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OLD PORTLAND, YOUNG PARENTS

Make that old Portland, youngish parents.
Or not so old Portland, and not so young parents.
We weren’t teenagers, but if you ever want to feel like one push a stroller around downtown.
With two kids it’s like a double punishment, like sent to your room AND missing dinner.
What else?
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LET THEM, LET YOU, OR LET ME?

The Let Them Theory book has a lot of lets in the letters.
My favorites are the parts that address my problems, which come with a writing habit from what I can tell.
Will I discover why I’m not a better writer?
Learn what I should have done by now, or find a lingering message to get over myself already?
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NORTH BEND HEROES START HERE

 Calling North Bend a small town is a disservice to real small towns everywhere.
Driving south on 101 and crossing the North Bend Bridge takes you under this sign.
If you’re not paying close attention and keep going the same direction, the entire area of the largest metro complex on the Oregon coast feels like it’s all North Bend, especially if you miss the little coos bay sign.
How can the biggest city on the coast be a small town?
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READING HISTORY LIKE IT MEANS SOMETHING?

Reading history is the same as reading a story, but it comes with a bonus:
You can check the validity of the history story, check the sources, visit the places history happened and is still happening.
When old people check sources it’s because they have nothing else to do?
Baby boomers visit historical sites not to learn anything new, but to confirm their already established believes?
If this sounds like a load of crap, you are correct.
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THE LONG VIEW

As most people eighteen and over know, there is a future and they will be in it.
The big question is where?
At least it should be a big question unless you come from ‘down in the valley where mister when you’re young, they bring you up do to like your daddy done.’
Those guys never had to figure things out too much, like where will they be five years from now, and five years after that.
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toughen up

CANCER STIGMA VS HPV16 THROAT CANCER STIGMA

Recent posts on my trials with cancer reached forty out of fifty states in America. That’s the reach map for boomerpdx from google analytics.   The shaded states have the most readers. The white states forgot to check in. Does it make the shaded states better. Yes, it does, but only until they shade in. […]

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 TREATMENT NEEDS THE ROCKY TALK FROM DR. BALBOA

When you need a pep talk who do you listen too? I go to Rocky Balboa for the good stuff. When he started out with, “Let me tell you something you already know,” he had me hooked. It’s like the doctor telling me I’ve got HPV16 tongue cancer. He had my attention. He told me […]

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boomer years

AGING IN PLACE MEANS LIVING IN PEACE

Baby Boomers yearn for an Aging in Place state of mind. If all we are asking is give peace a chance, why not ask for more, like a peaceful place to live? This aging behemoth of a generation, these Baby Boomers, are asking for more. They say they want to age in place, like aging […]

THE SOUND OF CIVIC DUTY

Ask An Academic Professional About Civic Duty And Listen Hard. You won’t hear about their civic duty or your civic duty, but the shared community. Might not be your community either. Keep listening. Civic duty is more than boundaries and lines drawn on a map, they say. An academic pro, the teacher, counselor, the administrator, […]

BOOMERPDX ARCHIVE, c. 1983

1-10-83 (Monday) A former Oregon governor died last Saturday. Tom McCall breathed his last in the hospital up the street. Good Samaritan. A student nurse in my building cared for him at the end. She said he’s a great guy. Everyone says it. He seems like someone you’d like to know. Oregon history’s Tom Vaughan […]

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buckle up

LADY DAY PLAYS BOOMERPDX BAR AND GRILL

“Most men won’t go to live theater with their wives,” was an observation my wife shared. We were walking out of Portland Center Stage at the Armory on NW 11th by Powell’s Tuesday night when she said it. I was revved up after seeing LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL. “Did I ever thank […]

WOODEN BOATS, EARTH DAY, DEPOE BAY, OREGON CRAB. AND BEER

What do you call fooling around with wooden boats? Fun. That’s what Ratty says: “There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of ’em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or […]

LIFE REBOOT IN OREGON STARTS WITH A COLD SHOWER

      Finding water for an Oregon life reboot cold shower is not problem. Fourth biggest river, rains half a year, and this stuff cascading down cliffs. If you need a life reboot, be chill.

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