The covid love story is different than the Love Story movie. In this one, no one dies, but there’s still a break-up. Fans of love stories are also fans of breakup stories. Who doesn’t need a story that brings two different people together because of their endless love for one another? There’s got to be […]
HOW TO DO SOCIAL REFORM SO IT WORKS
June 19, 2020 by
Social reform in the good old days hardly came up in conversations. Where I come from you could graduate from high school one day, go to work in the mill the next, and retire after a few decades of picking slivers. Or, go to college and learn how to tie a tie and rake in […]
WHAT I LEARNED BY STARTING A RANGE FIRE
March 15, 2019 by
Like how to put it out. During a high school sports trip a team in two vans drove through Wyoming. If memory serves, Wyoming was the closest state to Oregon selling fun fireworks like bottle rockets and firecrackers after a lifetime of sparklers and Piccolo Petes. Since we were high school guys in both vans, […]
WHAT SORT OF PARENT DID YOUR PARENTS WARN YOU ABOUT
December 19, 2018 by
Did you become the sort of parent your parents warned you about? Are you surprised? We had stern warnings growing up about kids from unsupervised homes, which meant anyone different than us. Those were houses we weren’t allowed to visit. It was supposed to be a vaccine against hard partying high school nights. […]
KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU, (UH HUH)
December 11, 2018 by
Knowing Me As a young child in an unsupervised moment one of my playmates decided to ride his trike. I hopped on the back axle where there was room to stand and gave him a big push. Except he pulled back on the handle bars just as I pushed and popped a wheelie […]
FATHER’S DAY REMINDER: WHO’S YOUR DADDY?
June 16, 2018 by
When my kids were young we played a game of ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ one Father’s Day. It started and ended with one question: “Who would you rather have as a dad than me?” I had their answers all planned out. Of course they’d favor me? Instead of a simple “You” as […]
DONALD TRUMP, JUST ANOTHER SMALL TOWN BOY?
April 11, 2018 by
By paying attention and listening harder, I’ve learned what it means when men are who they say they are, and when they aren’t. All gets strained through a small town filter of right and wrong, good and bad, the perceived values of small town life where everything happens on the front yard. […]
POWAY WRESTLING, HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING THE RIGHT WAY
February 13, 2018 by
High school wrestling in Poway, California is a calling. It’s the same calling kids felt in North Bend, in Newberg, Crater, Roseburg, and Burns, Oregon. Call it tradition, or answering a challenge, just don’t make the mistake of calling it less than what it is. All Poway High School wants is all […]
A TIME LONG AGO AT A HIGH SCHOOL FAR FAR AWAY
January 27, 2018 by
North Bend Oregon High School, class of 1973. What’s so special? Like later generations staking their claims to, ‘the first digital generation’ or ‘the first paperless generation’ or ‘the first generation raised on video games,’ the generational niche of 1973 is ‘the first modern generation.’ Born of the roaring ’50’s with TV dinners […]
APACHE TEARS HAPPY ENDING
January 17, 2018 by
“Let’s meet one of my facebook friends,” I said one day during a Mesa Arizona visit. “You met someone on facebook and you want to meet them?” she asked. “You never want to meet anyone.” “Yes, I do. We’ll go prospecting. He knows where to find Apache tears,” I said. […]
