-
1, 2, 3, 4, 5…
Last Saturday Carlos Hernandez of Wake Forest returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown against the Virginia Cavaliers with 1:53 left in the first half. Previously UVA held a tenuous 6-0 lead, but now the scoreboard read 6-6 as Wake’s kicker Connor Calvert lined up for the PAT. As the kick sailed through the…
-
The Last Best Place
The plane tilted a wing toward the sparsely arranged mountain town as we made our final decent. The modest street grid of downtown jutted out into an errant sprawl of greenery and beige slate outcroppings. Cresting wreaths of verdant mountain ranges closely flanked three sides of the town. As we banked through the craggy, ponderosa…
-
A 1989 At-Bat that Changed Everything
From an early age, sports were the keystone by which all other facets of my personality formed around. My father, older brother and uncles huddled around the television at Thanksgiving while announcers spoke of esoteric concepts like the run-and-shoot offense and 46 defense. These terms echoed inside my 9-year-old skull as foreign tongues would, inscrutable…
-
Andor – A (Redemptive) Star Wars Story
My parents went away on a proper vacation (read: without kids) in the summer of 1988 and my grandparents came to stay with me for two weeks. I was 6 years old and these new authority figures injected a new dynamic into my normally regimented routine. Much like the raptors in Jurassic Park, I took…
-
Blue to Red
Saturday, September 15th, 2007 – I departed my ground floor studio apartment on Dakin and Freemont minutes after the sun rose. A red hoodie, baggie dark blue jeans and a kelly green iPod nano set to shuffle in my pocket. On Sheffield Avenue the metallic groan of a rapidly approaching elevated train grew behind me.…
-
Failing Up
It’s Easter morning and the neighborhood children are standing in a large, chalk drawn circle in the middle of my old cul-de-sac. The words “EGG HUNTERS IN HERE” are boldly arranged around its circumference by an artistic parent. Empty baskets spun by their handles occupy their tiny hands while their feet are bound inside the…
-
Comic Relief
When I was a young boy, the Sunday comics section held a special place in my imagination. My parents would always set it neatly at my place at the breakfast table and while they read about world affairs, politics and other boring b&w adult things I read and re-read the “daily intelligentsia” as my Pepere…
-
Wait, is there crying in Hockey?
Last night was my weekly Artist’s Date. I brewed some chamomile tea, lit a collection of dollar store candles, broke out a neglected paint-by-numbers canvas from deep within the closet and asked Alexa to play my favorite contemplative music. For two hours, with only my thoughts to narrate, I intently poked my brush right up…
-
Taming the Blurts
Morning Pages apply a force of nature on me. They are a funnel cloud on my consciousness. My thoughts are flung skyward in a column of air, spraying in all directions until all I’m left with are the fragments of authenticity. After this 45-minute daily waterfall scribble, my electric block-letter frenzy is finally over and…
-
The Artist’s Way
Yesterday marked the beginning of a new chapter – a fresh page to explore. Quite literally. I’ll explain in a moment. It’s been 10 days since I decided to move on from Hawk City Pizza. There was a transitional period where I walked around in a fog and collected heartfelt texts from friends. They were…
-
The Sweet Silver Song of a Lark
It’s been almost 2 months since my last post and there is new information to share. * I’ve spent the past 6 months having conversations with family, friends, acquaintances and perfect strangers about deep dish pizza. I took a 10-hour online SERVSAFE manager course and passed the in-person test at PVCC. I commissioned a logo…
-
The Hawk Taking Flight
Within the last two weeks, I’ve formed Hawk City Pizza LLC and received my business license with the County of Albemarle. I’ve also established a bank account and submitted a pending application with the Chef’s Warehouse wholesaler. I had a wonderful meeting with Ellen Martin with CVSBDC to discuss QuickBooks basics, meals tax, state tax…
-
Candid Convictions
Shout out to Ariel Vaughan with Central Virginia Small Business Development Center and Tom Kelly with Crustworthy Pizza. They have both provided me with assistance in the past week which has reset my assumptions, guided my focus and bolstered my confidence. The process of starting a company involves painstaking detail, follow through, foresight and flexibility.…
-
New Year, New Resolve
It’s been a month since my last update but the wheels have remained in motion at HawkCityHQ. I want to thank all of you that have reached out with your kind words of support and encouragement. They are invaluable gifts that I handle with most grateful hands. This process has been exciting, challenging, humbling and…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
