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CARRICK FLYNN FROM VERNONIA

Carrick Flynn is getting the youth vote out. Out in the wilds of Bull Mountain you wouldn’t expect to meet the next generation stumping for their favorite congressional candidate, but there we were. Carrick Flynn is their man. After our talk next to the llamas and chickens and Frosty the horse, Carrick Flynn collected more […]

DRAWING LINES TO LIVE BY?

Who is drawing lines to live by? Picasso did. Unfortunately, you’re no Picasso, I’m no Picasso, so why bother? We bother with lines and borders for a sense of control like, “Don’t go there, girlfriend.” The big Question Of The Day: Who draws borders when they’re on the same side of the line you’re on?

PRISON TIME DOESN’T WORK FOR EVERYONE

If you do prison time, what are you supposed to learn? Is education even part of the sentence, or is it a waiting game? People I know have been to prison. One of them twice. Three times is a bigger problem in some states. Oregon has its own sentencing guideline grid.

DAILY WALK CLEARS THE MIND? “PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS? A FRANC?”

A daily walk in Paris is different than a walk in Tigard, Oregon. This man is walking toward the Invalides. The Pont Alexandre III bridge is behind him and connects the Invalides on the Left Bank to the Grand Palais and Petit Palais museums on the Right Bank. I saw him and thought, ‘This is […]

PORTLAND CROSSROADS: SW 3rd AND ALDER

The Portland crossroads are the same at every intersection. North, East, South, and West. It’s the same where you live if you don’t live in Portland. Pick a side and proceed with caution. Why SW 3rd and Alder? Why not. What’s your favorite? Burnside and Broadway? Too easy. Burnside and the Willamette? Here’s the deal: […]

MEATHEAD MIRANDA RIGHTS FOR MORE CLARITY

Know your rights, your Meathead Miranda rights, before offering an opinion. It may save you problems in the long run. “But I’m not a meathead,” you say? That’s good to know, but like so many things, we’re always the last to know. This might help more than you’d expect: Meathead Miranda rights:

TIGARD OREGON SAYS “GREATNESS IS HATELESS”

The Tigard Oregon Tigers faced the Newberg Tigers. Tiger vs Tiger football in Tigard has a snappy sound to it. But it was Tiger football and everything else, as it turns out. The everything else part was, and is, a local/state/regional/national/international/ global/universal story on a larger canvas. That large.

NEW RIVALRY: HAWKS VIEW WINERY vs TAPPHORIA TAP HOUSE

My new rivalry is like my usual rivalry: geographically close and deserving of more research. Hawks View Winery is my new classroom. The lesson begins with six wine tastings from white to red. What goes best with six swigs of Oregon wine? A flatbread plate. My new couple’s membership compliments a single membership in Tapphoria’s […]

ADVERSITY TRAINING ONE BLOG POST AFTER ANOTHER

Adversity training comes from two sources: Those who have faced adversity, and those who will face adversity. Pro Tip: We all face adversity. How we deal with it tells others who we are. While I’m not an adversity trainer, or in adversity training, I am a man and therefore qualified to add senseless context to […]

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE UPDATE: NOW WHAT?

We all understand American Independence from a historical point of view. “Freedom from the tyranny of taxation without representation.” And other tyrannies? What about independence from other tyrannies? Can we get freedom from self-imposed tyrannies? Personal tyranny? If so, how? That’s the question, how? You could read an essay for starters. It’s an Oregon-born essay […]