My Substack

When it comes to the contents of my writing portfolio, I’ve been all over the place in the last 14 years. As a young magazine journalist trying to build credibility (“Really, I’m a writer!”), I put every national clip I had on my first web…

Trying something outside your professional comfort zone is a little bit like running down the street wearing a new pair of running shorts, suspecting the whole time that the shorts may not be covering your bum well enough. But since you can’t see…

Yesterday was my birthday, which marked 41 years the particular collection of atoms called Judi Ketteler has been on the Earth! It’s crazy because I look 29, right? Anyway, I woke up reflecting on how I tend to classify “best” birthdays in terms…

I always dreamt of going to Kings Island (here in Cincinnati) as a child: the magical land of roller coasters, rides, and snow cones! The Brady Bunch even got to go there! The place loomed large in my childhood, but we never went because . . . there were…

I need a sabbatical. I didn’t know that was the word I’d been searching for until I talked to my neighbor, a Lutheran minister. Our kids are friends, and we were all at a community event Saturday night. I asked him how the ministering business was…