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MUSIC MUSCLE: USE IT OR LOSE IT

Where is the music muscle? In your fingertips? In your ear? In your voice? No wrong answer here. It’s all three, but there’s still something missing. Whether it’s ambient noise, sounds, notes, or whether it’s so important you buy tickets and make travel plans, there’s something about music I still don’t get. On one hand […]

THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP, OR WHY YOU DON’T HAVE ANY FRIENDS

If you want to experience friendship, have friends, be generous. Loan money, loan tools, loan your car. That’s also the way to experience friendlessness when they don’t repay, return, and crash your car. The other way is spending time together. My wife says I don’t have any friends because the only people I spend time […]

UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL EMOTIONS BY WEATHER

My California girl wife discovered regional emotions in her business. With empathy and experience she learned more about people by where they we’re from than where they are. I helped out with my research, and The Beach Boys. She grew up in the next town over from them.

NW PORTLAND FROM 1980 TO YESTERDAY

I take snap shots of NW Portland, not out of nostalgia but celebration, where you walk past buildings like this block after block. It’s the only area in town where authentic city life happens, where new people arrive, settle in, and walk from apartment to work. That’s the plan, the dream, and when it works […]

YOU SEE IT YOUR WAY, I SEE IT MINE? IT’S THE SAME GAP

And now, the end is near And so I face, the final curtain   Wait. What? That’s the story? That’s all there is? You want it your way, you get it your way, and now this? Nooooo. Nope. Not quite. There’s more.   My friend, I’ll say it clear I’ll state my case, of which […]

TO MY DEAR READER, FROM A BLOG

Dear reader is plural, but writers are told to focus on just one person, and since I’m the writer around here . . . Hopefully it’s a focus on the right reader? The last thing I need is learning how my posts led a reader astray. From me to you: DO NOT GO ASTRAY. DON’T […]

WHAT IS INDOCTRINATION AND WHERE CAN I GET ONE

Welcome to Indoctrination Class. This is your instructor. No, not really, it’s just me after a reader commented on my attempts to sway people, to pull them closer, to my way of thinking. Imagine that. I’m still scratching my head. But, I don’t disagree. I do try and sway people to my way of thinking. […]

DO WHAT MATTERS BECAUSE YOU MATTER

When you find yourself asking ‘what really matters anymore’ the correct answer is ‘You matter,’ which isn’t a problem until you start doing weird shit to prove it. Like what? Look around, get the news, and some days it seems like there’s an effort being made to make you feel like you don’t matter. How […]

GIVING BACK TO PORTLAND STARTS WITH A TOUR GUIDE

Giving back sounds like something you do just before dying. It’s either the death of the giver, or the death of the receiver. Now I know what you might be thinking: give back, or give up? Neither one fits the bill of the giving back I’m doing, which is?

PICK A SIDE AND STAY THERE, OR NOT

What’s the problem when you pick a side? You’re stuck. You talked the talk, walked the walk, then something changed. But you’re stuck. Either stay on the bus as it goes off the bridge, or hit your eject button.