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TAKING PART IN FAMILY LIFE

Family life takes time. Ask the Baldwins with their seven kids.
Keep that in mind, you youngsters, when you decide it’s time to join in.
Join the club, the family club, sooner than later.
Why?
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THE TRUTH, GETTING A HANDLE

Getting a handle on the truth shouldn’t be a big hurdle to clear.
All it takes is a little self-awareness.
The truth is your friend if you’re not too sketchy.
Will it set you free? Well . . .
It depends on the sort of shackles your used to.
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‘DOING RESEARCH’ AND OTHER EXCUSES

What counts as doing research?
For writers it’s an easy answer: Everything is research.
And because everything is research, the trick is finding what matters more.
Is it writing about where you are, how you feel, the people you’re with?
The correct answer? All of the above.
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TWO STORIES + ONE MAN = GREAT LITERATURE? OK LEO

Where does great literature come from?
From more than two stories, but first about ‘that man.’
The great literature man.
Where does he come from?
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GRACE AND DIGNITY FOR AGING MILLENNIALS

I became my ‘brother’s keeper’ through misjudgment, and it wasn’t my brother but my father in-law.
Same idea, though. I think it’s the same idea.
And it was misjudgment, not a mistake.
What happened?
[Read More…]

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toughen up

STEP UP TO THE JUICE BAR, BOOMER

Have One On The House. Doing a juice fast usually means one thing: lots of juice. Finishing a juice fast usually means one thing, too: no more juice. Neither is true. I just finished eight days of adapted juice fasting. Instead of going hardcore juicer, I adapted to a restricted calorie, limited choice diet, to […]

IAN KARMEL’S BOOMER GYM ALERT

Based On Ian Karmel And Everything As F##k: A Warning Voice From His Generation To Boomers. Too many fitness fanatics urge us to better health. And we ignore them. You can’t ignore Ian Karmel. The Portland comedian and Portland Mercury columnist writes about his gym experience, the same gym experience boomers have been dodging. What […]

NORMAL TO NEW NORMAL A SHORTER WALK

    Exercise geeks always have something wrong. Not the biggest complainers in any room I’m in, but it’s always something. Why? Because small nagging aches and pains are proof of a finely tuned machine.   Like a racehorse where every muscle glistens down the backstretch. Or a fastball pitcher, guys who look like their […]

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boomer years

HIKING BABY BOOMER PORTLAND, pt 1

Not one to miss a chance to reflect positively, I strolled Portland’s upper west side from 11th and PSU to the Central Library. It makes sense on the first Tuesday of each month. That’s when Willamette Writers, the largest writing organization in the state, holds its month meeting. I head down early on those days […]

7 WAYS TO ANSWER “HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS?”

The question asked by everyone who sees your place just before a major clean up. You’ll never hear anyone ask, “How do people live like this?” They say it in the car on the way home, or on the phone with their friends. You get caught by surprise just before laundry day, yard day, or […]

ROLLING STONE AND PLAYBOY BOTH DIED IN 1980. WHO NOTICED?

  Growing up in the shadow of the sixties, I turned sixteen in 1970, two magazines ruled the media rack: Rolling Stone and Playboy.   Ten years later in 1980 two icons from each were murdered. John Lennon and Dorothy Stratten were both shot down in tragic style.   Rolling Stone and Playboy did a […]

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buckle up

Edward Hopper’s Portland?

The Perfect Painter For Dark Days Of The Soul. You’re not the first Portland baby boomer to wake up on a Sunday with no NFL games that matter. No early game, no late game, no Football Night In America game. You’re depressed, but don’t want to admit it’s because of no football. College ball is […]

Cultural Exchange Without Leaving Home

  Last night my cultural exchange student, better said as ‘our’ cultural exchange student, prepared dinner for seven.   And the kid can cook.   I know the difference when someone mails it in from the kitchen. How? Because someone I know tried doing it for years.   Me.   Now I’m much better and […]

OREGON REST STOP GEORGE

Oregon Rest Stop Is The Best On The West Coast. No one stops at an Oregon rest stop just for the toilet. There’s so much more to do. Walk the dog in the dog yard, picnic tables, and a break from the people you’ve been cooped up with for hours is more important than the […]

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