2013 | Adam Pitluk, Ph.D.

Editor’s Note: Youthful Exuberance
HOW IN THE name of Father Time is it already 2013? Just the other night I was watching Ghostbusters II, which was playing on one of those nosebleed-high cable channels, and there was one scene that completely dated the movie. By association the movie dated[…]

Editor’s Note: American Muscle
I’M GOING THROUGH a phase right now that I don’t see ending anytime soon. Not just the long hair and beard, because I go through this phase annually. My new phase has its roots in the machines of my youth, which I thought I outgrew around the same time I stopped[…]

Editor’s Note: Staying Power
PROBABLY remember the smell of icecold air as it hit his nose first, so bitter that it made his eyes water, then spread painfully to the back of his throat. Then his lungs. At those subzero temperatures, the body works obsessively hard to heat itself. And it’s[…]

Editor’s Note: Good Advice, Part 2
ONE YEAR AGO to the day, I published a column called “Good Advice,” where I conveyed the sage instruction of my local ski-shop owner/ psychiatrist, Rick Holliday. I’d often visit him at Ski Frisco Sports in suburban Dallas and seek his Yoda-like[…]

Editor’s Note: Binding Tie
THE 7:30 A.M. FLIGHT from San Diego to Dallas/ Fort Worth is always packed, and the other day, once comfortably seated and buckled, I noticed a lot of familiar faces. Or maybe they seemed familiar because we were all on the same inbound days earlier.[…]

Editor’s Note: A Perfect Game
EVEN TODAY in this fast-paced, multitasking , optimize-production, if-you’re-not-first-you’relast day and age, it’s nice to see that at least one sport continues to be slow and steady. It’s also nice to know that even today, in our multiplatform , surf-the-Web-with-your-phone[…]

Editor’s Note: In Just
SO BEGINS MY favorite E. E. Cummings poem. It was originally published 93 years ago next month in The Dial, the pre-eminent literary magazine of the Transcendentalist movement . I read this poem every spring. It’s a habit I formed after I first read it in Mrs. Morgan’s English class at Orange High School in Cleveland in 1992. […]

Editor’s Note: Owl Eyes
THERE’S A HOUSE on Chautauqua Lake in the southwestern corner of New York state that is of very modest presentation. The lake, on the other hand, is quite striking. Gentle ripples on deep blue water set the pastoral scene of a rural New York haven, a country backdrop that is decidedly American. For there, set among the 500-year-old maple and oak and willow trees, and in and around the generations of houses, is a true bastion[…]

Editor’s Note: I DON’T BELIEVE THIS
NEW YORKERS ARE territorial. After they’ve chosen their favorite spots, they don’t just settle in; they outright entrench. Unlike a lot of neighborhoods around the world where people build their residences first and then wait for the infrastructure to grow around them, in New York City, people move to various neighborhoods in various boroughs because of what’s already there. Once there,[…]

Editor’s Note: The Cowboy in Me
AH, THE SOUTH. Just the thought of it wrassles up images of my boyhood in Cleveland, Mississippi. I can close my eyes and fondly recall days spent running around the groves of magnolia trees, barefooted and overalled; a straw hat on my head; a piece of hay in my mouth. We’d play carefree during the hot summer days — that is, when we weren’t tending the crops. And at night, we danced. […]

Editor’s Note: Chicago’s Bravest
A UNIQUE EMAIL came in the other day. It was unique to me, anyway. I suppose that if you’ve been in this business long enough, you begin to operate under the assumption that no news is good news. That’s not to say we don’t love letters here at American Way. We do, so much so that every issue of AW contains our “Air Mail” section (turn to page 12), in which we answer and publish a[…]

Editor’s Note: Adams Country
MORNING BROKE EARLY and ever so peacefully on the first day of July. The sky was a robin’s-egg blue, and a gentle breeze rustled the old oak and maple trees of McPherson’s Woods, which flanked the meandering stream at Willoughby Run. Summer months in this part of rural Pennsylvania are often stifling hot and chokingly muggy, but not on that morning. The forthcoming day, however, would end[…]

