American History Archives • DAVIDPDX

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WHY AUTHENTIC MUSEUMS STILL MATTER

January 3, 2026 by David Gillaspie

I’ve been inside authentic museums of all kinds, from the Gene Autry Museum of the American West, to the Petersen Automotive Museum, to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. They all come with a suspension of disbelief. Does everything have to be perfect? Noooooo. But they do have to be authentic.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, American History, american museums, artifacts, authentic, authentic museums, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blogger, boomerpdx, education, future, go wrong, historical artifacts, history, ignorance, Love, make sense, millennial kids, museum, museums, passive ignorance, read, responsible, story, travel, uncertain future, where is this going, woolworths, work it out, write, writer, writers, writing

SENIOR WRITER FOR BOOMERPDX

December 4, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Senior writer is an inside joke, senior moment not so much. That’s the moment you do something and get asked, “Why did you do that?” And you don’t have an answer. Or the answer you give doesn’t make sense. Even to you. That’s when you make up a whole universe to cover your slip, or […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: 1970's, American History, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blog build out, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, compare, education, fool, gather thoughts, get help, lost decade, modern life, self hosting, senior, senior moment, senior writer, wordpress, Wordpress platform, writer, writers, writing, writing spirit

BEST BUSINESS PRACTICE? MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

September 12, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The best business practice is managing cash flow. Ordinarily, a bad cash flow is the way a business dies, drowning little by little, month by month, in unpaid bills. Am I business man? Noooo. But I do pay attention. For example:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American, American History, best business practice, blog traffic, boomerpdx, brut, business, business practice, business savant, cash flow, china, Chinese, do right, expectations, hai karate, history, insights, invest, long weekend, married men, money, my readers, professional lives, readers, rental business, role model, savant, slum lord, smart guy, standards, value

GOOD EXPECTATIONS, VARIED RESULTS

August 20, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Good expectations, not great, are the more reasonable expectations for most people. Even when you harbor feelings of greatness, who would you tell without sounding like a nut-job? Yes, I hear you with your, “But Muhammad Ali . . .” He was ‘The Greatest’ and proved it over an over, until he became what all […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American civil war, American History, art, autobiography, big jobs, black market, cancer, Civil War, death camps, diverse interests, expectations, family historian, General Eisenhower, general grant, good expectations, good teachers, great expectations, history, history buff, history museum, I like Ike, jobs, literature, loss, memoir, monuments men, muhammad Ali, museum men, museum mistake, plunder, primary sources, racial, racial profiling, reasonable expectations, serious research, teachers, The Greatest, throat cancer, WWII

DEAR DOCTOR, IT HURTS WHEN I DO THIS

July 15, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Who dreams of telling their dear doctor what hurts and they make it all better? Me, I do, and so does everyone who ever had a ‘hitch in their get-along.’ That’s what my Dad called the way our old babysitter Violet’s way of walking. She had a rolling gait on one side, what I now […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American, American History, Baby Boomers, Benzos, blood thinners, dangerous symptoms, dear doctor, doctor, doctor appointments, downward spiral, failure, followers, help out, history, intentional ignorance, it hurts, keep fighting, leading voices, liquid oxy, mental health, Michael Jordan, millennials, oxy, pharmacy, prescription, resisting, scientific, scientific method, statins, superstar, temptation, winning

COST OF VICTORY FROM HISTORY

March 14, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The cost of victory, American victory, is ongoing. And it should be. Here’s why: After finishing the assigned reading list for an American History degree I noticed repeated behavior: The losers get paid. Why, you ask? Here’s why:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: aggressor nation, America, American civil war, American History, cost, cost of victory, Death, Eastern Europe, economy, education, Europe, financial aid, germany, history, history degree, history test, holocaust, ignorant message, iron curtain, japan, manila, nanking, peaceful world, reading, reading history, sweet talk, the south, the standard, U.S., USSR, victory, writer, WWII

INSPIRATION NEEDED? HERE YOU GO

June 14, 2024 by David Gillaspie

When is inspiration needed? Right now? Yesterday? Whoever you are, wherever you are, things could be better. At least that’s the common rule of thumb. But better than what becomes the question.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American History, american way, bad man, cheat, cheating, church, college, divine status, education, good man, inspiration, inspiration needed, liar, lying, news organization, scummy man, Social media, unknown story

FRAGILE MEN CLUB? YOU’RE ALREADY SIGNED UP

April 24, 2024 by David Gillaspie

Fragile men had no place in Western American history stories about the savage frontier and cruel hardships. Nor in the early industrialization with mighty oil, steel, and railroad barons casting their deepening shadows across the land. Writers found other virtues to extoll other than common frailties. The western frontier needed stories of valor and sacrifice […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American History, american west, bitterness, Death, fragile men, fragile men club, frontier, heroes, historian, history buffs, men, Oregon, Oregon Trail, pioneers, racist, regret, sacrifice, scholars, solitude, the west, valor, virtues, western frontier, western history, write about, writers

BIRTH WATERS: YOUR RIVER, LAKE, OR BAY. OKAY, AND OCEAN

November 6, 2023 by David Gillaspie

Birth waters are usually called ‘breaking waters.’ I’ll get back to that. For now let’s say “Birth Waters,” and leave the amniotic fluid for later. Let’s throw in some suspension of disbelief while we’re at it, okay?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, American History, better future, birth waters, blog, blogger, BOOMER, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, breaking waters, Constitution, cruel streak, cruelty, dear reader, education, history, link, local history, memory, San Francisco, trust, water source, writer, writing

AMERICAN STORIES: MOVING ON TO NEW LAND

July 4, 2023 by David Gillaspie

American stories in early Oregon were about pioneers, travel, and hard work. How hard? As hard as it’s ever been clearing land by hand. But first they had to get here. And they’re still coming.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American, American History, American stories, american story, blog, blogger, boomerpdx, current events, indigenous people, moving, nature, Oregon, Oregon future, Oregon History, Oregon Trail, Portland, Portland Oregon, stories, writing