Once more—the Mini-Marathon® is Saturday.  This is my personal account of why the Mini® is important to me.  This year will be my fifteenth consecutive. In 1994, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. By the second of nine days in the hospital, I completely had lost use of my legs. Thus walking the 13.1 miles of the Mini® is important to me.

   On what was supposed to be my last day in the hospital, I was dressed and ready to go at 7 a.m. The neuro didn’t arrive until 6 p.m. I…

   This is part of a series of blogs to lead up to my participation in my 15th consecutive Mini. This Saturday's Show will stream "live" shortly after I cross the finish line. Guest panelists will be Gary Welsh and Goerge Wilson. We will pick up where we left off last week with discussion of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

   The prednisone had been weaned down from an equivalent of 850 mg per day by IV, but still gave me an appetite of which "voracious," as a description, is an…

   The therapy with the legs I could understand. After all, my legs didn’t work, although I had begun to gain some control over them. The therapy made sense.

   "Vocational therapy" was—as almost everything else in this hospital hell—in the basement. The wheelchair was parked in front of a desk, behind which sat a physical therapist who explained to me vocational therapy was for my upper body. I asked her why "vocational therapy" was necessary—twice a day, I think the chart indicated…

  Today, April 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., we will stream live from the Isaacs Center of Peace, 8001 Westfield Boulevard. Guest panelists will be Gary Welsh, who has covered the Boston bombings and the investigation thereafter, on "Advance Indiana," and Marilene Isaacs, from whose Center we will do The Show.

   Odd but interesting speculation was discussed yesterday. I heard discussion of limitations planned for future distance races that draw significant numbers of participants and…

   Saturday, April 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., we will stream live from the Isaacs Center of Peace, 8001 Westfield Boulevard. Our guest panelists will be Gary Welsh, who has covered the Boston bombings and the investigation thereafter, on "Advance Indiana," and Marilene Isaacs, from whose Center we will do The Show.

   There are a lot of questions that arise with the bombs that went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, some of which relate to this: If someone is on an…

   In 1994, I completely lost use of my legs and could not walk. The reason turned out to be I had an MS. The Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon(r) became part of the way in which I dealt with the diagnosis and its aftermath. In the lead-up to the May 4, 2013, the Mini-Marathon---my 15th consecutive---I am reprising the series of blogs I posted last year about the onset of MS, the diagnosis, and aftermath.

   One would think that, a diagnosis having been reached, there would be…

  There were positive aspects to all the drugs I had been administered since my admission to the hospital. Given my jolly nature, I chuckled. This was a rousing good time. The neuro wore a long, serious face as he sat down. There probably is a course in medical school: "How to Deliver REALLY BAD News to Patients." Given how many MDs lack traces of personality, the course would about have to be required. If this neuro had enrolled in such a course, he had done so years ago and not received a…

   On May 4, 2013, I shall walk in my fifteenth consecutive 500 Festival MiniMarathon®. This is the part four of a series about MS and my vehemence about the Mini.®

   I want to note that, each year as we gather in our "stalls" near (or not so near) the start line, I glance up at the rooftop lines. Always the 500 Festival has personnel lined up and alert. As an American, in the "land of the free,"  I have mixed emotions about those folks on station. I feel safer than if they were not…

   What does my 1994 diagnosis with MS have to do with "civil discourse"? Any why do these posts seem out of order?

   There are a lot of pressing issues that we face today. Currently we have people who demand some sort of "action" after two idiots set off bombs that killed three and seriously wounded 180 people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in an act many consider one of "terrorism." Yet we also have 90 percent of the American people who want some controls placed on…

   On May 4, 2013, I shall walk in my fifteenth consecutive 500 Festival MiniMarathon®.  This is the second part of a series about MS and my vehemence about the Mini.® I would not "kid" about the MS-squared thing, although I try to be light-hearted about it. Some people become very somber about MS. I understand, as I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1994. I ran these blogs (I walk the Mini) last year in the weeks that led up to the event.

