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ON REMEMBERING ANNIVERSARIES

January 6, 2026 by David Gillaspie

My wife is great for remembering anniversaries and birthdays. It’s an encyclopedic memory of family, friends, and pretty much anyone who has ever been born. At least that’s what it feels like in comparison to her husband, who is more selective. I remember plenty, I’m not saying I don’t, but ask me the birthday of […]

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LIVING HERE? LIVING THERE? KEEP IT UP

January 5, 2026 by David Gillaspie

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 […]

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EVERYBODY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE? GET OVER IT

January 4, 2026 by David Gillaspie

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

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, crime, crime family, do more, education, failure, family, feelings, fitness, fraud, history, kingpin, laundromat, learning, Love, personal essays, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, soliloquy, sonnet, story, Sunset Park Brooklyn, write something, writer, writers, writing

HOW TO WRITE, WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT

January 2, 2026 by David Gillaspie

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?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, autobiographical blogger, autobiography, biography, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, boomers, education, family, history, learning, millennials, Oregon Ducks, Portland Oregon, proust, sports, story, Thomas Wolfe, wife, write about, writer, writer heaven, writers, writing

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY DOES THE WORK OF TWO

December 30, 2025 by David Gillaspie

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. […]

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CONSISTENCY OVER TIME FOR THE WIN

December 29, 2025 by David Gillaspie

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 . . .

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COLD WAR HISTORY FOR BABY BOOMER BEGINNERS

December 27, 2025 by David Gillaspie

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 […]

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COLLEGE DIPLOMA, JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF PAPER?

December 19, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Every time I open the sleeve and look at my college diploma it takes me back to another time. What time is that? The mid-70’s? Nooooo. Early 80’s? Noooo. But I started freshman year in 1973.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: academics, advanced degree, AI, America, American, american nobility, appointed officials, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, bachelor's, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, college, college diploma, education, equality, facebook, fraternity, history, landed gentry, learning, liberty, magna carta, master's, nobility, pfc gillaspie, PhD, public policy, U.S. Constitution, writer, writers, writing, youtube

UNCHECKED SPEECH, GUARDED WORDS

December 18, 2025 by David Gillaspie

If you’ve heard unchecked speech, then you know guarded words when someone says them. One might be a raving crack-head angling for another piece of the rock. The other might be a priest in a confessional. Each has their place, sometimes more than one place. There’s only one problem: If they switch back and forth […]

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ADULTHOOD MISUNDERSTOOD, AND THEN … ?

December 17, 2025 by David Gillaspie

You’d think adulthood misunderstood would come from some kid with ideas on who they’d want to be. But, noooooo. It’s the adults. If it were a kid, they’d have time to figure things out after a misunderstanding. What if it’s a baby boomer? What’s their excuse?

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