A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

The Man Scout: ‘Growth, decay then transformation.’ The end of one journey and the beginning of another

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune
 We’ve come to a fork in the road. Twenty-two weeks ago, I set out to change not just what I know about the world around me, but who I am as a person. My goal was to become a Man Scout, skilled in the art and science of life-craft. Over these past 22 weeks, I’ve learned a lot. I can now catch a (small) fish; tie several different knots depending on the occasion;...

The Man Scout: Let’s commit to using technology for good and trying to create more positivity in the world

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune
 First things first – a big Man Scout thank you to my wife, Megan, for her column last week as I was recovering from knee surgery. Awesome job, my love. I’ve had a lot of time over the past couple weeks to reflect on my Man Scout journey and how much I’ve learned and grown through this experience. I’ll write more about that next week in my final column,...

The (Wo)Man Scout: The book I was glad my mother did not hand me — and what I might have become

By Megan Cole Special to NKyTribune I weren’t no girl scout, neither. You can call me Megan Cole: wife to Chris Cole and adventure partner. Chris is out for surgery and so we decided to switch places. Welcome to The Woman Scout. My sister, Amber, went antiquing for Boy Scout books for Chris to leaf through post-surgery. In her digging she found a fun treasure: “The American Girls Handy Book.” It...

The Man Scout: There is no time for first aid when there’s a mountain to climb and mud to wallow in

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune
 A good scout must always be prepared to render aid in any type of emergency situation. Of all the chapters in my trust Boy Scout Handbook, Chapter 20: First Aid may be the one I wish I’d read when I was a boy. Of course, emergencies come in all shapes and sizes, and some require more skill than others. The Handbook notes a few types of emergencies that must...

The Man Scout: Frugality and poor planning can easily get in the way of a scout’s winter preparedness

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune There’s snow in the 10-day forecast, which is great news because that means we’ll have a dry, sunny couple of weeks. But nonetheless, a good scout is always prepared, so this week I’m tackling cold-weather clothing. My trusty Boy Scout Handbook teaches that there are three basic principles to keeping warm in cold weather – wear layered clothing, wear a water-repellant...

The Man Scout: Let’s have the courage to practice tolerance and let go of hostility that often divides us

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune
 It’s interesting to me that there isn’t a specific chapter of the Boy Scouts Handbook dedicated to courage. Bravery is a theme that runs throughout the book, mind you, and is even one of a dozen Scout Laws. “A Scout is brave,” the law reads. “He has the courage to face danger in spite of fear, and to stand up for the right against the coaxings of friends...

The Man Scout: Crowing wolves, plotting cows and angry wasps all introduce themselves to a city boy

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune

 We arrive this week at the section of the 1952 Boy Scouts Handbook that covers grassland, forest and desert exploration, and the various plant and animal species a young scout might encounter during an exploration of their neighborhood. Growing up in Newport, my exposure to plants and animals was somewhat limited. The grass in our small front yard and a few...

The Man Scout: Stick with me in End Times, we will feast like kings – just be sure to bring a flint stone

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune Last week I shared details about my fear of fire and a few incidents from my childhood that undoubtedly fueled that fear. The very night I wrote that column, the house my grandparents lived in when I was growing up burned down, just a few blocks from the house fire 36 years ago I described last week. Fire is a beast, merciless and remorseless. It can destroy a home...

The Man Scout: The experiences that frighten us most — they often burn brightest in our memories

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune 
Chapter 16 of the Boy Scouts Handbook is the one I have been both looking forward to and dreading since I started my Man Scout adventure several months ago. Fire Building. Growing up in Newport, I never had much use for fire. We were city folk – no campfires or brush burning. I don’t think I ever even roasted a marshmallow until I was married. To this day,...

The Man Scout: Christmas is a time to remember the good and bad turns that helped make us who we are

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune 
Christmas feels different this year. The songs are on the radio, the presents are under the tree and we’ll be spending the big day with family like always, but after the struggle that has been 2020, there’s just something missing. It’s certainly not nostalgia. I find myself daily harking back to happier seasons with healthy family and friends, cookie plates...

The Man Scout: A family legend, a fortuitous ricochet and a hard lesson in appreciating risks we create

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune I’ll never forget my first gun. It was beautiful and powerful, and I can still remember how it felt in my hands, the orange plastic grip cool to the touch. It was Christmas Day of 1985, and I was as happy as any 9-year-old boy could ever be. All the other presents lay in a pile on our living room floor; I was singularly focused on my Nintendo Zapper and ready to...

The Man Scout: Finding true north can be a little difficult when everything seems to be heading south

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune Last week I began the “Finding Your Way” chapter of my trusty Boy Scout Handbook by sharing a story about getting lost while on a 500-yard drive. Those who don’t know me might think that is a geographical impossibility, but I assure you it was par for the course. In truth, I could have shared a dozen stories like that. When I lived in Colorado, I once made...

The Man Scout: You can’t figure out where you’re going until you understand where you’ve been

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune As we approach the halfway point of my trusty Boy Scouts Handbook, we come to a chapter called Finding Your Way. Unlike some other skills I’ve touched on in recent weeks, such as tying knots or forging steel, this is an area in which I’ve got some experience. I’m the driver in our family, and so it’s incumbent upon me to generally know where we’re going...

The Man Scout: Giving thanks for the hidden treasures located throughout our community

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune
 When I look back on the year 2020, there will be many things I’d just as soon forget. This has been a long, strange year unlike any in my lifetime. But it hasn’t been all bad, and one of the highlights happened just a couple of weeks ago when an organization called Mission: Treasure came to Cincinnati and presented an immersive treasure-hunting experience...

The Man Scout: Bladesmithing with my new friends from History channel’s ‘Forged in Fire’ (Pt. II)

By Chris Cole Special to NKyTribune When we left off last week, my “Forged in Fire” companions and I were wrapping up lunch and about to begin grinding our freshly forged blades. It’s a strange thing that happens inside a blacksmith’s forge. You take a random piece of steel (or whatever you’re working with) and very quickly you can change it, and very quickly it can change you. When my friend...