Hello, I am Craig Elbe—an inquisitive, deep thinking storyteller.
Some of My Published Work
Grandma, Year Four…and Five (craigelbe.com 5/27/24)
This is my most recent essay, and I am very proud of it. Not just what I wrote and who it’s about—it’s also everything I rose above and grew from to bring it to publication. And not just for this essay, but for the rest of my life.
It’s the latest in my annual tribute to my grandma, though last year didn’t happen, which I detail in the essay.
These are always told in two parts. The first part is current day reminiscing and showing gratitude for how she continues to guide me, and the second part is the aforementioned eulogy I wrote and spoke at her funeral.
Just Because (craigelbe.com 11/21/22)
Holidays have always been oddly frustrating to me.
Looking back as an adult who is quite aware of their creative nature, it makes sense why scheduling certain things is the opposite of how I approach life.
Just before I was going to turn 39, I noticed something about myself. Once I figured it out, I was then able to put it together with some other things I’ve been thinking about for quite a while, and the essay became bigger than I was initially aware of in scope and length.
What’s That About? (craigelbe.com 3/20/21)
There have been countless times I have observed people either asking what a piece of art means, or artists sharing why they created their art.
For my writing, that’s not something I would desire to do. I want people to take my writing, or any art, for that matter, and let it speak to them and their experiences. Knowing why someone created something only takes away from what it can mean to someone.
To help me tell that story, I recalled something I watched on TV a long time ago that stayed with me, and a bigger story resulted after many drafts.
(craigelbe.com 12/10/20)
When a haircut isn’t just a haircut…
This experience is one of many in my lifetime of why I ought to be fully open to everything around me, as you never know when something incredible may happen.
The experience and writing about it affirmed the cliché of “no expectations, and no limitations.”
Thank You For the Courage I Lack (craigelbe.com 11/20/20)
I was ashamed of how some Veterans who abused their service marred my appreciation for them and those that did not abuse their service.
With this essay, I set out to demonstrate my gratitude for all of them and my story about how I got there. It also served to show that I could not do what those brave women and men have done for us, and that they deserve our utmost respect for it from people like me who could elect not to serve.
Since I never served, I consulted my cousin who has served and has many different experiences of others who served, from her own service, to her spouses, brother, our uncles, and other friends who share Veteran status with her.
I chose to publish this essay the day after Veteran’s Day to show that Veteran’s deserve year round gratitude for at least committing to make the ultimate sacrifice for us to at least have the opportunity of continuing to enjoy our lives here in the United States as we have been so blessed to do so for a very long time.
Ride Wisely (craigelbe.com 5/8/20)
A metaphor for life and how to handle adversities. It can be read as a long poem or short essay.
Music For My Soul: How Did You Love, by Shinedown (craigelbe.com 3/20/20)
When the pandemic was brand new to us, there were some timeless aspects of human nature I wanted to highlight and help people remember in the midst of the panic we were experiencing. To help me do so, I utilized some lyrics of one of my favorite songs.
Grandpa (craigelbe.com 2/7/20)
Though I didn’t get to know him well while he was alive, my mom’s father has had a big impact on me after he died. I was in eighth grade when esophagus cancer treatment took his life.
Fortunately for him, the lifelong Packer fan who sold gameday programs at Lambeau Field, he got to see the Packers win the Super Bowl the week before.
All the stories I’ve heard about him since made me wish I could have known him better as an adult.
Having written tributes to his wife and my living parents, my grandpa deserved one too, but I needed to have a unique way in.
One day, I did the math for how long he’s been gone. At the time, it was 23 years, and then it hit me: there was my way in…Michael Jordan’s jersey number.
Wild Life (craigelbe.com 10/30/19)
This is an example of writing to learn about something. I had always wondered why I would suddenly get cold chills from seeing a dead animal anywhere.
Through the process of writing this essay, I was able to learn something about myself that I wasn’t consciously aware of.
It became the latest example that the body does indeed keep the score, and to figure out why something is happening is worth exploring to discover.
Our Dad (craigelbe.com 6/22/19)
Our Mom (craigelbe.com 5/14/19)
After my grandma died in January 2019, I wrote a eulogy for her and recited it at her funeral. It was and remains my life’s greatest honor. I had no input from anyone, and I wanted to make sure she would be happy with it.
While writing it, I imagined her being across from me when I would read it aloud.
After her beautiful funeral, I received a heaping of praise for the eulogy. It wasn’t anything I was expecting or hoping for, and it came at a great and overwhelming surprise.
The next month was grandma’s birthday, when I published my first tribute of for her. I received high praise for each of them from my aunt. She was my grandma’s power of attorney the last years of her life, and has high and discerning standards.
Later that year, for Mother’s and Father’s Day, I decided to give my parents the same treatment. I also asked my sister for her thoughts and memories so she too could participate in eulogizing our living parents.
(craigelbe.com 5/18/190)
Similar to my sexagenarian essay, I wanted to discuss labels, but with this word, it’s a label assumed by judging an appearance and demeanor.
