All too often, especially if my sleep is fragile, I awake in the night and discover the forces of darkness playing trivial pursuit on my forehead. These malevolent avatars threaten me with eternal wakefulness unless I produce answers to meaningless questions they pose to my marshy mind.  

Nobody wants to go down with a ship, let alone be at the helm as it slips low beneath the waves. Living in struggling rural America and being a wayward “yes man,” I seem to find myself in the sad and unfortunate situation of being on teams managing declines. Though not unique to our rural co…