   To pick up from…

   from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today we shall stream "live" from the former estate of the late alleged serial killer Herb Baumeister. Guest panelists will include Detective Cary Mulligan and intuitive researcher Marilene Isaacs. You may call 317.489.9219 with questions.

   I will preface the questions I have about the case to say "serial killers," or however one wants to label that category of murderers of more than one person in separate incidents with similar aspects as to victims and/or…

 On May 4, 2013, I shall walk in my fifteenth consecutive 500 Festival MiniMarathon®. After I completed my first Mini in 1999, I swore to myself I never would miss a Mini—unless I was dead or the MS finally had beaten me.   

   MS? Why the vehemence about the Mini? You need to know the story.

   In January, 1994, I began to experience numbness below my left knee cap. My left foot was nearly completely numb. Above that and to just below the knee, my leg tingled. I thought there…

   As previously stated, this week's Show will "live" stream from the former Baumeister estate. Guest panelists will include Detective Cary Mullligan, who left the investigation from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, and Marilene Isaacs, a researcher and intuitive who has visited the estate. I highly would recommend Dan Hall's film, "The Haunting of Fox Hollow Farm," which addresses the case. Dan might also appear on Saturday's Show.

   The following is in anticipation of the…

   On Saturday, April 20, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., we shall stream "live" from what once was the farm/estate of Herbert R. Baumeister. In the early 1990s, after investigators suspected a link between the disappearances of young men in Indianapolis and Baumeister, police eventually were able, with Baumeister's by then estranged wife, to search the property. Eventually the search uncovered the remains of 11 people who had been strangled. While police searched, Baumeister traveled to Canada and…

   In the early 1990s, people disappeared in Indianapolis. The people who disappeared had several similar aspects to their lives. They were male. They were relatively young. They were gay or believed to be gay. People with the same characteristics had disappeared on or near I-70 between Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. 

   Eventually, police were led to believe that the founder of the Indianapolis store chain Sav-A-Lot, Herbert Baumeister, was involved in the disappearances.…

   Spring was fresh and everything was alive.

   The ants had wakened from their months of slumber. Immediately they began to work. They scurried about. They grabbed pieces of food. Some pieces they ate. The rest were carried down the hole at the top of their hill, to the chambers beneath the ground.

   A few yards away, a grasshopper flitted about. He made merry with a fiddle. He entertained his friends. He and his companions seemed amused by the labors of the ants.

  …

   I have written this week about writing. Then Lynn Swayze Wilson blogs yesterday about the subject ad sort of caught me flat-footed, or flat-handed, or something. What she wrote is really good. I will not try to one-up her, because I do not believe it would be possible. Go to the "blogs" on the Civil Discourse Now website and read her blog "On Being a Writer." It is very well done.

   We will stream "live" today from the Indiana Writers' Center, 812 East 67th Street, from 11 am to 1…

   The Indiana Writers Center is located at 812 East 67th Street in Broad Ripple. The building is located a short distance behind the Art Center. The lane to reach it is between the apartments on the corner of 67th and College and the Art Center. Guest panelist Barbara Shoup is the author of seven novels, including "Night Watch," "Wish You Were Here," "Stranded in Harmony," "Faithful Women," "Vermeer's Daughter," "Everything You Want," and "An American Tune. She co-authored "Novel Ideas:…

   Saturday's Show will stream live from the Indiana Writers Center, 812 East 67th Street, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Guest panelists will include Barbara Shoup of the Writers Center, who has published seven novels and has taught creative writing, and Lynn Swayze Wilson, who is involved in the process of getting a novel published.

   My first experience with publishing had a few "ups." What now is called a "launch party," but we called a "signing party," went well. I hired a local…

   I take a break from this week's series about how the internet has affected writing and publishing to comment on Senate Bill 621, a legislative effort that largely would remove "checks and balances"---important concepts to the Framers of the United States Constitution as well as every civics textbook, American history lesson, college intro to poly sci courses, etc.---from the operations of the Mayor of the City of Indianapolis.

   Why would Republican Mayor Greg Ballard, who seems…