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DOWNSIZING DOWNER: I’VE BEEN LIVING IN TRASH AND DIDN’T KNOW IT. ARE YOU?

  Downsizing Downer Part One:   Storage closet. Hardwood. 3 hinged doors. 5 shelf interior. Curved top. Three-dimensional painted front. Large storage capacity interior in a stylish format. European designed import probably, 1940s 1950s.   In other words, a converted armoire barely hanging together by sub-standard euro-fasteners that evolved into an ‘entertainment center’ then a […]

AMERICAN EDUCATION STARTS WITH THE FIRST WORD

  American education teaches and American education does some learning too, as in we learn how to teach.   Isn’t that the happy ending education promises? Learn how to treat others as you would have them treat you.   Why does that sound so biblical?   This is where the separation does neither American public […]

CHICKEN DINNER: WHEN CHICKENS TALK

    Too often we let days go by without notice. One chicken dinner blends into the next.   June barbecued chicken turns into November roasters and it feels like a long weekend. It’s a sign we’re losing touch. At least that’s what we hear if we mention time passing at breakneck speed.   If […]

PORTLAND TIME, OREGON LINES: TIME TRAVEL IF YOU NEVER LEAVE

  Portland time changed from 1804 to 1904. Again from 1904 to 2004. To round things up, today is in the year 2017.   From Lewis and Clark in 1804 to the Lewis and Clark Expo in 1904, give or take, to Big Pink, the changes show.   On a calendar it measures here to […]

literary swag? BOOK PICTURES WORTH ONE THOUSAND WORDS? #literaryswag

    Selfies with a book? Had me at selfie.   Then book. Literary swag? Not so much, but it sounds like it could be big, like the cover of the New Yorker showing a reader with a book lit by their smart phone.   Nerd cartoon perfection. But what do readers really need?   […]

COMFORT ZONE AND BIG SNAKES? GET. OUT.

      If you’ve ever seen a snake wrangler in their comfort zone, they probably don’t look like this. There I was in a lovely Santa Monica apartment with nice people in Los Angeles.   They seemed like nice people, then I saw the snake in a cage.   “Do you like snakes?” someone […]

SPORT TALK RADIO ADS ON PORTLAND’S 620, 750, 1080

  Look at the face of sport talk reason. This man isn’t on sport talk radio because of his face. This face is on sport talk radio because of the audience. They want him.   They need him.   It doesn’t happen often, but if the airwaves line up in the right order while I […]

CANCER STORIES: FEEDING PUBLIC FEAR AND PRIVATE WOE

Things you’ll never know until you get cancer, any cancer:   You’ll either be an object of sympathy, or an antenna of sympathy. Or both.   “Keep up the fight,” or, “You’re a fighter,” or “You look like you’ve got this thing whipped.”   That’s what I heard after running Hood To Coast at 49 […]

NW LIFESTYLE WRITER? WHAT’S A NW LIFESTYLE WRITER?

  So glad you asked about a NW lifestyle writer, but what is it? What’s it mean to be a NW lifestyle writer?   I suppose you could rent a room and look out the window and describe rain as a NW lifestyle writer, but that ain’t living.   Like Red said in Shawshank Redemption, […]

CANCER ROOM: BEST OF TIMES, WORST OF TIMES

The biggest motivation for writing a cancer room memoir like ‘LICKING CANCER, The Full Response’ is paying tribute to the people I met in there.   From staff to patients, it’s a team focused on the same goal, until it goes off the tracks, and it does in one way or the other for everyone. […]