Search online for “are more teens today suffering emotional problems,” and a boatload of websites pop to your command. Explore a few of these sites, and you’ll find psychologists and counselors of all kinds writing about the mental and emotional stresses faced by 21st century teens; 32% of these young people, for example, have an anxiety disorder, and 1 in 5 experience depression.  

When it comes to reading, I can tend to be “the bigger, the better” type reader. I search for thick novels, dive headfirst into fantasy worlds, and am never dissuaded by the word trilogy (or better yet, series).

The adage “There are no atheists in foxholes” catches our attention, but is too broad and imprecise for universal application.

My oldest son runs ultra-marathons from time to time, whereas for me, an ultra-marathon is staying awake from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. with just one nap. At any rate, this Christmas he gifted me with a copy of Jesse Itzler’s “Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet” (Center Street, 2016, 288 pages). 

In Brad Thor’s thriller “Shadow of Doubt” (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2024, 368 pages), the Russians are possibly threatening a nuclear reaction to the war in the Ukraine, a scandal involving spies and treason is about to engulf France and a Russian who has defected to Norway with a massive portfolio of secrets finds himself in danger of exposure and assassination. 

Early in the 1970s, while living and working in Spain, Chen Maoping read a story in “National Geographic” about the Sahara Desert, and it captured her imagination. She became determined to live there.

“In time, maybe the land will decide.”

Scott T. Starbuck is an award-winning poet, career fisherman, climate activist and longtime resident of the Pacific Northwest. His most recent book, “Bridge at the End of the World (New and Selected Poems)” is a culmination of his major published poetic output. 

There’s no fool like an old fool.

Allow me to serve as a prototype of that adage. I’m old, three years past the Good Book’s allotted age of three score and ten, and now I have once more donned my jester’s motley and bells by making resolutions for the New Year.

When you’re a child, this time of year is full of magic and wonder. As you get older, the holidays can become more nostalgic than enchanting, with more sentiment than thrill. Finding that old spark isn’t impossible, but it’ll take more effort to revive it and perseverance to maintain it.

It’s spring of 1941 and Britain stands alone against Hitler’s Germany. The British aircraft dropping their bombs on German military and manufacturing bases, and cities, were having an effect on that nation’s morale and production, but every downed British aircraft meant fewer experienced airmen.