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LISTENING PRACTICE: START SOONER THAN LATER

Listening practice with Ernest Hemingway: “We learn to talk by two, we learn to listen by sixty.” That he was dead at sixty-one says something about his listening skills? Nooooooo.

HARD RAIN FALLING, GUTTERS OVERFLOWING, NOW WHAT?

I’ve got a hard rain falling in drops you can see. Not the usual drizzle, not a sheet of water, but individual drops spaced and timed to perfection. It’s cold out, the kind of day that makes you think of other places you’ve heard about, seen on advertisements, the kind of cold and wet people […]

ON REMEMBERING ANNIVERSARIES

My wife is great for remembering anniversaries and birthdays. It’s an encyclopedic memory of family, friends, and pretty much anyone who has ever been born. At least that’s what it feels like in comparison to her husband, who is more selective. I remember plenty, I’m not saying I don’t, but ask me the birthday of […]

LIVING HERE? LIVING THERE? KEEP IT UP

Whether living here, or wherever, it’s getting easier to see a different image, where things look tight. How tight? Reddit has an idea of how tight. But I’m thinking tighter with more people in smaller spaces. I’ll start at the beginning, a one room ‘studio’ on NW Lovejoy, Portland, Oregon at the top of a […]

EVERYBODY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE? GET OVER IT

Q: Where are you from? A: All over the place. Q: Where did you grow up? A: It’s a long list.

WHY AUTHENTIC MUSEUMS STILL MATTER

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.

NEW YEARS DAY WITH OREGON DUCKS

My thanks go to the Oregon Ducks on New Years Day. Because of this college football team I watched three games in a row. With my wife. First, we talked:

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY DOES THE WORK OF TWO

The entertainment industry is where you go with time to kill and you don’t workout. Pick up a book, a screen, go to a play. The last one, go to a play, is different because now you have to make plans for your anticipated spare time, which means scheduling, which is another word for work. […]

GENTLE SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD TIMES

Who doesn’t make gentle suggestions? Call it good manners if you know the difference between a request and an order. ‘Would you please help me?’ instead of, ‘Get over here and make yourself useful.’ This happened recently:

COLD WAR HISTORY FOR BABY BOOMER BEGINNERS

The Cold War? Even the name sounds dismissive. Are today’s students reading it and thinking, ‘No one got killed like a Hot War so what’s the big deal? Wasn’t it more peaceful after WWII?’ I know I did. But history isn’t about picking and choosing, hunting and pecking. It’s about the slow roll of time […]