JEFF GAUGER, the 30-Second Read editor, worked for enough newspapers over 36 years that reasonable people may think he’s a bum who can’t keep a job. In truth, the only job he couldn’t keep was his last, for a big chain that eliminated him in the Great Newspaper Cataclysm. He now teaches journalism at Louisiana State University. At his last newspaper, he wrote a daily column called “30-Second Read.” Against all merit, and to his surprise as much as anyone’s, it proved more popular than anything else he’d done in newspapers. So of course he created this website to continue afflicting readers.

Email: editor@30secondread.com

THOMAS GUNNING has spent half a century tussling with American English. He’s edited newspapers, bridal magazines, radio ad campaigns and website marketing content. He’s also executive producer of Prairie Falcon Players, Omaha’s newest theater company. Thomas has written “Pacts of Desperation,” a science fiction novel, and “Stirring Up the Animals,” a one-actor play based on H.L. Mencken’s writings. His “Murmurations & Banalities: Selected Writings From Across Four Decades,” will be published in 2026. He’s a weekly contributor to 30secondread.com. He lives in Bellevue, Nebraska.

Email: thomas_gunning@yahoo.com