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SHARED PLACE FOR SHARING SPACE

A public park is a shared place for sharing space, and this one is one of the best at the job.
Some parks are better at it, some worse, but this one hits the sweet spot on every count.
A river? Check.
A forest? Check.
Comfy trails? Check.
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PILING ON SHOWS A PERSONAL PROBLEM

Just before a big election everyone becomes an expert on the issues and start piling on those they disagree with.
It’s a personal decision on whether to join in.
Instead of joining in the lowbrow debate of accusations and name calling, why not just vote?
Do what counts in the long run, not the number of clicks in the moment.
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DOWNTOWN PORTLAND CLEAN AND SAFE?

A reminder of how clean and safe downtown Portland on a trash can?
I’ll take it. Clean and safe.
That’s my starting point, my mind set, which doesn’t mean I’m skipping around like it’s the happiest place on earth.
We all know where that is. (Hey Bridgette)
Downtown Portland is the crossroads of the world in Oregon, and that’s worth a look.
I’m looking for you, with you, not through you.

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BLOG CONTENT OR JUST A NORMAL EVENT

Blog content goes one way or another? Noooo.
It’s goes wherever it goes and takes you, and the writer, which is me, along.
Things don’t always match up the way imagined, like writing a post of great importance that gets five hits.
What was it lacking?

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CAUTIOUS BABY BOOMER BLOGGER VISION

As a cautious baby boomer blogger harvesting stories and insights for more than four thousand (4031) blog posts running seven hundred and fifty words each, on average, comes to more than three million words.
Divide that by 90,000, the sweet spot number of words in a novel, and if I were a novelist I’d have written thirty three books by now.
Instead, I wrote, and continue to write, boomerpdx.
For that I blame higher education, college, grades 13-16, or 17, depending on your schedule.
There I was, a happy moron, happy to be dense, happy let it ride any which way life turned.
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toughen up

PORTLAND STORY THEATER TELLS THE TALE AT WILLAMETTE WRITERS

  Lawrence Howard and Lynne Duddy ran the first Willamette Writers meeting of 2018. For all the wishes for a Happy New Year still echoing, their presentation confirmed the idea.   I came in right as they started and found a seat in the back, the last seat open. I start every meeting with high […]

A BOOMERPDX ‘MOST READ’ REVIEW

Why is “BLACK TAR HEROIN, SAM QUINONES, AND DREAMLAND” the most read? This week’s Most Read tally: Home page / Archives 96 BLACK TAR HEROIN, SAM QUINONES, AND DREAMLAND 57 PRESIDENTIAL BIRDS? YOU CAN’T BLAME DONALD TRUMP 11 HOW TO WRITE AN ARTIST REVIEW, pt 1 11 WHEN THE WRITTEN WORD IS? STOP SIGN 10 […]

GUN TALK THE WRONG WAY … AGAIN

Raw Story posted a gun column about white men and guns. It was the sort of gun talk white men with guns shouldn’t identify with. “White men stockpile guns because they’re scared of black people and feel inadequate, science says.” That’s the rawstory title. It’s raw, but even more, it’s lazy, but a site called […]

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boomer years

SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL. OR JUST DRUGS

How To Live Next To A Heroin House. A move to the suburbs in most cities means a move away from drugs and crime. Not Portland, Oregon. My inner eastside apartment was too dangerous for a young family. Houses had metal barred windows and bad yards. The juice was never changing. It was a bad […]

WHO ARE D-DAY MILLENNIALS

You’ve seen comments for D-Day Millennials on social media. It’s not good, those comments. They start with remarks on a ‘safe place’ and move to ‘what kind of pussified men are we raising?’ Consider the sources if you can. Unless it’s Sergeant Rock talking, don’t get too concerned. Most of the time it’s men and […]

A DIFFERENT PORTLAND, A DIFFERENT TIME

Today’s city is a different Portland than anyone expected from it’s past. I walked the hard pavement of NW 14th street toward Burnside, the Mason Dixon Line of Portland. I crossed against the light, skipping past a new chain tavern, leaving behind a music store with too much exposure through its showroom windows. I angled […]

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buckle up

NW Boomer Travel, pt.2

From Empire To Enterprise Do you need proof that Oregon qualifies as a European nation? It’s more than the beer, but that’s a good start, ja? Oregon is one of the few states, maybe only state, that holds such a huge variety of road trips. For example, find a map and run your finger from […]

TWO MARRIED GUYS MAP DATE LIFE

What else would two married guys do? The beauty of public transportation comes with the people you meet. Two old men waited at a Portland bus stop. Late afternoon drizzle fell on the city through fading light. The sun made little effort to split the clouds over the Willamette River. Man 1: It felt like […]

BIRD WHISPERER OF TUALATIN NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Try and count the times you’ve learned something new only to find it something as old as time. And you didn’t learn anything new at all except for being wrong about what you thought you knew. Like birds.   A bird whisperer visited the wildlife sanctuary just past the junkyard on Highway 99 before Sherwood […]

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