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FAMILY PLAN? FARM THE KIDS OUT FOR PEACE AND QUIET

September 16, 2020 by

For most, a family plan is making sure the kids are alright. Planned pregnancies and Tiger Mom tactics? What’s that? My parents had four kids and we always lived across from a sand dune and a forest. Smart move. When they said go out and play, we knew where to go. Forest play was more […]

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FRONT YARD LADY FRIENDS BEFORE THE SMOKE

September 15, 2020 by

A big reveal from the forest fires in Oregon is understanding the front yard. With a little help, all of the beauty of shrubbery would burn. Before the fires and smoke, when it was a ‘normal’ lockdown pandemic, the front yard was a place to host friends for lunch. More accurately, it was where my […]

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HOPEFUL HISTORY THE OREGON WAY

September 14, 2020 by

Opening a book to find hopeful history is pure folly. It’s not history if all the good and bad parts get the whitewash treatment. Too often Oregon history is a mashup of wagon trains and farmers, of noble people of the land, salt of the earth, staking out new ground on behalf of their godly […]

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HUSBAND DRINKING: HOW TO SNEAK OUT FOR BEERS THE RIGHT WAY

September 13, 2020 by

Two men walked into a bar for some husband drinking, a couple of silhouettes in the glaring sun. They looked like two weekend yard guys at happy hour, jeans and t-shirts, mid-fifties. In different clothes they’d fit in at any country club. Tight haircuts and smooth shaves do that. One ordered a Black and Tan, […]

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PORTLAND APARTMENTS, A BOOMERPDX LEGACY

September 12, 2020 by

Renting three consecutive Portland apartments over five years on the same city block means you’ve either found the right neighborhood, or you’re a NW Portland kook. I knew I wasn’t the kook when I first moved in. That guy lived in the house across the street, a large older man dressed in crotch strangling overalls […]

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MISUNDERSTOOD MAN GIVES ILLOGICAL INTERVIEW BOOMERPDX STYLE

September 11, 2020 by

A misunderstood man, one who knows he’s been misunderstood, often explains how it’s all a big misunderstanding. That’s the good news. The bad news comes when a man works to elevate his basic misunderstanding to a level of believability. Hard to imagine? Depends on the audience. Take a look to see the difference.

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BOOMERPDX INTERVIEW: ONE VETERAN, ONE STUDENT, ONE PARENT

September 10, 2020 by

A faux-BoomerPDX interview works to paint a citizenship picture, a mosaic, by covering nervous subjects. For this edition it’s a veteran, a student, and a parent doing the work. And they have plenty to say. Take a read:

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VOLUNTEER ARMY SUCKER, ENTHUSIASTIC LOSER

September 9, 2020 by

At nineteen I told my dad I was joining the service, that I was looking at the Army or Navy because they had two year enlistments. My feeling was I’d know all I needed to know after two years, like any nineteen year old know it all since I already knew everything. Nineteen year olds […]

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HOMESTRETCH AFTER HITTING THE FINAL CURVE HARD

September 8, 2020 by

Sports analogies don’t always work the way they’re supposed to work, but comparing a life to a race always does the trick. From the starting line, to the backstretch, to the final curve going down to the wire, it all sounds like a life well lived. The closer we are to the race, the life, […]

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BEER DRINKING THE HARD WAY WITH A FAIR FATHER

September 8, 2020 by

Most times, when it comes to beer drinking, you need a plan. The easy part is when and where. Then it gets tougher. Which beer to drink has become an identity check. In a place like Portland Beer City, a beer identity means everything. Beer cred means never getting caught with a commercial light beer. […]

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