Posts by: Rick Jobus

Rick Jobus

May 20, 2020May 18, 2020

A Typical Day in My Life with ALS

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

“Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head.” These are the first two lines of the bridge that Paul McCartney contributed to The Beatles’ song ... Read more

May 13, 2020May 11, 2020

The Monster that ALS Is

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, once stated at a Defense Department briefing in 2002 that, “There are known knowns. There are things we know that we ... Read more

May 6, 2020May 4, 2020

ALS Awareness: What It’s Worth

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

“I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down.” That call for awareness comes from the song “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo ... Read more

April 29, 2020April 27, 2020

Mission Impossible? The Quest for Perpetual ALS Awareness

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

In 1992 the 102nd U.S. Congress declared, via joint resolution 174, that May become National ALS Awareness Month. Part of the text speaks to “finding the causes of, and ... Read more

April 15, 2020April 13, 2020

On Planning to Get Punched

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” –Mike Tyson The author Lee Child includes that quote in his Jack Reacher crime novel series as part ... Read more

April 8, 2020April 6, 2020

With Apologies to Ian Fleming: Squaring Off with ALS and COVID-19

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

“The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to better thinking.” –Phaedrus (Plato) During these surreal times that shake us to our core, a mindless diversion ... Read more

April 1, 2020March 30, 2020

Talking Trash with ALS

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

The ancient Greeks first introduced the term “parrhesia,” meaning “free speech,” around the end of the fifth century B.C. From a literal perspective, ALS has taught me that the ... Read more

March 25, 2020March 24, 2020

Painting Broad Brushstrokes from ALS to COVID-19

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

Recently I chanced upon a re-broadcast of an entrée from the PBS series, “American Masters.” As the subject, Andrew Wyeth, was one of my late dad’s favorite artists, I enthusiastically ... Read more

March 11, 2020March 12, 2020

In the ‘Way Back Seat’ with ALS: Learning to Live on Autopilot

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

“Baby, you can drive my car …” I was reminded of that Beatles lyric last Sunday while listening to my pastor’s sermon. Titled, “Taking the Back Seat,” the sermon’s ... Read more

February 26, 2020February 24, 2020

Facing the Rarefied Air of ALS with Dignity

Columns, Notes From the ALS Front - a Column by Rick Jobus

“I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.” That sentiment, expressed by comedian Groucho Marx in 1949 about his affiliation with a ... Read more