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THE RUBY ANNIVERSARY LANTERN

What’s a ruby anniversary? We’ve all heard of the silver and golden anniversaries, but ruby? Weddings are funny things, and now so are anniversaries. You don’t want any missteps or mistakes, so in service to all matrimonial celebrations:

OLD PORTLAND, YOUNG PARENTS

Make that old Portland, youngish parents. Or not so old Portland, and not so young parents. We weren’t teenagers, but if you ever want to feel like one push a stroller around downtown. With two kids it’s like a double punishment, like sent to your room AND missing dinner. What else?

NORTH BEND IN THE OREGON HISTORY CENTER

This is North Bend in 1940. Something is missing, though. I-5 is missing, but there’s something else. These baby boomers and their memory, you never know what you’re getting.

DINGO FAMILY NEWS

I’ve got a dingo family living in my house, but it’s okay since I’m Baby Dingo. Why am I Baby Dingo? Because Daddy Dingo said so. Daddy Dingo is a five year old. I didn’t ask how they worked it out. Momma Dingo is my dog. We’re all happy. Happy daddy, happy momma, happy baby.

PROMISES MADE IS ONE THING, THEN WHAT

Make a promise, keep it, and you’ve got promises made. It’s that easy, and that hard. It’s a badge of honor, but not a permanent one. Screw up, break your word, and you sink back into the muck with the rest of us losers trying our best to remember what we said we’d do. So […]

DREAM STREET: 82ND AVENUE PORTLAND OREGON

  Dream street? 82nd Avenue? Somebody wake me up? No, it’s not a dream, but a street of dreams. And those dreams came to life.

BEING DOG WALKED? HOW TO KNOW

What’s it mean to be dog walked?   “Time to get the leash. The slang dog walk is “to overpower” or “outsmart” someone, as if in utter control of them, as when walking a dog.”   When does it happen? There are clues, such as:

UNDEREDUCATED, OVEREDUCATED, OR JUST RIGHT

Growing up, everyone is undereducated. From five, to fifteen, to twenty-five, the learning curve is steep. After high school, you’re done? Noooo. After a bachelor’s degree, your done? Nooooo After a professional degree, or graduate degree, you’re done? After all the learning, no matter how far you get, or how long it takes, we come […]

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.

HOW TO WRITE, WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT

How to write seems self-explanatory. Why bother is the real question. My Grandma on my Mom’s side passed this pearl of wisdom along: “Smart people talk about ideas, normal people talk about places, dumb people talk about other people.” With that mind, who are the big gossips in your group?