Editor’s Note: Work of Art
IT’S A RAINY AFTERNOON in downtown Dallas. Everything is moving slower than usual. We don’t get too much rain down here, but when we do, it comes down hard and fast. And it wouldn’t bother me so much except that over at DFW International Airport, it’s delaying my flight. No matter: American’s pilots put safety above all else. Plus, my weather delay allows me more time to stare at my ride as she sits there, pretty in the rain,[…]

Editor’s Note: Time is of the Essence
SUMMER’S ALMOST OVER, and if you’re like me, you’re cramming as many activities into your schedule as physically possible. School’s about to start, the kids need to be put back on a schedule, the car needs washing, I should have bought more cereal, the cat’s getting fat … etc. So many things going through your mind. You’ll get everything done — you always do. But there’s one thing you haven’t[…]

Editor’s Note: Love is All Around Me
MY WAITER’S NAME was Craig, and he approached me with one part dutiful inquiry and one part curiosity. I was alone, but that wasn’t what made him curious. Before he greeted me, Craig observed my demeanor and mannerisms and could tell that this would be the first meal I’d eaten all day . He was an experienced waiter. Of that I[…]

Editor’s Note: County Cork Ballyhoo
WE WERE AN unsightly crew, to be sure. In the wee hours of the morning, eight of us sat around a table in the parlor of Ballymaloe House in County Cork, Ireland. For days, we’d explored the grounds, spoken to the locals and dined on some of the best food to be found anywhere on the Emerald Isle. But on this night, our last before heading back to our real lives[…]

Editor’s Note: Double Vision
RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD from my childhood home is the town of Twinsburg, Ohio. When I was growing up, it was a sleepy town, quaint and quiet, lush and pretty. History buffs traveling through neighboring Cleveland routinely paid a visit to Twinsburg because of its unique past. It was settled in 1817 by 16-year-old Ethan Alling, an employee of the Connecticut Land Co. who was dispatched to survey[…]

Editor’s Note: The Legend Lives On
LEGEND HAS IT that long ago, when the northern woods of Wisconsin was beaver-trapper and fur-trader country, a supernatural history of sorts began to take shape. Ghost stories, passed down for generations, point to strange occurrences and inexplicable happenings deep in the woods and on the banks of the lakes and rivers. Old-timers recall tales told by their granddaddies[…]

Editor’s Note: Wise Bird
A GROUP LIKE THIS doesn’t come together very often. These guys are from all over the country and have different gigs and are in different states and different stages of life. Sure, they’re bonded by one defining element: Their checks come from the same processing center. But members of this group would come together — if given the ways and means — on their own because of the guest[…]

Editor’s Note: The Best Offense is Deference
HERE’S A LITTLE stroll down memory lane for Miami Dolphins fans (and a stroll up Prozac Parkway for Dallas Cowboys fans), and it starts with a date: Nov. 25, 1993. Forever cemented in professional-football folklore as one of the most bizarre games in the history of the sport, the event from 20 years ago is still a crick in the craw of Cowboys Nation, and it still[…]

Cover Story: Michael J. Fox, The Power of Love
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE. Please take advantage of all the cutting-edge technology you desire. Observe our flat-screen televisions that stream live programming and that have works of art as screen savers. Use our handheld portable telephones that display the personal information of whoever calls. Type a message and fax it virtually to someone else’s handheld portable telephone. While you’re driving, tell your car to call your mother and speak directly into the air. Yes, our cars are smart, our phones are smart[…]

Editor’s Note: Spreading the News
IT’S BEAUTIFUL UP HERE. Beautiful and peaceful. In all my life, I’ve come to find that these moments are when I’m at my happiest. When it’s one of those cloudless days; when the entire country has a sky that’s unblemished and the jet stream is smooth. Where blue is the color and X is the number, since how many hours to go before you land just doesn’t matter. And it all starts with one[…]