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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?
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toughen up

Portland Mole Removal

  How many Portland baby boomers remember when they were pregnant, or their significant others were pregnant?   Didn’t the world seem full of pregnant women?   They were everywhere and you were part of it.   Then you had your baby and you didn’t notice as many pregnant women. Instead you saw a million kids. […]

CANCER ESSAY GIVES DIRECTIONS TO ‘CANCERLAND’ AND BACK

    The ties that bind us are few and far between. Instead of vines like Tarzan’s jungle swing time, they’re more like rope climb in junior high gym class.   You get to the top and back down and collect your honor: another chance to climb to the rope top and touch the roof […]

CANCER IN THE CANCER CLOSET: GROWING TREND

  “The first time we got cancer we told everybody. We gathered the team and cheered.” It’s a good idea to rally the troops, focus the force. Then cancer-time sets in. One day. The next. Weeks. Months. “How do you feel?” “Are you feeling better?” “You must be exhausted. Are you exhausted?” You don’t want […]

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boomer years

THE MISGUIDED BABY BOOMER

Won’t Get Fooled Again? Place Your Bet. Growing up, little boomer never questioned why anyone would smoke in the house. With a carton of Red in the freezer and ashtrays on every table, what are you supposed to do? Complain? To who? Then you go to college and find smokers everywhere, just like home, except […]

1947 – The Highlights Of Baby Boomer Year #2

PART 2 OF A CONTINUING SERIES Reality TV is born. Early television finds its mark broadcasting events in the U.S. Congress for the first time, then the World Series. The complaint, “Man, there’s nothing good on TV,” was first heard. Voice of America. Eastern Europe and the old USSR begin tuning into the broadcasts of […]

LIFE MARATHON ENDS EARLY FOR QUITTERS

    You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, we’ve both felt it. We’re tired and don’t know why, because a life marathon doesn’t have a finish line. Eating right, getting rest, and still tired. Is it a baby boomer lament, or just the way it is? Maybe it’s time to sit it out for the […]

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buckle up

KEN KESEY, SOMETIMES A GREAT OREGON IN KERNVILLE

Kernville house for Ken Kesey’s Sometimes A Great Notion In some parts of America I balk at driving the back roads. I drive on, but carefully. Those roads show more about a shared history if you look hard enough. The Siletz Highway, OR 229 headed east off of 101 north of Depoe Bay, is one […]

MEXICO TRAVEL: PUERTO VALLARTA PERFECTION, pt3

    The top down view from the seventh floor in Old Vallarta, or Viejo Vallarta, to the square.   Is it Frida Kahlo’s turquoise house? It’s the right color.   If it part of the Kahlo catalogue, she’s got octopus on her self portrait.   But it’s not Frida. Not enough eyebrow.  

PORTLAND FEVER: 1980-1990

    After walking around Manhattan and finding the perfect neighborhood, I wanted to find that neighborhood in Portland. When I did it started Portland fever.   Northwest Portland in late spring reminded me of Greenwich Village on a smaller scale. Like most everything compared to NYC, smaller is normal. Smaller buildings, smaller stores up […]

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