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LOOKING BACK TO SEE IF YOU WERE LOOKING

I was looking back recently after hearing how great things used to be. Baby boomers had it so easy you could buy a house and two cars and a boat and send three kids to college on a part-time paper route for a weekly publication. As a result the entire generation grew lazy and complacent:

GOOD FORTUNE: ACCIDENTAL OR PLANNED

My happy good fortune could never be planned any more than a shark chooses their favorite remora. It’s all been a long string of happy coincidence. Just another fat baby boomer taking up space in comfort and luxury. That’s me. How about you, same thing? Probably not, but check with younger people to know for […]

WRITTEN RULES TO FOLLOW

Written rules started early for baby boomers. “Do this, not that, and do it better than you did last time. I’ll write it down so you don’t forget.” From yard work to school work, to spending time with friends, there were rules. Ignore the rules and you might be the kid standing in the corner […]

BIRTHDAY WEEK WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Birthday Week is not a request, you just take it: You: This is my birthday week. Them: Really? Your mother had that long of  labor? You: More or less. Them: If that’s the case I’d have a birthday hour.

OREGON BERRY REVIEW: FARM TO FACE

Oregon Berry Packing lies seventeen minutes from my front door. In that time I can travel from tacky suburban developments to acres and acres of farmland stretching every direction. To put it in a different perspective, Portland is also seventeen minutes from my front door, on a good traffic day. From concrete jungle to the […]

THE PORTLAND DIFFERENCE: URBAN FEAR

The Portland difference means telling yourself one urban space is different than another. How can anyone make such a judgement? There’s only one way: wander around urban spaces both new and old. From London to Paris, more like Paris to London; from Philadelphia to New York City, which most people think is only Manhattan without […]

INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

I’ve been personally indivisible for quite some time. It could be from growing up with brothers where you carved out your own identity, and a sister who had it all figured out. And I wasn’t the first born, which is important, so I never had everything to myself without some pesky little creature making sounds […]

DIFFERENT TIME, DIFFERENT PLACE

The past is a different place, different yet familiar. Maybe too familiar? Familiar like you remember it now differently than you used to remember? Here’s how I remember it:

LIFE AWARD TO GIVE YOURSELF

A life award usually comes to celebrities and dignitaries after decades of service, a lifetime of devotion, or a string of good luck. Community awards go to involved citizens, like the guy doing public service in the picture. What says ‘ Come To Portland’ better than snuggling up to the law? Always keep goods relations […]

AWARD WINNING TAKES PRACTICE

If you’ve never had an award winning experience, keep reading. After all of the training and expectations and worry you somehow win. What happens next? Disbelief. How did it happens? You know but still don’t believe it. Then it’s on to the next thing, the next big deal, but the feeling remains: