Was sent this great article about Pittsburgh Penguin Bryan Rust who stutters. After seemingly every home game — with occasional exceptions because of injuries — Rust will hold meetings with children who deal with a stutter (and a parent) in a hallway adjacent to the Penguins’ dressing room. In addition to supplying tickets to the game, Rust poses for photos, autographs merchandise and above all else, just talks to the kids about their common trait. “Obviously, something that’s close to my heart,” Rust said Jan. 25 at the team’s facility in Cranberry. “Something that’s really important to me a ..read more

Way back when in 2010, I took an allergy test. I was curious. I took the kind where you look at a list of foods, pick the ones that you usually eat more of, and then have little pricks on your back. Based on the size of the reaction, you can figure out what you’re most allergic to. What I remember the most is being allergic to … lots of things. Lots. Not only dander and pollen and trees, but also to soy. That showed the largest reaction. I tell people this, and they ask me, well, what happens when you have soy? I have no idea. I’ve been eating soy my entire life (indirectly, mostly – as we all ..read more

I’ve been a little more active on X (Twitter) lately. And I wanted to welcome those of you who are following me there. I’m there mainly to broadcast whenever I have an update on this blog. For me I tend to have longer things to say about stuttering, so I’ve found the blog is the best format. Although I’ve said what the purpose of this blog is, I thought I’d reiterate a few things for people who are new. I’ve had this going for several years, so there are tens of thousands of words written about what I’ve gone through with regards to stuttering. I’ve talked about my childhood, teenage year ..read more

I’m just going to try to get everybody caught up on what’s been happening in the past few years one post at a time. The time since the last post is only about two weeks, so I’d say I’m doing pretty good. Anyway, I went on a business trip a few months ago, and one of the things that I love is flying. Not necessarily the way air travel is now, but the whole experience of getting onto an airplane and flying and having that sense of wonder. I’ve had this since I was a kid. We live in Lancaster, PA, and there’s a small airport here. It’s got commercial service. It’s a single prop plane that used to ..read more

I’m not done with this site yet. Yes, it’s been 15 months, but I’m going to have news to share in the coming weeks. Basically along the lines of having made a long list of post ideas, then written those posts, then setting them to automatically post every week for a year. How about that! And of course it’ll cover what’s been happening the past year-plus including multiple job changes and landing a really sweet job. So, please do stay tuned. Send me a note, write me an e-mail, say hello. Please let me know that I’m not the only one reading what I’m writing ..read more

Another installment in the Acceptance series. What I said during my talk: I have accepted that there are tools and techniques to use when I feel like I’m having a bad day. That there are things that I can control. I take a deep breath before speaking. I speak more slowly. I prepare myself and rehearse what I need to say. I’ve accepted this because these are things that work for me, and I’ve seen people who are fluent do similar things before talking. The thing about stuttering and how I feel about stuttering is that it’s … complicated. On the one hand I want people to accept me for the wa ..read more

Clearly I need to share more. I mean, I started a new job back in October and still haven’t written about it. I was at the food company for three plus years, but realized it was time to move on. I didn’t feel great about where the company was going, projects being cancelled or postponed, and overall capital being reduced. As we all have seen, the market is really good for finding a new job. I wasn’t looking too hard, but when a former colleague reached out to me, I ended up pursuing it. So now I’m at a smaller engineering firm again. I started at a smaller engineering company when I was just o ..read more

Next installment on Acceptance – here’s what I talked about with regards to reactions. I have accepted that some people will not react to my stuttering in a positive way. This is because I know some people have their own problems. I can’t control that. When you cut someone else down, you’re saying more about yourself than you are to them. I have accepted myself, and if they cannot accept me, that’s not my problem. Through tv and film, those of us who stutter have been made out to be the laughingstock. We struggle to say words, we wave our arms frantically, we make face ..read more

Happy New Year, everybody. Hope your holidays were fun. And now look at me, still trying to make good on finishing out this series. Still talking about Acceptance. Here’s the next installment. This is what I talked about with regards to communicating. I have accepted that I can still communicate when I am not fluent. When I sit in a meeting and raise my hand to speak, to bring up a point, people listen, and they listen no matter how long it takes the idea to come out. They are interested in the message, and not how it sounds. I have accepted this, and it’s because I ha ..read more

Another installment regarding acceptance. Here’s what I said in my talk regarding being perfect … or not. I have accepted that I am not perfect. I will never be perfect. Not in how I speak, how I sound, how I do my job, as a husband, father, son and brother. I accept this because I have seen what I can accomplish without being perfect. And how much stress and energy I would need to be perfect. I know that nobody is perfect, and I would expect that grace from others.  Let’s look at where this comes from, this idea of having to be perfect. At our core, when we are someone who stutters ..read more