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OLD PORTLAND, YOUNG PARENTS

Make that old Portland, youngish parents. Or not so old Portland, and not so young parents. We weren’t teenagers, but if you ever want to feel like one push a stroller around downtown. With two kids it’s like a double punishment, like sent to your room AND missing dinner. What else?

RECLAIMING MY TIME ON SOUTHERN OREGON COLLEGE SIXTY-FIVE YEARS LATER

Southern Oregon College Graduating Class of 1960: My dad. He transferred after two years at Central Oregon Community College in Bend. It was a well used path to the first college degree in his family. He was thirty years old, an old 30. Back then thirty was older, fifty was a grandparent. Hit sixty and […]

PICK A SIDE AND STAY THERE, OR NOT

What’s the problem when you pick a side? You’re stuck. You talked the talk, walked the walk, then something changed. But you’re stuck. Either stay on the bus as it goes off the bridge, or hit your eject button.

HOW TO BE A FAMILY KING OF YOUR CASTLE

The family king is who the light shines on. That’s key to remember. Grab a flashlight. The king doesn’t like bright lights, but it’s part of the job. What’s it take to wear that crown?

CALDWELL COUNTY BBQ? HOLY COW

This is Jimmy in the Caldwell County BBQ pit in Gilbert, Arizona. I was waiting for the occupied Men’s Room when we struck up a chat that was more historical than most history classes. He’s been running the show for a few years with the huge smokers, about five of them going full blast. On […]

GROWING UP NEVER STOPS

Remember the promise about growing up? “You’ll understand when you grow up.” “Things will be different when you grow up.” Now that you’re all grown up, how’s it going?

BUSY LIFE IN THE FAST LANE, PASSING LANE, OR . . .

A busy life means making a difference to someone, to something, to somewhere. Take your pick. Pick more than one. What you can’t pick is anyone else’s priorities for their busy life. You can try, but why?

QUIET LIFE STARTER KIT

Does a quiet life begin with keeping quiet? If so, how’s it going? Or does it mean something else? Let’s go with something else:

COLD WET OREGON WITH EXTRA WATER

On a cold wet Oregon day the beach was covered as far as the eye could see, and since it’s flat you can see a long way. Jelly fish, man of war, or whatever it was, it was a mass die-off of squishy critters up and down the beach, a purple carpet of goo to […]

WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION, (FOR ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL)

From twitterX:   I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.   Doesn’t that […]