Retrofitting Your Stale Website Using AI – Blog Edition

In the fast-paced world of digital content, your website is more than just a portfolio; it’s your online storefront representing your business.  Is it fresh?  Is it even indexing on Google?  Even if your home page and top-level pages are updated regularly your whole store is public and I’m sorry to say it’s got bugs…

The Well That Grew Giants: A Prairie Folk Tale

The Giant Well August 1863 The scorching hot Kansas wind twisted around Isaiah Milton’s face. His mother had named him after the haunting sound the wind made when it came through the front door of his childhood home: Isaiah.  It lured him back twenty years later, and he stumbled through the Kansas plains searching for…

A Little Too Dark – The Spirit Week Rampage

The Spirit Week Rampage May 2005 In the dimly lit robotics lab at Middletown Middle School, their robotics team was stressed. The four students huddled around their poodle-sized creation, WENDI. Her cold, metallic body remained unresponsive despite their efforts. Failure was not an option with the State Robotics Olympics less than twenty-four hours away. Adding…

Driving with Whales and Zeppelins

Driving with Whales and Zeppelins Boring.  That was how eight-year-old Louis Butler describes visiting Grandpa Charlie’s cottage on the isle of Jersey. The man did not have Nintendo or Cable TV. His telly was an old piece of furniture with plants and books atop it. Visits always consisted of sitting around drinking tea in the…

Bus J. – The Lost Road

Bus J March 12, 2022 The ride home on Bus J is always an adventure. It shuttles the rowdiest kids on the longest ride — a 45-minute trek down Old Bridge Road, through one of the state’s densest forests. It always looked like it was on the verge of nighttime, even on the sunniest of…

The Facepainter

Experience an extraordinary day at Middletown Middle School when second-grader Rose Batty becomes ‘Principal for the Day.’ Follow Rose’s exploits as she mandates the hiring of a retired face painter and accidentally transforms the school event into a fantastical zoo filled with superheroes, animals, and delightful chaos. Read on to discover how this day unfolds in this captivating and humor-filled narrative.

The Unktomi of Middletown: A Thanksgiving Tale of Mystery and Adventure

The Unktomi of Middletown November 25, 1987 A thick soupy fog hangs over Middletown Lake, obscuring the shoreline. From the shadows, a lone shifting figure emerges, changing from a towering lanky form to a wide and spindly one. Suddenly, it crouches down to pull a huge clump of webbing from thorny bushes with long bristled…

Murderous Mascots – Mysteries of Middletown Middle

Murderous Mascots September 2020 “Coloring? Seriously?” Jeremy, the new fifth-grader, complained as he took out his crayons, eyeing the strange circular symbol carved into the corner of his desk. “We stopped coloring in second grade at my old school.” “Welcome to Middletown Middle,” Jeremy’s tablemate, Ari, responded with a knowing look. “Don’t try to compare…