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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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PIE DELIVERY FROM NICOLETTA’S TABLE

Pie delivery is easy with such elegant packages.
Two pies, pumpkin and pecan, all wrapped and ready.
Nicoletta’s Kitchen is full of surprises.
But how do they get from point A to point B?
Me.
[Read More…]

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toughen up

PORTLAND MOLE REMOVAL

  You’ve heard about the importance of the right words at the right time?   The following is a patient review that every professional dreams of.   One day we should all be so lucky.  

WINNING THE PAIN GAME

Beat The Pain Game, Then The Withdrawal Game. One of the regulars came in today, though not on his cherried out Harley. Wet and cold is no way to ride a hog if you don’t have to. Said he’d been out a couple of weeks for shoulder surgery. Five places on his shoulder got opened […]

Health Writing? Start With Cancer And Drill Down

  Health writing is about bringing hope to the afflicted. Cancer writing, not so much. One is about the future and the steps to make it better. The other is layered with dread.   One is about improving conditions, about personal bests, about gains; the other is layered with dread.   Health writing brings nutrition, […]

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boomer years

Life Long Learners Get Life Lesson Whether They Learn Or Not

Life Lessons start early for writers, then they spend years figuring it out enough to make a joke, a poem, a short story, novella, novel. Maybe more, like a groundbreaking memoir. If it’s worth learning, it’s worth writing about to drill it in. Like most children of my generation, baby boomers, I had it made […]

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 […]

AMERICAN VOTER, THE REAL CAMPAIGN WINNER

A challenge for the American Voter? Who said the biggest part of a job is showing up? American voter knows their job, know where to go. Will they show up in the sort of numbers that reinforce participatory democracy? That’s the idea on the ballot, other wise, why bother? The ballot American voter drops on […]

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buckle up

LEARNING FROM WHERE YOU LIVE, PT2: BABY BOOMER ERA

  The baby boomer era state of mind.   What is there to learn from the baby boomer era? Every passing year the nostalgia grows stronger, but that doesn’t change history. Consider the boomer time line from 1946-1964. The oldest boomers were twenty year olds in 1966. The youngest were twenty in 1984. My cohort […]

PORTLAND PLANNING VIEW FROM SOUTH WATERFRONT

    Does the top pic look anything like a Portland planning Christmas card? Stacked apartments dot the SW Portland landscape like a vision of Chicago from the Sears Tower.   That’s not the welcome mat Portland planning rolls out for new pioneers. Where’s that world famous food cart court next to a tap room? […]

PORTLAND’S BOOMER CASTLE ON BROADWAY

You don’t have to go to France to feel the grandeur of a beautiful room. Or a cathedral in Spain for the ornate. Walk into the Benson Hotel on Broadway for the same feeling of WOW. The size is different, but the details are wonderful. For an Old World taste in the New World, this […]

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