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HOW TO SURPRISE YOURSELF

July 18, 2025 by

How often do you surprise yourself? A: More often? B: Less often? This isn’t a survey or a poll so relax. However . . .

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LIFE LONG LEARNING STARTS WITH A CALL

July 8, 2025 by

Life long learning doesn’t end with the last school day, the last class, the last good-bye. It doesn’t end with a diploma, a certificate, or a license. Those indicate the culmination of a training sequence, but the learning is just starting. Now you find out what you need to know, which is . . . […]

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SWITCHING UP FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER

March 17, 2025 by

Switching up with anything is every man’s dream. Unless you’re thinking of suburban guy. He’s not changing anything. That’s the lifestyle of the American Dream. A house, a yard, neighbors, kids, mail comes on time, good library, a job that makes it all affordable. And there’s more:

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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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