Traditions That Shape Graduation Ceremonies

by Kevin Burton    Wanted to give a shoutout to all the 2023 high school and college graduates, but without reflecting, depressingly, on how long it has been since I became a new grad myself.    So I decided to talk tradition, rituals, why we do what we do at graduation ceremonies.    A lot …

Take Care Of Mom As She Took Care of You

by Kevin Burton    From the cross, the most difficult circumstance imaginable, Jesus took care of His earthly mother.    He knew He was ending his earthly walk and He was telling the disciple John to meet her needs.    “So when Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said …

Emergency Lifted, But Covid Still A Threat

by Kevin Burton      The Covid 19 virus will not disappear tomorrow, though many measures meant to track and prevent it, will.    All the trends with the virus are headed the right direction and have been for some time. Fewer cases, fewer deaths. There is a definition for “emergency.” Covid no longer meets it. …

In Today’s America You Have To Pay Attention

by Kevin Burton    Gonna make myself a sign, and I’ll tell you why.    First, by way of explanation, a bit from my coaching days.    When I began coaching the Wichita Sonics beep baseball team, I adopted the three rules that the late John Madden, the old Oakland Raiders coach, had for his …

OKC Bombing “Surreal” 28 Years Later

by Kevin Burton    A bomb blast that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City 28 years ago today, reverberates still.    My wife Jeannette worked at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building for the department of Housing and Urban Development for 5½ years from 1983 to 1989.  Six years after she relocated to Wichita, that …

Any Day, Anytime, Anyplace

by Kevin Burton    You pays your money, you takes your chances.    If we’re being honest, is that not a suitable tagline for the post-national United States?    Isn’t that phrase a lot more indicative of the American experience than say “land of the free, home of the brave?”    Now that phrase is …

Why Do We Love March Madness So Much?

by Kevin Burton   In the bad old days, being without a girlfriend, or a date, or even a prayer, on Valentine’s Day was a sharp searing pain to the psyche.    Now by comparison, being without a basketball team for the big dance, or even the little dance, is a dull ache. March Madness is …

Hey Baseball, Get Off My Lawn!

by Kevin Burton    The seasons are changing, calendar and sports calendar; the time is changing (spring forward Saturday night, kids), too much is changing.    Any number of poets have rhapsodized about the beginning of spring and all it symbolizes. OK, I’m good with that. But as a sports guy in the man cave, …

Your Corny Marching Orders, March Forth!

by Kevin Burton    You may call it trite, or corny or worse, but people will be focused on it in three days’ time.     Some people anyway.    There will be people using the fourth day in March as motivation to begin work on that special project, the great American novel, or that great …

Russian Reporter Jailed For Telling The Truth

   Maria Ponomarenko has my respect, my admiration and full attention.     Last March the Russian Air Force bombed a Ukrainian theatre in the town of Mariupol, with 1,200 civilians inside. The Russian defense ministry denied the attack. Ponomarenko, a 44-year-old Russian journalist, told the truth about it in a social media post.  This is …