I've been using Gallery for a while here, but now there's a gallery for all the the Brendoman.com authors here.

Kansas City Star | 12/28/2004 | Walker leads O'Hara charge by Cole Young

Nice work, Cole!

Sara gave me America: the Book for Christmas and it's been my favorite gift so far (although this hat was very fun, too). The Daily show is in reruns for two weeks, so this book really hits the spot. My dad asked me, "Is this all satire, or is there anything worthwhile in there?" I had to reply, "I don't like the way you frame that question." This book is fairly crass in places. It makes fun of our current government, our founding fathers, even the constitution, but it does it in a way that subtly points out where we've gone wrong. Writing this in the form of a textbook was brilliant. They even manage to make fun of textbooks quite a bit. Click on the picture to the right and you can search the text of the entire book and even browse through it's pages.

Peace on earth, good will to men.

Click here to read some predictions for 2005 in the world of tech. The author's track record isn't too bad. Check out last year's predictions. Interesting stuff. Do you have any predictions for 2005?

For those of you who like buying things from Amazon, but have always wished that each purchase would give me money, I give you my Amazon search page.

A couple of friends and fellow Truman alumni have a contest running on their LiveJournal: wardx2: Make us laugh. Send in your entries and win fabulous prizes. Keep in mind that they have a strange sense of humor.

I got a 512 MB thumb drive for Christmas from my parents. I'm looking for some cool things to do with it. Any ideas?

Sara and I watched 8 Mile this weekend. It was a pretty decent flick. I think that in the future, all international disputes should be settled with rap battles like in 8 mile. I wish someone would compose some battle raps involving foreign policy and post them in the comments.

As many of you know, the high school paper in our small town of Adrian has been cancelled indefinitely. As a former high school newspaper editor, former Media Law student and journalism grad, I feel that I have a vested interest in this issue, as well as in the lives of these student writers. To these students, I would like to say this:

In high school, I wrote an article about a friend who was killed in an auto accident. I was not willing to compromise my integrity, so I wrote truthfully: the accident was caused by this young man's alcohol consumption. To make a long story even longer, the article was published by a national magazine and I finally saw my name in print. What I didn't know was that several issues of the magazine were sent to my school and distributed. My first byline brought great pride, and also a great amount of personal turmoil. For a few days, I was ostracized by many. Now, for the point of the story:

My high school English teacher, Mrs. Cackley, pulled me aside and shared some words of encouragement. To paraphrase, she said, "Sara, when you decide to write, two things will happen. One, you will open some people's eyes and provide a public service for them. Two, an even greater number of people will hate either what you wrote, you personally, or possibly both. This is a choice you must make. To write, or not to write. I think you should continue to write, and to write for the first group."

This is my challenge to you: Write. If you are truly a writer, you will never be able to keep inside the feelings you have. Writers are more observant than most; it is in their blood. Unfortunately, these observations are often seen as unwanted criticism of established ideas. Forget the people who say that. You owe it to the public, however small the appreciative portion may be, to share your unique view and style with them.

Click below to read my letter to the editor of the town newspaper

Read more »