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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

WEAPONS FOR HOME DEFENSE: WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

    Home defense begins in the home, but you knew that. The real question of weapons and home defense starts with location, location, location.   I met a Portland man who bought a former crack house. Customers who didn’t get the press report on the crack wire crawled through his windows for a year. […]

CANCER TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE

How far has cancer technology come? The machine in the picture delivers radiation therapy, radio therapy, prescribed by radiation oncologists. It looks like it belongs on the wing of a jet. Standing about six feet tall, five feet deep, it hooks into the patient related gear in the treatment room. I used to show up […]

WHAT SEVERE ILLNESS MEANS TO OTHERS

  Under the category of ‘Who Knew’, severe illness opens the door to compassion. And it’s not all about you.   Talk between cancer survivors is one thing; talk between a cancer survivor and someone untouched launches other topics. Some survivors are good listeners, others see the open door and rush right through.   That […]

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boomer years

World’s Factory: China Fills Big Box America To The Brim

  The world’s factory, otherwise known as China, fills big box America from Costco to Target to Walmart.   From Home Depot to Lowe’s the world’s factory supplies America with the suburban necessities.   If it’s electronic components, or sporty textiles, or steel, look for the Made in China tag. You won’t have to look […]

HIGH GROUND TO VIETNAM VET MEMORIAL: a photo essay

“The high ground is good.” That’s what the old timer said. “And there’s not so many people.” I found him under the Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial bridge, sitting in a lawn chair and handing out pamphlets on Veteran’s Day. Had his car parked on one side of a flowerbed and a walkway without a […]

SANDWICH GENERATION GRANDY MAKES THE RIGHT CALL

I am in a storage space in my house throwing away rings of gauze and squirt bottles of skin care and wound cleaner. It’s a throwback moment with Grandy, my mother in law who passed two years ago. If I had PTSD I would have been thrown back. Instead it was a sweet memory. But […]

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buckle up

BEST SELF HELP? DRIVE PORTLAND TO LAKE TAHOE

  If you need the best self help run in America, take a drive I hear you asking now, “But, Dave, where do we go?” Not Europe. Save that for family and get blamed for museum and cathedral nightmares. For this episode of Get Lost, you only need two words: Lake. Tahoe. Or three words: […]

HIKING BABY BOOMER PORTLAND, pt. 2

An incredible part of the city is feeling like you’re never far from the woods. There’s always a clearing, a trail to follow. And it feels safe enough to dive right in there. On a Friday I stopped on SW Terwilliger in between appointments. This is the road on the side of the hill below […]

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? […]

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