Michael Shay's Hummingbirdminds

I was a Florida resident for just 18 days before I was rushed to the ER with septicemia. I am the family cook and grocery shopper. I barely ...

Part 2 of Word Back: America I explore word choice in "Make America Great Again." What was America like in my youth? Was it all fu...

I began to write this Word Back column as Memorial Day weekend began. I was making fun of what America has become in 2025 but forgot about w...

I awoke thinking of Walker Percy's "Love in the Ruins or The Adventures of a Bad Catholic at a Time Near the End of the World....

 Let's get the preliminaries out of the way. It's hot and humid here. It's more crowded than I remember. The college football se...

The Letter is in the Wind I could dry up and blow away before A letter arrives I drag a lawn chair to a breadbox of a mailbox The ki...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the intersection of writers and gardening . I mentioned that Flannery O'Connor's Andalusia in Milledg...

I found Donald Westlake's Dortmunder books and they are fantastic. Always a caper going on. Always sharp dialogue and lots of humor. Wes...

I don't have a hangover, that's the main thing. Many prior St. Patrick's Day holidays involved drinking and then hangovers. Some...

Satirist P.J. O'Rourke passed away this week. His humor writing, especially during the National Lampoon era, influenced my writing. Nat...

All this book-banning makes me think of all of those books I read that might meet disapproval now from the GOP Know Nothings.  When I was in...

A new year brings new challenges, such as how are we going to save our republic from the Trump Cult and The Big Lie? Voting is a good start....

We received 31 or 36 inches of snow in our weekend blizzard, depending on who's doing the reporting. Anything more than 30 inches is a l...

We live in absurd times. A Reality TV show star is president. He is a narcissist who is never wrong about anything but is wrong about everyt...

People are struggling. They are sick and dying; their businesses are shuttered or they are unemployed, either for the duration or for good. ...

Homebound. For a week. Only ventured outside to drive to credit union drive-up and library book drop-off. Never left the car. Never interact...

It's been more than a month since I posted here. I guess I could say that I'm in the midst of a dry spell. That wouldn't be accu...

OK Boomer! It's a thing now, a quick retort by members of a younger generation when a Baby Boomer rambles on about the good ol' da...

When I tell people that I make a killer no-sodium-added red chili, they are dubious. To compare, your average canned chili on grocery stores...

I own a  Drive Nitro Euro-Style Tall Aluminum Four Wheel Rollator. It's one of the new breed of assistive devices that allow people like...