John Tuttle

Prayer and Work Go Hand in Hand
A motto of St. Benedict’s was “Ora et labora.” The Latin phrase with a somewhat catchy rhythm translates as the command, “Pray and work.” (I’m glad I’ve got a handle on this notion since I go to a Benedictine college campus.) This simple little sentence carries with it a number of possible facets to the spiritual and physical life.
Prayer as Communication with God and How God Speaks to Us
The rule followed by Benedictines to this day is not “pray or work.” It’s...

The Older Generation Got More Excitement
My parents and grandparents have really lived!
I love my family. Members have had disagreements and struggles both big and small down through the years. But we have climbed over these pinnacles; they could not be dodged or navigated any other way. Families are the most fundamental form of community, and each member of our family, and yours too I’m sure, has internal struggles, aspirations of the heart that are hard to put into words.
All throughout my ...

It Beefs Up the Portfolio and More (A Brief Rundown)
If you’re a freelance journalist, copywriter, or the like, especially if you’re one just starting out, one of the best practices to carry out is to reach out to potential employers and request “free work.” I know, a freelancer does not live by writing for free. But a writer has to start from somewhere. There are a number of reasons for accepting free work early on in your freelancing career.
For starters, it builds up your writer’s portfoli...

Ties Between Two of Dreamworks’ Most Beloved Animated Films
Many young women and girls today can remember falling in love with the noble, heroic equine of Spirit, a wild stallion of the North American grasslands. Viewers will also probably remember enjoying the feature’s moving soundtrack, which included vocals performed by Bryan Adams. Technically, the title in full is Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. But I’ve never heard anyone say that aloud. So I think we’ll stick with just calling it Sp...

Dr. Charles Sprouse, a professor at Benedictine College, Atchison, KS, earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 2016. He has also designed numerous tech devices. On September 29th, he and two of his guest-colleagues were speakers at the “Artificial Intelligence and the Human Person” lecture held on the Benedictine campus. It was part of a series of lectures which comprised the annual meeting of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
As the speaker who delivered the first talk, Sprouse disc...

Through the Throat
This throat you and I share
Has been bombarded,
Battered to the bone
With the good and the bad.
***
We used to not question
Our intake and our output
But now I realize this organ
Is key to health, spiritual and physical.
***
If you are what you eat,
And what passes down gullet
Has effect on the body
We must take care what goes in.
***
Fumes surpassing
Do not suppress a cough
But leave gaping holes
To never be filled-in.
***
This funneling tube,
This tunnel to a molten pit,
...

The Offing is an intriguing digital lit journal filled with fanciful works and has stood as an independent publication for several years now. Many of the micro-fiction, poetry, and hybrid works make up the best part of the publication. With a clean and welcoming site layout, The Offing has proudly linked itself to publishing works speaking out for human rights and showing off the spectacular spheres of science.
Their passion for science can be clearly seen in some of their recently published ...

Politics were initially formed to represent varying opinions and interests. Decent politicians used to make light jokes about one another; the best were able to come up with something nice to say about their opponents as well. Even though so many current politicians reject hate speech, this notion is not applicable when confronting their political rivals. Any campaign has become an event in which the opponents spend as much time figuratively throwing mud on each other’s reputation as they do ...

I recently transferred from my local community college to Benedictine College in Atchison, KS. The community college had a nice mass comm section with friendly people and the capability of borrowing equipment for the period of about a day or so. I liked that part of it. But, being a community college, it was a total clash of cultures and mindsets, which can be a good thing sometimes.
The anti-Christian teachings of many of the professors are what led me to search for higher education elsewher...

The Insane Fan Theory of How the Dynamic Duo Might Rescue the Avengers
Many of the moviegoers were distraught and heartbroken at the close of Avengers: Infinity War due to the demise of so many beloved characters. A number of characters whom we wanted more screen time from, like Black Panther and Spider-man, went with them. However, quite a few of the fine oldies remain after half the universe has faded into dust, including Captain America, Iron Man, and Bruce Banner.
The more interesting poi...

Artificial intelligences could give human creatives a run for their money, perhaps not only competing with us but triumphing over us.
Manmade AI’s have generated their own personal language just as J.R.R. Tolkien did in his Lord of the Rings masterpiece. They’ve generated abstract visual art and mixed together their own musical compositions. AI’s are always getting better in the translation department, a lit genre which used to hold a good deal of creativity and flexibility. They have even wr...

Many writers find characters to be the hardest aspect of a story to create. After all, they are the actors. They are the ones carrying out the main points of the plot. Their job is to make a story run like clockwork. So if you do not have authentic characters, the entire story is lacking. It no longer feels real either. If your audience can not relate or at least believe in what the characters are doing, then you have failed in good storytelling.
It is the writer’s task to be descriptive, to ...

Recently, I was able to call Lex Pelger, Director of Science for Bluebird Botanicals. We also hooked up digitally so I could send him some further questions via email. The company provides CBD (cannabidiol) products to consumers. The CBD extract allows for some of the benefits of marijuana but without the intoxicating high. Pelger is quite passionate about the use of CBD and the science behind it.
Lex Pelger on His Interest in CBD and the Science of It
Lex Pelger.
(Slight edits have been made...

Godzilla and some of the other more-familiar kaiju return for yet another installment of the Godzilla franchise. This is a franchise which is older and longer-running than Star Trek, Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park, or Mission Impossible. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has 20 films for crying out loud! Yet, the Godzilla saga in its entirety consists of at least a dozen movies more than the MCU.
The seemingly repetitive story of the monster saga, which was brought to the screen for...

Solid Bottle: Solid Color
Many of my more artistic photographs employ the selective color effect; it’s an eye-catcher that seldom ceases to prove its distinctness and attractiveness. And so, I obviously wanted to use it on one of the drifting bottle shots. For photographic purposes though, the bottle is never drifting. When it’s floating on the surface the aesthetic just isn’t there. It took several minutes of positioning the bottle just right in the floor of the shallow part of the lake so t...