This essay was also to signal that I am not afraid of going to controversial places to convey a bigger picture message for the greater overall good, and that I can do so in a tasteful manner without being controversial just for the sake of it.
End Limited (craigelbe.com 3/4/19)
One of my favorite aspects of poetry is being sparse with words while saying a lot. This perspective on life didn’t start out as a poem, but after a few drafts, I realized the message would be best communicated in the form of a poem.
(craigelbe.com 2/28/19)
This word reminded me of an era of this country I wasn’t around for. But my grandpa was, so I decided to utilize an early part of his life to illustrate what is easy for us to take for granted these days, and to highlight the precarity of household economics back then. My mom helped me with these details of my grandpa's early life.
Word To Ponder: Sexagenarian (craigelbe.com 2/21/19)
This was the first essay I published on my site. I wanted to immediately share something unique about my life to readers and what I learned about it at the time. And, my concerns of society at large regarding labels like this.
PW Torch—Craig’s Musing 9/11/17
After covering various WWE ancillary programming and the Bischoff on Wrestling podcast, I developed enough confidence to write my own content.
I reached out to Wade explaining where I was and asked if I could write my own columns for the Torch about my insights on the wrestling industry, and possibly without a deadline or promise of frequency. He met me where I was and let me do so, and the Craig’s Musings column was born.
This particular column is my favorite Torch piece.
For about four years, Vince McMahon was insistent on pushing Roman Reigns as the company’s top babyface, despite how obviously not ready the man behind the character was, nor was he supported by the audience near enough, or the storylines and scripted dialogue Vince made him participate in as a thin character that was difficult to root for.
I had strong thoughts and facts from history on the subject prior to my time at the Torch. Once there, I was waiting for the right time to share my thoughts, and this column represents that opportunity.
This was also my most well-received Torch piece, but it’s not why it’s my favorite. It was my favorite once it was finished and sent off to Wade—I felt I made a great contribution to the discussion that eventually came true, beginning early in the pandemic when Roman Reigns organically became a huge star once the Vince McMahon shackles were off him and his storylines.
PW Podcasts—Bischoff on Wrestling Recap 6/12/17
After feedback from me and others, Wade revived PW Podcasts, a site where written recaps of podcasts that were by and/or about wrestlers.
I chose Bischoff on Wrestling because Eric Bischoff, as the former President of WCW, had a rare perspective of being the closest threat Vince McMahon and the WWF ever had before the WCW was forced to shutter.
I am always interested how people contend with and bounce back from adversities, and was hoping that this show could offer Bischoff’s unique perspectives and connect the past to the present from what he learned from his past successes and failures. And not just in wrestling, but in his other non-wrestling business ventures since WCW sold to Vince McMahon’s WWF in 2001.
I wanted to challenge myself to capture the essence of a prerecorded audio medium versus a live broadcast, and what would be most useful to readers while continuing to point out the pros and cons of each episode like I had been doing with my other Torch work.
My expectations for the show were not met—it didn’t live up to the hype. Much of it is detailed in my Craig’s Conclusion at the end of this recap, but I am no less grateful for the experience.
In relaunching PW Podcasts, Wade enlisted fellow Torch contributor Andrew Soucek to edit and post these recaps, which gave me another person to work with and learn from. Andrew was fantastic to work with in every way, and I learned a lot from him. Working with him only increased my gratitude from the experience of covering a podcast that ultimately didn’t last due to many others sharing my criticisms.
From 2018 to current day, Eric Bischoff found success with a different podcast and a better cohost with a format and platform more suited to his strengths and experiences.
PW Torch—Recap of 4/18/17 WWE Talking Smack
Obviously, I found Talking Smack enjoyable enough to continue covering it. It took about a month for me to find my footing while taking into account the feedback I solicited and received from Wade, and other content from the Torch and other websites and books I was reading.
By this point Wade had been noticing that I was inserting some of my thoughts on the segments.
He liked that I was but wanted me to do so in one of two ways, and that it would be up to me: either write my thoughts after each segment, or put them all into one after the episode’s recap.
I considered how he does the three hour Monday Night Raw show; he adds his thoughts after each segment. And it works for that show because it’s so long and has commercial breaks during the live broadcast.
Since Talking Smack is so short, usually a half hour or less, I decided to put my thoughts at the end so as not to break up the flow of the show and have the recap reflect the flow of the mostly commercial free broadcast on the WWE Network. And thus, the birth of Craig’s Conclusion.
PW Torch—Recap of 2/12/17 WWE Talking Smack
Although Wade Keller and I had been in frequent contact the last four months about my interest in writing for the Torch, I had no notice to write this recap—that's because Wade also had no notice.
When this episode was about to air, Wade emailed me saying his Talking Smack contributor suddenly gave notice and he needed someone to at least cover that night’s show and the SmackDown proper show two nights later, and the rest we could discuss afterwards.
I replied in the affirmative right away, then began watching the show I was going to watch anyway, but with a new goal in mind: recapping it for a wide audience.
Having zero prior experience, which I never hid from Wade, covering this episode was stressful and agonizing and quite the trial by fire and took me till the sun came up, but I loved it…even more than I expected to.