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BIG CITY DICKENS, AND FADING LOVE LIGHTS, A Short Story Of Intimacy

January 19, 2021 by

I got engaged and followed my future across the country. We met while I was an English major nursing a writer’s dream after an Army tour. She graduated and moved home with our wedding plans, so I dropped out and followed. Then she dropped me. Instead of hanging around New Jersey for a second chance, […]

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DANKEST HOUR DURING THE OREGON WINTER

January 18, 2021 by

If the “Darkest hour is just before dawn,” when is the Dankest hour? I dug into a dictionary to figure it out. “Dank: disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold.” In other words, most every day of an Oregon winter. Pelican Brewing added to the definition:

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AMERICAN ORIGINAL: BE AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT IT MEANS

January 17, 2021 by

An American original sounds special? Maybe too special, like a club that only allows members with the proper appearance, background, and complexion? And somehow you don’t fit any of the criteria? You don’t need permission to be an American original, even with feelings of being left out, discarded, passed over. But if that is how […]

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BLOG TRAFFIC FLIPS THE BIRD TO BLOG PERSONA

January 16, 2021 by

Blog traffic is supposed to tally daily readers, but is there a hidden message in the pattern? Based on expert blog advice, traffic is key. No traffic means no readers. The real question posed, but not clearly articulated, is ‘what kind of readers?‘ Based on comments, which are good indicators of who reads a particular […]

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WORDS: FREEDOM’S JUST ANOTHER WORD? NO, NO IT’S NOT

January 15, 2021 by

Words change with age. For a few years I lived next to a quirky neighbor. Sound familiar? Most folks have either had one, or been one. I was already there when he moved in, a ripped muscle-man with a crewcut. ‘Great,’ I thought, I’ve got either a policeman neighbor, or a gym kook. Either way […]

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NANNY STATE vs MANLY STATE – IN THE OCTAGON

January 14, 2021 by

Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term “nanny state” likens government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing.  That’s the wiki-definition, which seems pretty good. The Manly State, a term I made up after hearing Mr. Trump […]

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EDUCATIONAL DYSFUNCTION: THE OTHER E D

January 13, 2021 by

Educational dysfunction happens to everyone when they get to a point in a project that needs extra help. Frank Thomas is an Auburn University man, something left out in commercials he appears in. The Big Hurt knows the education drill. Doug Flutie is a Boston College man who gets it, too. Whether books, YouTube videos, […]

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FREEDOM SINGS: JAILHOUSE ROCK FROM CELL BLOCK D

January 12, 2021 by

“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” Was Kris Kristofferson right? Nothing left to lose is the same as freedom? Ask someone who lost everything in 1969 what they think. It might go like this: “How did you lose everything?” “I got drafted.” “Drafted?” “Yes. Conscripted into the United States Army.” “I […]

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FAMILY VALUES: HOME HISTORY IN MEMORIES

January 11, 2021 by

The term Family Values gets tossed around often, so often the definition changes. After the events of January 6, I questioned family values in general, American family values in particular. Since we all have different values, different family values seems likely. There were no lock step in my family values growing up and I didn’t […]

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HOMEWARD BOUND, I WISH I WERE

January 10, 2021 by

Homeward bound? I’m home, not sitting in a railway station with a ticket for my destination, but I would be if I screwed up and my family found out. I’ve got a wife and two kids, two boys now men, who have never cut me any slack. All three are accomplished ass-kickers and mine would […]

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