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2025 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR, SO FAR

2025 highlights have come every day, with each new one besting the last. And, like last year, 2024, it’s come to this. The End. Also like last year, and the years before, tomorrow is a: New Beginning. Let’s say it together. New. Beginning.

GET TO THE WRITING POINT

People who feel like their head might explode in the middle of the night because their brain won’t calm down need to get to the writing point. No writer has ever felt the internal pressure in their mind because they’ve already gone over things. Gone over, and over, and over, and over. Let me rewrite […]

BE DIFFERENT, BUT HOW DIFFERENT

Be different, be better, be something. Just not the old coot where every day is the ol’ same ol’. It’s not the same, day after day, and neither are you no matter how you try. Why not be stable and dependable? That’s different enough.

HOW TO OREGON DUCK FOOTBALL PLAYOFF AT AUTZEN

Oregon Duck football begins where all college football begins: on campus. This is the lovely yard we passed on the way to Autzen from Max’s Tavern in Eugene, Oregon. The place was hopping with Duck shirts, Duck jersey’s, and a few James Madison people. One in our group spent their college years at University of […]

HOW TO GROW A SENSE OF WONDER IN PORTLAND OREGON

Most of the time a sense of wonder in Portland means a painful memory from the days of old, of Meier and Frank downtown and the Georgian Room for tea. The place had a special aura during the holidays. The painful part? It hasn’t been there for years, Meier and Frank and the Georgian Room, […]

DREAM YOUR DREAM TODAY

Write about your dream? Let’s Go.

COLLEGE DIPLOMA, JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF PAPER?

Every time I open the sleeve and look at my college diploma it takes me back to another time. What time is that? The mid-70’s? Nooooo. Early 80’s? Noooo. But I started freshman year in 1973.

ADULTHOOD MISUNDERSTOOD, AND THEN … ?

You’d think adulthood misunderstood would come from some kid with ideas on who they’d want to be. But, noooooo. It’s the adults. If it were a kid, they’d have time to figure things out after a misunderstanding. What if it’s a baby boomer? What’s their excuse?

NORMAL HUMAN NEEDS. NORMAL?

Normal human needs seem pretty obvious? They aren’t much different than the other animals in the jungle. Air to breath. Clean water, shelter, clothing. The basics.

MAKING CHANGE, EXACT CHANGE

With regular money transactions heading toward ‘tap and go’, the people making change, giving exact change, are growing more rare. You’ll find them at the drive through window, picking through coins for just the right combination. “Here’s four quarters instead of a dollar,” they say. Or, “$6.50 for my grande latte half-caff with oat milk? […]