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BASIC APPRECIATION OF COMMON THINGS

A basic appreciation is important for context.
Things are usually more complicated than they seem.
A brick is a brick, just some fired up mud, until you see them working together.
In the hands of a skilled craftsman, a brick is a jewel.
What else deserves a second look? A towel rack.
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TALKING DOWN TO SOMEONE? WHY

How can you tell when someone is talking down to you?
It might be the clarification questions you ask that gets them annoyed to the point of explaining everything a few times, very slowly.
Or it might their regular way of communicating.
Which leads to more questions, like, “Why be a jerk?
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FALLING LEAVES OF AUTUMN

Falling leaves are the rule of the season.
The only place without a carpet of leaves is a parking garage.
But that’s Oregon, famous for trees.
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toughen up

AMERICAN CTE: FOOTBALL AND DRIVING

The last thing good baby boomer helicopter parents wanted was their precious getting his brain rattled loose. But they have friends, friends with dads who coach youth football. “I hear your boy’s a good kicker. He want to play some ball?” And he’s on the team, from sixth grade kicker to pulling guard on a […]

CANCER STORIES: FEEDING PUBLIC FEAR AND PRIVATE WOE

Things you’ll never know until you get cancer, any cancer:   You’ll either be an object of sympathy, or an antenna of sympathy. Or both.   “Keep up the fight,” or, “You’re a fighter,” or “You look like you’ve got this thing whipped.”   That’s what I heard after running Hood To Coast at 49 […]

Neck Cancer … What Is It Good For … Absolutely Nothing

A reader left a comment recently that moved me to respond in a universal way.   Hey Patrick,   Thanks for coming over to boomerpdx. A quick question: How did you find me and this topic. I write about it a lot, but not too many show up in comments like you. I’m glad you’ll […]

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boomer years

OBAMA FAREWELL SPEECH, OR CITIZENSHIP CLASS

President Obama farewell speech a study in civics.   At the crossroads of history, President Obama gave his last big goodbye. The heart of his farewell? The Constitution. You’d expect different from a Constitution scholar with twelve years in the classroom? Like a great politician, a showman for the ages, he did it in Chicago […]

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, RIGHT OR WRONG

The wrong questions and answers still get the right words. All parents have heard questions from their kids that made them think they’ve both gone over the topic before. And they probably have, but that’s no excuse for ignoring any question from a kid. They want answers and you’re the answer man, the answer woman, […]

LAST BABY

When you’ve got the last baby of your baby boomer cohort. Do kids wear parents out? Look at your parents for that answer, but what about parents your own age when you have kids? They’ve already seen it all, done it all, got all the t-shirts. Now you’ve got the last baby. You wake up […]

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buckle up

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.   […]

PORTLAND STREETS WITH BOOMERPDX, pt 1: THE BIKE

A Look Back At A 1980’s Bike/Car Conflict On Northwest 21st. What do you call an apartment living, bike riding, Portlander? Today they’re called hipsters. They either bike, walk, or take mass transit like eastcoasters. Maybe hipsters have always been here, but the name sounds too lame to claim. Hippie? Okay, it’s been around. Hipster? […]

BECK’S IN PORTLAND BEER CITY

A Euro-problem For Portland Beer? Or Just Me. In the beginning there was Blitz, the baby boomer’s original Portland beer. You can still see the remains of that other urban brewery around NW 12th and Burnside’s Brewery Blocks. It’s a nice re-use of an area instead of complete tear down. What isn’t around is the […]

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