AI Intersections Public Policy & Mobility

06/29/2026

More than 700 people died in one week.

Not from a hurricane. Not from a tornado. Not from a war. In July 1995, they died during a heat wave in Chicago, one of America’s great cities, in neighborhoods full of history, families, churches, corner stores, public housing towers, seniors, workers, and people simply trying to survive.

Temperatures reached 106 degrees. The heat index climbed near 125. Nights offered almost no relief. Power failed. Ambulances were overwhelmed. The Cook County morgue ran out of space, and refrigerated trucks were brought in to hold the dead.

More than 700 people died in one week.

06/10/2026

Congratulations to Lauren Jumps on reaching **1,000,000 followers on Facebook!** 🎉

As many of you know, I share Lauren’s videos often across some of my platforms. Not because I am suddenly a jump rope expert — I am definitely not — but because her message is bigger than jump roping.

It is about movement.
It is about staying active.
It is about doing what you can, whether that is one minute or one hour.
It is about finding joy in motion.

Lauren picked up a jump rope during Covid after being furloughed, and instead of letting that moment define her in a negative way, she turned it into something positive, creative, and inspiring.

Since then, she has encouraged people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and abilities to try skipping — or as we say here in the U.S., jump roping. She has built a community not just online, but in local communities and now around the world. She even recently traveled from the UK to Australia to promote and encourage jump roping.

Will I ever jump rope?

One day, yes.

But even before that day comes, I appreciate the bigger message she brings: stay active, keep moving, have fun, and do not be afraid to start where you are.

I have followed Lauren for years now, and I have watched her grow, adjust, work hard, stay humble, and still carry herself with confidence. That balance is rare.

I also receive messages almost every day from people thanking me for sharing her videos. Some say her videos simply bring positive vibes to their day. Others say they started following her, started jump roping, or even started using her app.

That says something.

With millions of followers across Instagram, TikTok, and now Facebook, Lauren is reaching different generations, different communities, and different people who may simply need a little encouragement to move.

I am truly proud of **Lauren Jumps**.

She has shown grit, determination, sincerity, creativity, and the kind of positive energy that reminds people not to let the world get them down.

Congratulations, Lauren.
One million on Facebook is not just a number.

It is a reflection of the impact you are making. 💙

05/24/2026

I did not plan to cry during the Marine Corps Marathon.

Then I ran past Arlington National Cemetery.

I did not just tear up. I wept.

My legs hurt. My body wanted to stop. Then another thought hit me:

*They died. You are alive. Keep moving.*

That moment stayed with me.

My new Substack piece, “I Ran Past Arlington and Started Crying. That Is How Memorial Day Found Me,” is about more than one marathon.

It is about Gettysburg slowing me down.

It is about Saratoga Battlefield and the death attached to the birth of this country.

It is about military funerals, rifle volleys, “Amazing Grace” on bagpipes, and grief arriving before words.

It is about taking my Godchildren to Glenwood Cemetery in Homer, New York, with dollar-store flags and trying to teach them something I was still learning myself.

Mostly, it is about one question:

Do we still know how to remember?

Memorial Day is not just a long weekend, a cookout, or the unofficial start of summer.

Those things are not wrong. Life continuing is part of the point.

However, somewhere between the grill, the traffic, and the **MEMORIAL DAY BLOWOUT SALE** banners, I hope we leave room for the names.

The graves.

The folded flags.

The families.

The people who never came home.

Memorial Day is not just a long weekend. It is a question about memory, sacrifice, and whether we still know how to pause.

05/01/2026

I don’t want to keep writing about Iran, war, and money.

But here we are.

I wrote about Iran in July 2025.
I wrote about it again in February 2026.
Now I have an April 2026 piece — and yes, there’s already a May draft forming around the question I can’t shake:

Who benefits when the world starts burning?

This new piece is raw. It’s about anger, prayer, history, sleeplessness, military families, civilians caught in the middle, and why I keep writing when the world feels like a record stuck on repeat.

I’m not a fortune teller. I’m just tired of hitting snooze.

And if one person pauses before cheering another war, asks a better question, or follows the money a little deeper, then maybe the writing was worth it.

I am not a fortune teller.

04/28/2026

04/25/2026

Story about the start of and a teen trying to .

My latest Substack is part teenage romance, part phone-bill trauma, part early-tech memoir — with prank calls, a secret bat phone, Ooma, Roku, and one very awkward fake radio contest.

What was your most unforgettable phone story?

How money, romance, phone-company borders, prank calls, and early tech turned one kid’s life into a 50-year communication experiment.