page contents Google

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?
[Read More…]

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.
[Read More…]

‘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.
[Read More…]

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?
[Read More…]

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…]

More Posts from this Category

toughen up

CANCER TREATMENT: 5 THINGS I KNEW BEFORE STARTING

    I will submit to the cancer treatment sequence of events that may or may not do what is predicted. Like a lamb to slaughter, I would submit to whatever it took to kill the shit out of hpv16 throat cancer.   In the writing world we all dream of that one ‘YES’ that […]

GUN SAFETY TEEN TALK 2018, WHAT TO SAY

What can you tell teens about guns that they haven’t already heard? Don’t worry about embarrassing yourself by repeating an old message like, “Don’t shoot anyone.” If you’re a certain age there’s little to do that won’t make you an embarrassment. It may feel like you’re speaking a foreign language. So what is the right […]

MEMORIAL DAY AT THE VA

Memoir: How To Make A Difference On Memorial Day. In the early 80’s a man moved to Portland from New York City. An Oregon man. He moved in with the best girl he’d ever known. Up until then. She was THE ONE, if one ever existed. Up until then. Keep in mind those who think […]

More Posts from this Category

boomer years

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: TWO BABY BOOMERS TALK ABOUT IT

The last question you want to ask a combat vet is, “Did you kill anyone?” Just figure they did and if they want you to know, they’ll tell you. The last thing you want to ask a boomer is, “Did your parents and teachers physically abuse you as a child?” We come from an era […]

THE WAY WE WERE, THE WAY WE’LL BE

“In a way, he was like the country he lived in. Things came too easily to him.” In more than one way, Hubbell was like the soft handed little liberals who’ve always had it too easy, wouldn’t you say? They always know what’s best for everyone else while they carry on their dark secrets. Well, the […]

NATIONAL VIETNAM VETERAN DRILL SERGEANT DAY

    By the time of September, 1974, people joining the armed forces knew they wouldn’t go to Vietnam. At least the people who kept up with the Vietnam War knew, and keeping up was as easy as watching the six o’clock news.   Back then joining the Army wasn’t the same as being drafted, […]

More Posts from this Category

buckle up

Air Oregon My Oregon Paradise West Of Cascades

      For a moment let’s skip the romanticized view of the state. The brown patches across these images are clear cut lumber sections, replanted with more trees. Why are they brown? It’s not because of brown trees. Air Oregon shows too much.   Oregon, My Oregon via Oregon Blue Book, music by Henry […]

LEARNING FROM WHERE YOU LIVE, PT.1: NORTH BEND

    Ask the North Bend question. In a reflective moment that soon passed, I asked my Dad which of us grew up in a rougher town. I felt certain he’d say his town, Ryderwood. Ryderwood was a logging camp town, a company town with a company store. The one thing all logging company towns […]

DEAR SASQUATCH! IT DISAPPEARED, BUT I GOT THE PICS

    How can this be the end of Sasquatch!? It was my first time and now it’s over?   My impression? I should have signed up earlier, but probably not last year.   People camping near us gave a round up of great times. It was their fifth Sasquatch!

More Posts from this Category