by Stacey Denny | Jan 16, 2026 | Plain Speech Messages
The interesting thing about remaining in your hometown is the difficulty in transcending your childhood reputation. When I was in Mr. Scudder’s ninth-grade government class, I mispronounced the word seniority, pronouncing it as two words senior and ority. That was...
by Stacey Denny | Jan 1, 2026 | Plain Speech Messages
When I was growing up, meals were a pit stop I hurried through to get on with the race. I remember my mother asking me to sit down at the table instead of standing at the countertop to eat. Now that I’m older, I enjoy unhurried meals and plan them out days in advance,...
by Stacey Denny | Jan 1, 2026 | Plain Speech Messages
The longer I live, the more I dream of those who’ve passed away but still populate my sleeping hours. I was talking about this with someone not long ago and they asked if it made me sad, to dream about dead people, and I said, “Just the opposite. It’s like having them...
by Stacey Denny | Dec 8, 2025 | Plain Speech Messages
This is our first Sunday back since Thanksgiving, which this year was a modest affair at the Gulley home. This was the year many in our family dined with their in-laws, so our usual crowd of twenty-five was down to nine. For the first time in 30 years, there wasn’t an...
by Stacey Denny | Dec 8, 2025 | Plain Speech Messages
I bumped into a man this past week whom I’ve known since we were in the first grade. It’s funny, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re still back in first grade and that nothing has changed. We’re still six years old in Mrs. Mann’s class. Of course, that isn’t...
