Our local writers give you insight of their original opinions on the latest Waynedale (Fort Wayne), Indiana news and entertainment topics. Movie, restaurant, show and event reviews are in this section.
PURGATORY ROAD
By Samuel Parker Revell
PB, 283 pages
Jack and Laura are a married couple who ventured to Las Vega in an attempt to rekindle a dying marriage. Colten is a gas station clerk. Red is a sheriff. Molly is a runaway teen looking for adventure . . .
As you may have heard, the stock market has been on a wild ride lately. What’s behind this volatility? And, as an investor, how concerned should you be?
Let’s look at the first question first. What caused the steep drop in stock prices we experienced . . .
Not long ago, I watched Heathers, the 1989 dark comedy about a teen girl (Winona Ryder) whose deranged boyfriend (Christian Slater) keeps killing their classmates and making it look like suicide. Whereas Heathers, now a cult classic, is bitingly funny . . .
Some movies I watch and forget. Others make me come home and hit Google. For example, the latest Marvel film, Black Panther, had me looking into Afrofuturism, the fusion of sci-fi, fantasy, speculative fiction and afrocentrism that made Black Panther . . .
A STORY OF AUTISM, FAITH, AND DETERMINED PARENTING
By Karla Akins, Kregel Publications, PB, 219 pages
Karla Akins and her husband adopted premature twin boys, Isaiah and Isaac, when they were only a few days old. As the boys grew, she noted certain . . .
I have lived in Waynedale since 1970. I have seen changes in that time. One, is that as a community, we are not as clean as we used to be. I bike and walk around our fine little hamlet. I like seeing what my neighbors are doing with their front yards, . . .
If you could accomplish all your financial goals just by putting your paycheck into the bank every couple of weeks, you wouldn’t need the services of a financial advisor. But life isn’t that simple – and so, at some point, you may realize you . . .
In 2016, I got to visit The Winchester Mystery House. It was a long-time dream to go see Sarah Winchester’s 160 room mansion outside of San Jose, California, and it far exceeded my expectations. Winchester was the heir to her husband’s wealth earned . . .
Like everyone, you want to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle when you retire. But a successful retirement doesn’t just happen – it requires a lot of planning. And that’s why it’s a good idea to draw up a “pre-retiree checklist.”
Such a checklist . . .
LITURGY OF THE ORDINARY
By Tish Harrison Warren
InterVarsity Press
PB, 153 pages
Living as humans takes more maintenance than most folks are willing to admit. That being said, maintenance time is often wasted time. Warren gives an example of this in . . .
SPEAK THE TRUTH: HOW TO BRING GOD BACK INTO EVERY CONVERSATION
By Carmen LaBerge
Regnery Faith
HB, 222 pages
LaBerge addresses the silence and fear that prohibits biblical worldviews from being introduced in controversial conversations. How does the . . .
On February 4, the eyes of most of the country – and much of the rest of the world – will be on Minneapolis, site of the most-watched football game in the U.S. As a fan, you can admire the way quarterbacks in the Big Game direct their teams. But . . .
With the arrival of the New Year, many of us will pause and ponder the age-old question: “Who knows where the time goes?” And, as is always the case, none of us really do know. However, wherever the time goes, it will usually be a key factor in . . .
My freshman year of college, a friend and I dressed as Nancy Kerrigan (me) and Tonya Harding (Kathleen) for Halloween. We rollerbladed around campus and parodied a “major”, often-satirized news story from our youth. After watching I, Tonya, I feel . . .
With the weather turning colder, this month is the perfect time to bundle up and enjoy a good movie. This week, I weigh an option for the theater, a rental and a holiday classic in re-release.
In The Tribes of Palos Verdes, Phil (Justin Kirk) and Sandy . . .
To help achieve your long-term goals, such as a comfortable retirement, you should save and invest regularly. But that’s only part of the picture. You also need to protect your financial assets in various ways. One such method is guarding your personal . . .
In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) grows so frustrated with the police’s lack of progress toward solving her daughter, Angela’s, brutal murder that she buys three billboards just outside of the small . . .
You may spend decades contributing to your IRA and 401(k). But, eventually, you’ll need to use this money. Before that day arrives, you’ll want to be familiar with the rules governing withdrawals – and you’ll want to know just how much you . . .
For some, the upcoming holiday season will not be very jolly.
December holiday may bring to mind fantasies of creamy mashed potatoes warming one’s stomach or an imagined cart filled with doorbusters, such as a 55-inch television available for purchase . . .
ALL SHE LEFT BEHIND: A STORY HELD TOGETHER BY DYNAMIC CHARACTERS
by Jane Kirkpatrick Revell
PB, 343 pages
Romances, especially Christian romances, often grow stale with their stubborn sameness. Jane Kirkpatrick, however, injects new life into the genre . . .
As you know, we’ve been enjoying a long period of steadily rising stock prices. Of course, this bull market won’t last forever – and when it does start losing steam, you, as an investor, need to be prepared.
Before we look at how you can ready . . .
It is not an easy task to create a film about young people that is funny and imaginative while also doing justice to the deep and complicated emotions around making and keeping friends and navigating family dynamics. Wonder delivers on all these elements . . .
Letter To The Editor:
It had the feel of a funeral visitation.
My last visit a few years ago hoped to see familiar faces. But this visit on November 10, 2017 occasioned a last viewing of what had been so much a part of our lives decades ago. The familiar . . .
Thanksgiving is almost here. Ideally, this day should be about more than football and the imminent arrival of Black Friday mega-sales. After all, the spirit of the holiday invites us to be grateful for what we have and for the presence of our loved . . .
Gender Roles and the People of God
By Alice Mathews
Zondervan, PB, 238 pages
Mathews approaches one of the church’s most controversial topics: the role God has given women in the church, the home and the world. But, by stripping the book’s perspective . . .
I normally find the collaboration between the Coen Brothers and George Clooney at least charming, even when the result is lackluster. Their latest film, Suburbicon, however, is so aggressively bad that it was hard to find any redeeming qualities.
Suburbicon . . .
Halloween is almost upon us. Of course, on Halloween night, you may see a parade of monsters, demons, Transformers and other frightening individuals stopping by your house, exercising their right to demand candy. Fortunately, their appearance will . . .
Vain Empires
By Brandilyn Collins
Challow Press
PB, 315 pages
Vain Empires begins when six contestants arrive on the set of a reality show that offers the fulfillment of all their dreams as the prize. All it takes to win is to learn which of the seven . . .
Happy Death Day can easily be described as Groundhog Day meets Scream, and at the story’s end it acknowledges its similarity to the Bill Murray comedy, but the movie does not suffer from a lack of creativity. Instead, it adeptly puts a funny, thrilling . . .
Battle of the Sexes dramatizes the founding of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and their fight for more equal pay for women in professional tennis, leading up to the famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma . . .