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FAMILY PLAN? FARM THE KIDS OUT FOR PEACE AND QUIET

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 […]

DECADE ENDS IN SOFT TALK, HARD TRUTHS

    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?

WHY SMALL TOWN PEOPLE MATTER

    Lost in the hyper speed of modern life on a 1.4 terabit internet connection is the human pace of life. Call it small town life for small town people, but remember we’re all small town people once you peel off the layers of sophistication.   Jet setters once clamored for seats on the […]

Travel Education Fatigue Makes Well Rounded Snob

  The first time I heard an acquaintance talk about travel education I was impressed as hell. They made me want to do it, to go where they’d been. Then I heard it again, and again. And again. Has this happened to you, travel education fatigue? You need to fight through it.

SMALL TOWN CITY LIFE

Your small town isn’t as small as you think. I told a new friend where I came from, how big it was. He said where he comes from, everyone in towns as small as mine were hillbillies. What he didn’t know was where he came from everyone’s a hillbilly. Like it’s a secret. Leaving North […]

NEW HOMETOWN TRENDING?

Live one place long enough, it’s your new hometown. If you even have a hometown you ought to feel lucky. Feel lucky it’s not your ‘home floor’ or ‘home building’ or ‘home block.’ Hometown feel pretty good compared to some places. Except every hometown has the same stigmas as every city, just smaller. Which brings […]

BABY BOOMER’S LIFE FLASHES BEFORE HIS EYES

Clearing Out The File Cabinet. The kid on the right is learning the ropes. He’s your gentle BoomerPdx blogger looking like he’s crying in wrestling practice. It just looks that way. Really. If I was crying it was tears of happiness for having such a great teacher like Robin Richards. Later the same year Robin […]

BOOMERS ON THE MOVE TO SOMEWHERE ELSE

Why Not To The Hometown? No one likes hearing classmate at a reunion say, “So glad I got out of here.” Hear it once and you want them out of there again. Hometowns aren’t prison to escape from. If you feel that way, it’s you, not the town. Maybe when we were in our late […]