Mental Health Matters by Bert Rock Depression is a sinkhole, a toothache in my heart, it is an escalator that only goes down. It does not matter how well life is going, or how many wonderful and loving friends you have. It does not care, it will make you feel…

by Bert Rock Once again history rolls out the red road of war. A tyrant sends forth his tanks and his guns and the lives of his people to sate his bloody thirst. Putin is an evil coward. He poisons his own people when they vie for truth, he infects…

Followers Are Nice, Readers Are Better By Bert Rock Medium is not Twitter. Or at least I thought it wasn’t supposed to be. I see the whole push to get followers and I get it, we want to make money. Who doesn’t? But for me, I’d rather you read my…

by Bert Rock Pike’s Peak stands like a mountain king crowned with snow. At its feet, lies Colorado Springs, the prostrate subject, cowering servant or perhaps some vanquished foe. I have family there, and I love them, but to me it’s a graveyard of haunted memory. Mountains have a magic…

by Bert Rock In a small apartment, on a dusty bookshelf, there is a framed black and white photograph from 1971. In it, a young man holds his first child, his newborn son. Eyes closed, their noses press together as they speak to each other in the first language of…

by Bert Rock In the garage of my sixth childhood home, there was the green tackle box Grandpa Johnny gave me before he died. …

by Bert Rock Late one night, the hour and the moon are small as a motley crowd fills a tiny third-floor apartment, huddled around a bed and its sole occupant. A man, his beard equal parts red and gray lies in it asleep, and unstirred by the presence of the…

by Bert Rock 2020 In years to come those four digits will become a slur, a curse, an excuse, an utterance of camaraderie or a begrudged toast. It will be a call back to a time like no other. 2020 was a year of madness the world over. …

by Bert Rock “There’s nothing wrong with a little agitation for what’s right or what’s fair.” John Lewis I dedicate this post to the distinguished Congressman John Lewis, may he rest in peace. ● In 1967, the late U.S. Representative, John Lewis had his skull fractured because he was marching…