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BETTER LISTENING SKILLS FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING

If practicing better listening skills isn’t a life goal, it should be.

How hard is it to pay attention?

You did it in the classroom with the encouragement of a teacher.

I still remember Mr. Kraus singing ‘Toot toot tootsie goodbye’ when he tossed little tootsie rolls to students with the right answer in algebra.

Maybe we need more of that? Instead we get more of this:

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RETURNING REVERENCE TO IT’S RIGHTFUL PLACE

There’s a scent of reverence in the air, of returning reverence after a long pause.

It started in my doctor’s office where I’d been called to sit on a panel with others.

One of the others was Roy Pittman, one of my personal heroes.

The next time I saw the doctor he told me he was surprised at the way I acted, that I showed reverence to Coach Pittman.

If I did, I didn’t know it. What I remember is feeling awe-struck. Maybe it’s the same thing?

Miranda Dating Rights For The New Era Of Rising STD

Have you ever asked someone out on a date? Probably. Did you read them the ‘Dating Rights’ questions? Going out on a limb here with probably not. Why would you?

CANCER SURVIVOR ESSAY STRUGGLE

Stories about a cancer survivor are an inspiration to all cancer survivors. Even a cancer survivor essay about the trauma of being a cancer survivor holds important hope. Pam Parker gets into it with a cancer survivor story in the Chicago Tribune. It’s not pretty and sweet and all dolled up […]

KNIGHT CANCER vs THE HUTCH

Portland and Seattle have a storied rivalry throughout history, especially sports history. Now it’s competition to find the cure for cancer. Let the games begin. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle has a super story out yesterday, huge story in the Seattle Times. “The Hutch closes in on […]

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THE BOOMER END OF THE SPEEDO CHALLENGE

Any challenge but the Speedo Challenge? Even without a dashing, single-ski dock start, or the dive team Speedo, the man carried a lethal air. He looked like he could fight death and fear, and win. It made him an icon. Leaping off a houseboat deck rail into thin air with one foot […]

BOOMERPDX TO STAR WARS: AWAKEN ME FORCEFULLY WHEN WE GET THERE

The most impressive thing about Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Fan loyalty. No one is giving away the twists and turns, no one wants to be a Star Wars spoiler. In shades of The Crying Game, all lips are sealed so far. After a few failed attempts, I finally saw this installment. Okay, one failed […]

THE BAD SIDE OF TOWN

It Matters When The Bad Side Of Town Is Better Than Your Town Now. Remember those days, those second bike days, the days after your first bike? You moved up. You were cool. You were road worthy. And you knew how to cruise with the quarter you stole from your mom’s purse. You’d leave through […]

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MEMORY CUE, EVIDENCE FROM ANOTHER LIFETIME

How long ago was 1979? The Brooklyn Union Gas Company makes the call. How often do you run across things, not your things, that remind you of a different life? Then it’s your stuff and you don’t remember.

Fighting Chuck Palahniuk, And Portland Inertia

I didn’t have anything to prove by fighting Chuck Palaniuk, but I did with the fight against inertia on a Sunday where the NFL was on TV and Wordstock was happening on the park blocks. It was a good day to do nothing and there was plenty to back up doing it. […]

BOOMERS ON THE MOVE TO SOMEWHERE ELSE

Why Not To The Hometown? No one likes hearing classmate at a reunion say, “So glad I got out of here.” Hear it once and you want them out of there again. Hometowns aren’t prison to escape from. If you feel that way, it’s you, not the town. Maybe when we were in our late […]

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If practicing better listening skills isn’t a life goal, it should be.

How hard is it to pay attention?

You did it in the classroom with the encouragement of a teacher.

I still remember Mr. Kraus singing ‘Toot toot tootsie goodbye’ when he tossed little tootsie rolls to students with the right answer in algebra.

Maybe we need more of that? Instead we get more of this:

There’s a scent of reverence in the air, of returning reverence after a long pause.

It started in my doctor’s office where I’d been called to sit on a panel with others.

One of the others was Roy Pittman, one of my personal heroes.

The next time I saw the doctor he told me he was surprised at the way I acted, that I showed reverence to Coach Pittman.

If I did, I didn’t know it. What I remember is feeling awe-struck. Maybe it’s the same thing?

Becoming an NBA champion is a lifelong goal for every basketball player in the world.

The best want to play the best, beat the best, to tell themselves they’re good enough.

It’s that along with contracts and money and fame.

All of that goes along the wayside when you stop playing in ninth grade like me, or in high school.

Do I blame the coaches that I didn’t become a star, a substitute, or even a benchwarmer?

Noooooo, but . . .

Clean living is an art form, and like all art it takes practice.

Yes, we’re talking about practice.

It takes practice to talk without a particular tone, without too much edge.

Do that and you may have a productive conversation.

Go ahead and save the tone and edge for people you don’t know, who don’t know you.

The news today is all about world events.

News organizations deliver it every day with the same hype and urgency.

News hounds consume every detail and load it onto the pile they carry in case someone asks them ‘what’s up?’

That’s when you brace yourself for the headlines as if they’re coming from an anchorman. Or woman.

That’s the big news story you NEED to know.

The small news, the stories that make us step back, come out another way.

toughen up

boomer years

buckle up

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