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MIDNIGHT TRAIN GOING ANYWHERE?

August 10, 2024 by

The midnight train is always going somewhere. You and I? Not so much. Oh, we’re going somewhere, too, but we don’t know where that is. And we’re not supposed to.

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SETTLED RULES = LAW OF THE LAND

March 31, 2024 by

When settled rules are ignored they get angry. Common courtesy wants to fight. Good manners want a go in the octagon. Eventually things calm down in what I understand is called ‘normalized’, as in: The New Normal.

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DIFFERENCE MAKER, THE RECIPE

March 27, 2024 by

A difference maker is often the last to know what’s up. Who has ever been to a funeral or memorial and heard strangers talk about the deceased in terms so glowing it sounds like nobody you know. And you’ve known them most of your life. How does that happen?

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BIG PLANS FOR A SMALL TOWN

February 21, 2024 by

Big plans come with big responsibilities. Such as? Such as, if you buy stuff for a plan and fail, you’re stuck with the stuff and no plan. Or, like so many, you pretend the fail was part of the original plan. See how easy that was? All done, but . . .

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VANISHING POINT: HOW TO REMEMBER PORTLAND

May 8, 2023 by

The vanishing point definition: The center spot on a horizon line where parallel lines in the foreground converge. Like a triangle? Maybe. Check a drawing book. The vanishing point for Portland takes another view, and it’s nothing to do with weird or keeping Portland weird. Shocking, don’t you think?

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ONE HOMETOWN VS ALL OTHER HOMETOWNS

July 23, 2021 by

One hometown is like any other town they say. Whoever ‘they’ are, they’re wrong. “A hometown is where young people bide their time before their real life begins,” goes the standard line. “It’s where kids first learn about the real world without bearing the consequences.” Not the case when the hometown is North Bend, Oregon. […]

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FORGOTTEN PEOPLE FORGET THEMSELVES FIRST

January 9, 2021 by

The forgotten people need a reminder about those feelings. You’re not forgotten just because someone who you listen to and worship tells you you’re forgotten. Find a mirror and look into it. That’s you, remember? But you live a small town life in a global world and it makes you feel smaller and smaller just […]

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FAMILY PLAN? FARM THE KIDS OUT FOR PEACE AND QUIET

September 16, 2020 by

For most, a family plan is making sure the kids are alright. Planned pregnancies and Tiger Mom tactics? What’s that? My parents had four kids and we always lived across from a sand dune and a forest. Smart move. When they said go out and play, we knew where to go. Forest play was more […]

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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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DONALD TRUMP, JUST ANOTHER SMALL TOWN BOY?

April 11, 2018 by

    By paying attention and listening harder, I’ve learned what it means when men are who they say they are, and when they aren’t. All gets strained through a small town filter of right and wrong, good and bad, the perceived values of small town life where everything happens on the front yard.   […]

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