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MUSICAL ENDURANCE CLASS FOR THE NON-MUSICAL

Musical endurance means hitting the same note over and over the rest of your life. Sounds easy, right? Because it is. If you were one of the gifted, the lucky, the special, you started early and have been doing it your whole life. However, if that’s not you, play the blues in E. That’s your […]

SEVEN SUMMITS OF BULL MOUNTAIN

Seven summits mean one thing to mountain climbers: They’ve gone all the way and can’t get much higher. The rest of us can only dream of what it takes to climb and climb and climb again. But what if you have a mountain near by? How about a hill?

ONE PORTLAND BABY BOOMER DECADE

My Portland baby boomer decade began in 1980. It began when I stepped off the bus after a three day ride from Manhattan. (Hey, B.) For twenty-six year old me it was a life changer. By 1990 I was heading out.

CALM SURRENDER LIFESTYLE, AND DOG TRAINING

The first I’d heard of ‘calm surrender’ came from a chemo clinic nurse. I asked her what someone like me was supposed to do during cancer treatment. She said surrender calmly. I told her Gillaspie isn’t a French name. Nurse Michel was not amused, but she was right.

DIALECT STORIES TOLD IN TONGUES

Based on a particular vocabulary, all stories are dialect stories. From Mark Twain to Forrest Gump, and every stop in between. But what happens when language jumps off the page with directions, or recipes, or, wait for it: Feelings?

ATTENTION ECONOMY SPENDING CAP

Google’s response to ‘Attention Economy’ is “About 569,000,000 results (0.47 seconds).” I didn’t read them all, but the first few referred to the ‘so-called’ attention economy. ‘So-called’ because no one wants to be shamed for thinking there’s such a thing as an attention economy? Look at that top picture. What’s it say? More than you want […]

GAME CLOCK FUN? IT’S ALWAYS RUNNING

The game clock of life runs and runs, and it’s running fast. We still like to think we all start the same. No one notices the difference since we’re so busy doing other things. Maybe you’re heard that life happens when you’re doing other things? What other things?

LOVE LIFE HISTORY OF THE BABY BOOMER

For a successful love life you need to make the decision all English majors make: Do you throw yourself into the fire, or coast along for the ride? Do the required reading? Or go to Cliff Notes? Checking in on an old Baby Boomer favorite from Facebook.

REBUILDING PORTLAND A LITTLE AT A TIME

Rebuilding Portland means one thing: acknowledge what’s broken and fix it. What’s broken? The biggest thing broken is believing Portland is worth the effort. But how do you rebuild trust? You need to go out and find it.

BOOMER MISTAKES TO CLEAN UP

Baby boomer mistakes? What mistakes? In some circles everything boomer related is a mistake. This isn’t that circle. Instead, I’ll look at common mistakes and regrets to avoid. This is for younger generations.