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For What It's Worth

10 minute reads for a better life

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About Me

I’m a retired associate professor with degrees in theology, which means I’ve spent years poking at sacred cows and asking the questions most people try to avoid in college and university classrooms. My professional obsessions live at the junction of anthropology, modern culture, and technical communication—in other words, I’m interested in why we communicate the way we do, and how our tools twist the message. Before I landed in academia, I ran through the media gauntlet: advertising, broadcasting, education, journalism, marketing, public relations, print, and writing. I’m a media guy with theology degrees, which is a dangerous combination. Consider this fair warning: you’re going to find some disturbingly interesting pieces here.

Essays

Welcome to For What It’s Worth, a space for thoughtful takes, practical insights, and the occasional tangent on whatever feels worth a closer look. From everyday questions to big-picture ideas, we explore a bit of everything with curiosity, clarity, and just enough opinion and levity to keep things interesting.

Browse by series below — select a series heading to view and read its full collection of essays.

Browse by series: What Would You Call It? · Being A Game Changer · The Age Of Magical Thinking · The Emerging Christian Myths · Decoding Lies · Standalone Essays

What Would You Call It?

  • Four-part series that begins by confronting an uncomfortable truth: humans are hardwired for…

Being A Game Changer

  • Become an intentional agent of change, beginning with…

The Age Of Magical Thinking

  • Comforting beliefs shape our politics, our spirituality, and our everyday…

The Emerging Christian Myths

  • The Christian spirit world and the myths developed over centuries. Once understood…

Decoding Lies

  • Human flourishing depends on our ability to distinguish truth from falsehood in a world…

Standalone Essays

  • The Hidden Persuaders

    (Photo by Guy Basabose on Unsplash) Meaningful Attachments (12 minute read) Key Takeaways: Sometimes, missing someone from the past has less to do with missing the person and more to…

  • You Sure About That?

    (Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash) The Folly of Certainty (11 minute read) Key Takeaways: We must at least become wise at our own expense and strain to be aware…

  • America At A Crossroads

    (Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash) The Future is Our Past (12 minute read) Key Takeaways: Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.…

  • Supersize Me!

    (Photo by Tomás Robertson on Unsplash) Fast Food and Faith (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: Seeing’s believing, but feeling’s the truth. —Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and…

  • What Would You Call It? 1

    (Photo by Harry Grout on Unsplash) Because, Once You See It… (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: Faith can mean nothing else but the conviction that life as such, with all its mysteries, all…

  • What Would You Call It? 2

    (Photo by John Cardamone on Unsplash) Now That You See It (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: Throne Of Lies In What Would You Call It? Part 1, we established that self-deception is not…

  • What Would You Call It? 3

    (Photo by Kouji Tsuru on Unsplash) The Slow Erosion of Self (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: In What Would You Call It? 2, we saw how truth, though often unpleasant, is necessary and…

  • What Would You Call It? 4

    (Photo by Kouji Tsuru on Unsplash) Your Future — Past (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: The Retrospective View In Part 2 of this series we introduced French philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s narrative identity: the self is…

  • Banana Trees In Unlikely Places

    (4 minute read) I have a banana tree—three, to be exact—thriving in my backyard. I live in an area where they are not native so they require some attention, protection,…

  • Living History

    (Monument Image from The Great Rivers & Routes of Southwest Illinois) The Unapologetic Defender (10 minute read) Key Takeaways: Maxim #1: See the world as it is and not as…