Lawrencia Ann Bembenek was a tall, striking young woman. She could have chosen nearly any career, but she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. He had briefly worked for the Milwaukee Police Department, and from a young age she wanted to become a police officer.

The youngest of three girls, she grew up Catholic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1960s. She ran the hurdles on her high school track team and took up the flute, graduating in 1976. For a couple of years, she attended junior college before working as a waitress and model. …

Sometimes I think of this newfound Medium universe as a kitchen, where I am a neophyte sous chef, serving up bubbling and delicious sauces ladled over crowd-pleasing staples like rice or macaroni. I don’t know what I’m doing but I show up every day and feed people.

And they keep coming back to Cafe Medium because there is always palatable food. Or maybe I’m more like a food truck entrepreneur or a convenience store.

Either way, I’m surprised people keep showing up. And I’m not sure how to take my taco street stand to the next level. …

Richard William Huckle attended church regularly as a Christian, although later his Pastor claimed he was only there when he could spend time with children. He was bright but disaffected as a teen, taking refuge in the church.

Although something of a loner, Richard developed two passions — photography and children — before he lost his freedom at 28.

He first traveled to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, as a 19-year-old with his church in 2005. …

Sheila Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were tight as two peas in a pod. They hatched a plan together, after they’d decided they didn’t want to be friends with Skylar, their 16-year-old bestie Sheila had known since childhood, in the spring of 2012.

Friendships change, and these days Sheila was closer to Rachel.

They weren’t violent girls and weren’t sure of all the details, but they figured knives would work. Plus, they knew a spot that was perfect: right next to the creek where the three usually went to smoke pot.

Sheila and Rachel and Skylar all went to the same…

The American landscape is dotted with brightly colored fast-food restaurants, land mines for dieters and anyone trying to keep their kids fed, quiet, and non-obese.

Fast food is a worthy and daunting opponent. It’s seductive, powerful, available, and most of all way too convenient. But you can steer clear with a small amount of planning. The interstate is a dangerous place to show up hungry.

Real food saves money, hassle, and regret while preventing that greasy behind-the-wheel feeling that hits you an hour after you’ve downed a burger and fries.

The mission: protein, carbs, and fats in an inexpensive combo…

In late summer 2014, a teenager named Cassie walked out her front door into the early evening hours. She left her small white house in central Arkansas, where she lived with her mom and her mom’s fiancé, Brandon Rhodes.

At 15, Cassie was independent enough to spend a day and night away from home and when she returned from a weekend out with friends around 7 pm on Sunday, she was only in the house long enough to change clothes, according to her mother, Judy. Cassie slipped outside while her mom lay sick in bed.

Today, she would be 20…

CAR TIRADES

I’m working up a sweat to live a reality-based existence, an expression uttered without a trace of irony by our President, the one before the one before, Bill Clinton. Maybe I should re-assess who I’m following down this rosy path of truth, but whatever the case, I’m exhausted because it turns out I’m not good at this.

I can play casual and too-cool-for-school till the cows come home, but it’s a beautiful façade. I love making up dubious narratives, every moment of the day.

Unless you count that time years ago when I had a transcendent experience on the corner…

SHOPPING

Dear Unnamed Thrift Store,

I’ve been thrifting for a while and I know what I’m doing. I can find all the Goodwills in town, along with the charity shops and kitschy vintage outlets. I am on a first-name basis with Uncle Joe of Uncle Joe’s Secondhand Furniture.

Contrary to popular opinion, thrifting isn’t about buying cheap crap, it’s about that moment when you stare across the store and hear angels singing as you find what is both a treasure and a bargain.

The highs never leave you, like the time I scored that new Vitamix for $10.

And the adversity…