From the desk of Mr. Walters

A great man has died today. Gygax, 'Dungeons and Dragons' Co-Creator, Dies http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87901434 Listen Now [3 min 55 sec] With co-creator Dave Arneson, E. Gary Gygax developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. Gygax died Monday at age 69. AP/Family photo All Things Considered , March 4, 2008 · Imagine a mournful horn echoing across thousands of fantasy worlds: E. Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, died Wednesday morning. He was 69. Gary Gygax was an icon to fans of the game, many of whom would show up at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. What began as a fantasy game published in book form in the early 1970s, eventually morphed and tumbled onto kitchen tables and dorm room floors. Players assumed the character of elves and dwarves, magicians and swordsmen, and confronted the primal conflict between good and evil. "D&D," as fans call it, is the...

"I’m Hub McCann. I’ve fought in two world wars, and countless smaller ones on three continents. I’ve led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I’ve seen the headwaters of the Nile and tribes of natives no white men had ever seen before. I’ve won and lost a dozen fortunes, killed many men, and loved only one woman with a passion a flea like you could never begin to understand. That’s who I am.”  (Hub McCann, Second Hand Lions) Uncle Hub, from the film Second Hand Lions , is everything that makes men say, "that's awesome!  That's a man!"  Don't get me wrong, there's a lot about this character tat reflects a sense of being lost and lacking purpose that I don't aspire to, but he does know who he is.  If someone were to ask me the question, "Who are you?", I am often unsure of how I would respond.  I've been thinking about this more and more being a new father, knowing that I too must give...