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START THE HARDEST PART FIRST: BEER CULTURE

August 11, 2025 by

Doing the hardest part of anything is not the opposite of doing the easy part. The easy part serves as a warm-up? Sometimes. But, do that and you might be too tired for the next part, which is also not the hardest. Like what? Take drinking beer for example. I live in a beer town, […]

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EMPATHY FEELINGS? LET ‘EM OUT

July 25, 2024 by

The first time I wrote out ’empathy feelings’, spell check went to ’empty feelings.’ Empty feelings might be a better key word, just not the one I’m looking for. But I got an empty feeling scrolling through twitter, through yahoo news, and every other post was red hat related. Honest blogger that I am, it […]

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PORTLAND BURDEN FROM DOWNTOWN TO HOMETOWN

October 3, 2022 by

Every city has a dream of tranquility, prosperity, and safety. Portland, Oregon has a burden. But what is the Portland burden? The city is supposed to be better. Now what?

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POLICE PRESENCE: BLESSINGS FOR OFFICER FRIENDLY

July 7, 2022 by

A police presence in some neighborhoods means one thing: Go inside, lock the door, and stay away from windows. But it’s my neighborhood. So I checked in with the police on site.

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AFFIRMING LIFE ON THE EDGE

March 15, 2022 by

How much do I like seeing people work at affirming life? I like it a lot. From this blog I’ve seen how important it is. I’ve also seen the need is never ending when confronted by adversity. A body laying in the street is just such an adversity, and I’m not in a war zone.

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BAGS PACKED TO FLEE? WHAT DO YOU TAKE WITH TEN MINUTES NOTICE

February 26, 2022 by

You’ve got your bags packed to evacuate, to leave right now. What’s in your boogie bag if you thought you’d return to a home in flames? More important, what’s not in your bug-out bag?

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HARD MEN TEACH GENTLENESS, BUT IS IT ENOUGH

June 20, 2020 by

Hard men get that way by going through tough times. The good ones don’t let bad times turn them bad. Instead, they use the suffering they experienced as a teaching tool. The main lesson they teach? “Here’s what I did; here’s what I should have done.”

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HOW TO KEEP HOPE ALIVE WHEN THINGS FEEL HOPELESS

June 16, 2020 by

Keeping hope alive might sound like some Pollyanna talk. Keep hope alive, like it’s dying or something? Who believes that? Well, until a new level of dread arrives, no one. It’s all good, right up until it’s not. That’s when hope starts to fade.

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UNIFORM POWER CHANGES PEOPLE

June 5, 2020 by

Buffalo Men In Blue Serving And Protecting If you’ve never seen uniform power up close, keep reading. This post might shed light on how people change when they put on a uniform with a bunch of other people. Or you might want to skip the read, after all, it’s just another old white male boomer, […]

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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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