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GIVE EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME? NOT SO FAST

February 3, 2021 by

“Give everything when you give all you’ve got.’ If you’ve heard this before, then you played high school football in the time before good sense. That particular time also had this: “Stick your head in there. That’s why you wear a helmet.” And this: “Only sissies drink water during practice. Are you thirsty, son?” And […]

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GAINING SELF RELIANCE STARTS WITH GOOD TEACHERS

January 3, 2021 by

Self reliance feels like the best goal to aim for, but how do you get there? We all start from the opposite end, as little babies depending on others to lead the way. Those common beginnings fade away in the self reliant types we look up to because they do everything so well. We forget […]

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BLOG TRAFFIC: BOOMERPDX FROM NATION TO NATION

December 15, 2020 by

Blog traffic map via google analytics. The big difference between the top map and every other map of the world is that this one tracks where the hits, the readers, the bots, showing up on boomerpdx originate. It’s a blog traffic map, which isn’t very writerly since geography isn’t about plot, story structure, or how […]

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HELPING OTHERS LEARN HOW TO HELP OTHERS

October 6, 2020 by

Helping others seems like the shortened version of the Golden Rule. Boomers remember the Golden Rule after the Grandma squad drilled it in. Millennials might be a little foggy on it since their parents didn’t take them to church, quote Bible verses, or give them the gift of spending a week with a great-Grandma. Here […]

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SCHOOL LEARNING VS LIFE EXPERIENCE

August 10, 2020 by

School learning is the educational experience of showing up on time. That’s the first test for new students. On time? Check. Finds desk? Check. Takes off coat and sits down? Check. As parents, if a kid can do that, then we’ve done our job. Or is there more?

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YOUTH SPORTS, THE FIRST IMPRESSION LASTS A LIFETIME

July 1, 2020 by

If the question is ever asked, “Why bother with youth sports,” there’s an easy answer. When you overhear someone slamming organized athletics, do you have a response? If not, why not? Try this on for size.

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DECADE ENDS IN SOFT TALK, HARD TRUTHS

December 26, 2019 by

    Me: This decade ends the best of times and worst of times. Them: Did you just make that up, or are you finally going to admit to stealing from Charles Dickens? Me: Writers don’t steal, they borrow. Them: Like the time you borrowed a notebook from Payless in Pony Village?

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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. […]

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Millennial History Break: WWII-era

August 22, 2018 by

    It’s been a long time since history delivered WWII. A long time to learn what happened, too.   But not all are interested in the lessons of WWII, particularly the death camps where those deemed undesirable by the German authorities were warehoused until further notice.   Further notice was death for six million […]

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Life Long Learners Get Life Lesson Whether They Learn Or Not

July 25, 2018 by

Life Lessons start early for writers, then they spend years figuring it out enough to make a joke, a poem, a short story, novella, novel. Maybe more, like a groundbreaking memoir. If it’s worth learning, it’s worth writing about to drill it in. Like most children of my generation, baby boomers, I had it made […]

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