Writings & Talks

Every so often a Lodge hands you a podium. These are the talks and essays I’m glad I wrote down — history with the myths stripped out, and a lesson at the end of each, because that’s what a talk is for.

KTs and Promissory Notes

A talk delivered at Trinity Commandery No. 16

How the medieval Knights Templar invented an early form of international banking — deposit a sum at the London Temple, redeem the receipt in Jerusalem — and why the parchment worked when no law could enforce it. Spoiler: the Templars did not secretly become the Bank of England, and the real story is better than the conspiracy. (pending)

Word as Bond

Essay

A promissory note without funds is fraud; a solemn obligation without integrity is hypocrisy. Character is the reserve; behavior is the audit trail. (pending)

Commitment Speaks Volumes

Essay, from my Potentate year

Commitment is not announced — it is demonstrated. Why showing up when it’s inconvenient says more than any speech, including this one. (pending)

A York Rite Poem

Verse, 2022

The York Rite journey, in rhyme. Already on the site: read it here.

From the Potentate’s Desk

Selected newsletters, 2025

I wrote forty-one weekly newsletters to the Nobles of Sahib Shriners during my year as Potentate. Five held up beyond their week — the ones about gratitude, service, and what a fraternity is actually for. Read the five letters →

More gets added as I write it — the blog’s Freemasonry category has everything, newest first.