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THE RIGHT WORDS HAVE POWER

September 19, 2025 by David Gillaspie

You know the right words when you hear them. “Everything will be okay.” “You’re doing fine.” “This is just how it’s supposed to work out.” “You’re the one for me.”

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: bad experience, blogger, boomerpdx, breath in, breath out, cheated, Children, friends, lets go, listening, MacArthur fellowship, macArthur foundation, memoir, millennial, millennial writer, Nobel Prize, old friends, pipe dream, power, right words, screenplay, self fulfillment, sleep, take a chance, the folly of loving life, vision, word, word hunt, words, write it, WWII

GOOD EXPECTATIONS, VARIED RESULTS

August 20, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Good expectations, not great, are the more reasonable expectations for most people. Even when you harbor feelings of greatness, who would you tell without sounding like a nut-job? Yes, I hear you with your, “But Muhammad Ali . . .” He was ‘The Greatest’ and proved it over an over, until he became what all […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American civil war, American History, art, autobiography, big jobs, black market, cancer, Civil War, death camps, diverse interests, expectations, family historian, General Eisenhower, general grant, good expectations, good teachers, great expectations, history, history buff, history museum, I like Ike, jobs, literature, loss, memoir, monuments men, muhammad Ali, museum men, museum mistake, plunder, primary sources, racial, racial profiling, reasonable expectations, serious research, teachers, The Greatest, throat cancer, WWII

LIFE CHOICE MAKES YOU GREAT

July 26, 2025 by David Gillaspie

One life choice can make all the difference. Things were tough on the Oregon Trail and people needed a break. The Donner Party started with a little known shortcut through the mountains. If you don’t know the story, click here. It turned out to be the wrong choice.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, blogger life, boomerpdx, earth, education, explore, failure to communicate, family, following orders, france, German leadership, history, human awareness, life, life choice, living life, millennials, paris, shameful reminder, space, tank man, writer, writing, writing life, WWII, your life

HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS FROM WWII

July 11, 2025 by David Gillaspie

I’m full of historical reflections because I read sources from history, also called history books. Those were the main readings for graduating with a history degree. It also helps to have spent two decades in historical agency work. The lasting lesson for me was seeing both sides of a story and how close things came […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: D-Day, Dunkirk, facing history, following orders, hiroshima, historical, historical accuracy, historical documentaries, history stuff, loyalty, Pearl Harbor, peer pressure, teamwork, Tokyo bay, war crimes, WWII

AGING TRAVEL WITH GRANDY

July 2, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Aging travel with 70 and 80 year olds is getting some attention. How hard it is, how easy it used to be, and how it feels losing the magic of new places. How do you manage it when you’re in your 60’s and your mother in law in her 80’s. The short version: if they […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: adventure, aging, aging travel, Arizona, Europe, grande, great britain, international travelers, kids, lifetime memory, travel, wife, WWII

BRAGGING RIGHTS ON THE WALL OF FAME

June 10, 2025 by David Gillaspie

You’ve got bragging rights when you’re got a good dog like this. We went to class together, graduated together, and one of us peed on the floor during class. We’re still going strong but the teacher and the store she worked for moved on. Education is funny like that. What we learn stays with us […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: advanced degree, Army veteran, bragging, bragging rights, college diplomas, doubters, fame, following orders, free spirits, generations, high school, high school diplomas, home team, homer, honorable discharge, Korean War, rights, service, skeptics, the Beatles, veteran, Vietnam, vietnam era, wall of fame, WWII, young guys

DRAWING A LINE IN WATER

June 6, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Drawing a line in the sand is different than drawing a line in the dirt. Sand is related to the beach, dirt is everywhere. One line lasts until the next tide, the other until the next rain. As you can see both are affected by water. But why draw a line in the first place?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: boomer blogger, boomers, D-Day, dieppe bay, drawing a line, eavesdropper, education, friend, friendship, hippies, historical work, history class, history major, history writing, kids, listening, Love, MARRIAGE, millennials, opting in, opting out, rebellion, Slapton sands, story, summer, talking, writer, writers, writing, WWII

LEGACY STORIES NEED LEGWORK

June 4, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Legacy stories are history stories, as in historical. Some are accurate depictions of a time, an era, and get passed down. Others are told with a touch of how the teller wished things had turned out, and they get passed down too. With the advent and encouragement of and for citizen journalists, where is the […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: advice, blog, blogger, BOOMER, boomerpdx, citizen journalists, education, family, journalist, legacies, legacy, legacy blogger, legacy stories, legacy worthy, legwork, life story, Love, loved one, millennials, Navy, personal legacy, readers, royal navy, sex, stories, sympathy, sympathy sex, virginity, writer, writing, WRNS, WWII

POWER RULES WRITTEN TO FOLLOW

June 2, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Power rules come in a variety of formats including written, verbal, and example. The written ones seem to carry the most importance since we’ll never know the verbal or actions of history. Unless it’s written down. Once direct orders are written down, the next bit of documentation is the recollection of events, the after-action report […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, baby boomer, better stories, books, BOOMER, boomerpdx, boomers, documentation, education, family, first historian, germany, history, history books, history writers, informed decision, japanese, kryptonite, power, power distribution, power rules, rules, stories, story, trauma, unconditional surrender, war, wife, write, writer, writing, written, written down, WWII

PUBLIC BLOG, PRIVATE READERS

April 19, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Dear Friends, I’ve come to realize that writing a public blog is a time hog. According to an expert (wife), it’s not normal. And I don’t disagree. But I like it. Sound familiar?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, education, happy, history, holocaust, listener, MARRIAGE, married millennials, millennial, millennials, Oregon, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, recorder, reference, wife, witness, world peace, writer, writing, WWII