page contents Google

LIVING HERE? LIVING THERE? KEEP IT UP

Whether living here, or wherever, it’s getting easier to see a different image, where things look tight. How tight? Reddit has an idea of how tight. But I’m thinking tighter with more people in smaller spaces. I’ll start at the beginning, a one room ‘studio’ on NW Lovejoy, Portland, Oregon at the top of a […]

EVERYBODY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE? GET OVER IT

Q: Where are you from? A: All over the place. Q: Where did you grow up? A: It’s a long list.

WHY AUTHENTIC MUSEUMS STILL MATTER

I’ve been inside authentic museums of all kinds, from the Gene Autry Museum of the American West, to the Petersen Automotive Museum, to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. They all come with a suspension of disbelief. Does everything have to be perfect? Noooooo. But they do have to be authentic.

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?

NEW YEARS DAY WITH OREGON DUCKS

My thanks go to the Oregon Ducks on New Years Day. Because of this college football team I watched three games in a row. With my wife. First, we talked:

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.

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY DOES THE WORK OF TWO

The entertainment industry is where you go with time to kill and you don’t workout. Pick up a book, a screen, go to a play. The last one, go to a play, is different because now you have to make plans for your anticipated spare time, which means scheduling, which is another word for work. […]

CONSISTENCY OVER TIME FOR THE WIN

Consistency over time is not over-rated. Not under-rated either; some people call it a life-style. Others call it a habit of boring people. Well, if the name fits . . .

GENTLE SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD TIMES

Who doesn’t make gentle suggestions? Call it good manners if you know the difference between a request and an order. ‘Would you please help me?’ instead of, ‘Get over here and make yourself useful.’ This happened recently:

COLD WAR HISTORY FOR BABY BOOMER BEGINNERS

The Cold War? Even the name sounds dismissive. Are today’s students reading it and thinking, ‘No one got killed like a Hot War so what’s the big deal? Wasn’t it more peaceful after WWII?’ I know I did. But history isn’t about picking and choosing, hunting and pecking. It’s about the slow roll of time […]