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LIFE STORIES: WHEN PERSONAL HISTORY IS NOT ENOUGH

Life stories come in every form and flavor from hot to cold, bland to sassy, truthful to made up. Tell the same stories long enough to the same people and they start to wonder: “How many times have we heard this stuff?” “Do they know they’ve told the same story over and over?” If you’ve […]

COMPETITION QUESTIONS FOR THE NON-COMPETITIVE

Competition questions start before you realize there’s even a competition happening. One of my favorites: “Do you even lift, bro?” It’s usually asked by a mid-forties man in a workout costume. It’s completed by an undershirt that looks like something out of a lady’s drawer. When it’s a question asked by a guy with greased […]

HEMINGWAY LIFE STORY BEST OF ALL TIME

The Hemingway life story by Ken Burns is a sure sign, but of what? That he grew up in what amounts to a fundamentalist family? With a mother that logged all of her sacrifices for him? Then held it against him? Add a father with well defined ideas on how to behave. And Ernest disappointed […]

PRICELESS ARTIFACTS OR LEFTOVERS LIKE GONZAGA

Priceless artifacts cast a spell. But it’s a good spell, not some doomsday end of the world sort of spell. The feeling is more about sharing a world with the most amazing things ever made, invented, or found. I’m not saying “Sharing with the world,” but sharing a world, like being alive at a time […]

MUSEUM QUALITY IS WHAT BOOMERS CALL THEIR ACCUMULATION

Museum quality is a collector’s goal. Leave the bad, take the good. Then what? If possession is nine tenths of the law, what’s the last tenth? After you’ve got what you’ve been looking for, put it in a box, on a shelf, in a case. The idea is to enjoy the company of an artifact, […]

ANOTHER HERO TAKES THE SPORTS WHEEL FOR A SPIN

Another hero taking center stage is a reminder of who had been there before. Who doesn’t like a hero? No matter the time or place, when someone separates from the pack, give them their due. Last night the new hero was UCLA Bruin Johnny Juzang. What was heroic? He took a shot to tie the […]

BOOMERS WANT LIST INCLUDES WHAT THEY DIDN’T GET

Boomers want more, more, more? That’s the whine that comes from the echo chamber of other generations, like baby boomers are a cut and run company of ruin and destruction. Boomers I know want that elusive dish in life, harmony with a side of peace, love, and understanding. Boomer wannabes want the same thing, but […]

MARKING TIME WITH A GANG OF MOMS AND KIDS

I was marking time just the other day with my young kids running around like we were having the best day in our lives. Then they were at the bus stop waiting for their first day of school. I must have blinked. One of the joys of being a parent is seeing kids through their […]

TWITTER RULES: BREAK THEM AND GET A TIME OUT

Twitter rules have been enforced all along, so why dedicate a post? Because I broke the rules and got banned , briefly banned. My twitter ban lasted twelve hours. I would have been longer if I had done something wrong. Like what, you ask?

CITY TRASH FROM PORTLAND TO VANCOUVER

City trash comes with the territory. More people, more garbage, more clean up. Except the clean up part is lacking, and it’s not the first time. Take New York City trash for example. More people than Portland, which is bigger than Staten Island, but half the size of the other Burroughs. I moved to the […]