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COMPARISON CULTURE: BETTER THAN WHAT?

August 29, 2024 by

Comparison culture didn’t start with social media, but that’s where it found fertile ground. Baby Boomers and every generation before, all had the same comparison: My Dad is better than your dad. What comes after that? Maybe a fight.

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DOWNTOWN PORTLAND OREGON ON A FAMILY SATURDAY NIGHT

June 23, 2024 by

Traveling to downtown Portland for a visit, for a look-around? But you’ve seen the news, the tents, the drugs, the crime. So have I. It’s a red flag, but not this time. We took a chance to claim, or reclaim, the Rose City as our own.

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AMATEUR CRIME LIFE WITH PEER PRESSURE

November 22, 2022 by

My life in amateur crime began in 5th grade. If you were going to hang with the cool kids, you had to show you belonged. One test was shoplifting at the local Payless. It was an anchor store at Pony Village, the biggest shopping mall on the west coast between Seattle and San Francisco right […]

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AGING PARENTS FROM BOTH SIDES NOW

October 23, 2022 by

Aging parents get old fast. One day they’re skiing black diamonds on Mt. Hood, wind surfing the Columbia River, or hang gliding off sand dunes in Pacific City. The next day you’re blending up a hamburger because they can’t eat solid food. Is that how it works? Not for everyone.

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LEGAL LITERACY: HOW THE LAW WORKS

August 9, 2022 by

Legal literacy helps allay fear of the courtroom. Unless you work there, walking into a courtroom the first time is intimidating. And it’s no accident. Court decor is meant as a reminder: Bring your A-Game.

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BEST ADVICE FROM UNEXPECTED SOURCES

May 19, 2022 by

The best advice is words of wisdom from a trusted wise man, or wise woman. If that’s what you’re looking for, keep looking. You’ll find it, or give up trying. This is a post for just such quitters. Quitters who figured it out on their own.

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PRISON LIFE FOR ONE BAD MAN

February 14, 2022 by

From the accounts of prison life from people who toured the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, it sounds worse than they expected. Apparently it’s uncomfortable, stinky, cold, and no one cares about them as much as they’d like. I will agree with them even though I’ve never had the jail door slam behind me after […]

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WORDS: FREEDOM’S JUST ANOTHER WORD? NO, NO IT’S NOT

January 15, 2021 by

Words change with age. For a few years I lived next to a quirky neighbor. Sound familiar? Most folks have either had one, or been one. I was already there when he moved in, a ripped muscle-man with a crewcut. ‘Great,’ I thought, I’ve got either a policeman neighbor, or a gym kook. Either way […]

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GENTRIFY PORTLAND RENT

July 18, 2016 by

What else goes up with gentrify Portland rent? Your blood pressure. Once upon a time the chase for the lowest rent led to some pretty sketchy dwellings. It was a contest to find the worst place for the lowest rent. A young single man seeking low rent in college is one thing. A single man […]

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ADD YARD WORK TO ANY CRIME AND IT’S NOT A CRIME

July 11, 2016 by

The ‘get out of jail free’ card? Yard work. Rob a bank, steal a car, and do some yard work? Ok. Murder and pillage and do some yard work when I get back? Ok. It might sound easy, but adding yard work to your list of activities means doing yard work. If your yard needs […]

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