Mike Howard

I love Rocky movies.  At least, Rocky movies one through four.  After that I think the well ran dry.  One of the things I liked best about the Rocky movies was the many unusual ways Rocky would train for a boxing match.    Rocky did quirky stuff like chasing chickens and pounding slabs of raw beef.  He lifted buckets filled with rocks, ran through ocean waves and across sandy beaches, up steep flights of stairs in Philadelphia, and through deep snow drifts in Siberia.  He pulled his entourage...

Vanderlei di Lima is just a little guy.  He stands 5’3” and weighs 119 pounds soaking wet.  This means he is about the same size as an average sixth grader.  Despite his small stature, di Lima is special because he has heart.  Miles and miles of heart.    In the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, de Lima was leading the marathon by about 60 yards with less than two miles to go.  The finish line was in sight, and the diminutive Brazilian was primed for the final charge.  All he had to do to win...

Life moves in waves—beautiful, brutal, and breathtaking all at once. It’s a rhythm of highs and lows, stitched together by the quiet in-between. This poem reminds us that every season—whether amazing, awful, or ordinary—is part of the same stunning masterpiece called living.