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MICRO MEMOIR II: LEAVING TOWN CHRISTMAS PARTY

April 20, 2024 by

Leaving town used to be easy, if I remember right. Pack a bag, get in a car, hop on bus, and leave. “I’ll be there in a few days.” Same story going out to Brooklyn as leaving:

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STORY MEDICINE PRESCRIPTION: READ AND WRITE

February 26, 2024 by

Story medicine is good for what ails you. Why? Because you deserve a break. Things go bad, and you read a story about something worse? You might feel better. But what about when things are going good, never been better. What story is going to improve that?

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HOPPER PAINTINGS: “YOU’VE BEEN HOPPERED”

February 24, 2023 by

Hopper paintings have turned into Bruuuce. I love both of them, but I might be done. Toooo depressing. Tooo raw. Too much of so little. To them I must bid adieu, au revoir, so long, goodbye. But first a few questions:

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FEARFUL LIFE SOLUTIONS?

February 2, 2023 by

A fearful life is riding a NYC subway at night in the Seventies. This is what my ride looked like. I took the train from Brooklyn, up Manhattan, and over to Queens. It seemed like scary ride at night. Why the fear?

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SOLDIER ADVICE: WHEN TO STAY, WHEN TO GO

March 2, 2021 by

Soldier advice usually comes from one place in the beginning. Can you guess where? If you said “recruiter,” you are correct. First they make an alluring argument for signing up. College money, healthcare, clothing, living expenses, food allowance. It’s all right here for a military career. If that hook isn’t sunk deep enough, Drill Sergeants […]

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BIG CITY DICKENS, AND FADING LOVE LIGHTS, A Short Story Of Intimacy

January 19, 2021 by

I got engaged and followed my future across the country. We met while I was an English major nursing a writer’s dream after an Army tour. She graduated and moved home with our wedding plans, so I dropped out and followed. Then she dropped me. Instead of hanging around New Jersey for a second chance, […]

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TRAVEL BUG BITES BACK? SCRATCH THAT ITCH

April 23, 2020 by

Once upon a time the bite from a travel bug meant one thing: pack that bag. We all know people bitten by the travel bug. From pictures, to videos, to restaurant receipts, they can’t stop re-telling the same story over and over. We know them because that’s just who we are. See something that draws […]

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK? COME ON NEW YORK

April 19, 2020 by

Doing the right thing in New York is the same as doing the right thing in Oregon: Stay home, keep a social distance. My social distance from NYC is 3000 miles away, but it wasn’t always that way. Frank said it best:

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NEW YORK CITY 1980: HOW TO QUIT A GREAT TOWN

April 5, 2018 by

    New York City is easy to quit. Get on a bus, train, or plane and leave. Go ahead and be a quitter.   Except moving on isn’t the same as quitting. You got promoted and the new job wasn’t in New York City? You’re significant other got promoted and their new job wasn’t […]

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SEATTLE WORKS HARD FOR THE TOP SPOT

July 17, 2017 by

    A money man gave me the short history of how important places draw the right people to them, how they work. In the emerging Industrial Revolution world London was the center of the universe. Anyone with dreams and aspirations of being somebody, of one day being The Man, moved to London. Things changed […]

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