Hiking Kilimanjaro on the Machame Route in Six Days