page contents Google

CITY TRASH FROM PORTLAND TO VANCOUVER

City trash comes with the territory. More people, more garbage, more clean up. Except the clean up part is lacking, and it’s not the first time. Take New York City trash for example. More people than Portland, which is bigger than Staten Island, but half the size of the other Burroughs. I moved to the […]

BOOMER WRITER WHO DOESN’T WRITE EXPLAINS ‘PROCESS’

You’ve seen the boomer writer in a coffee shop, or at least used to before covid took up residence. They have a table, a backpack, and coffee, while they unpack like a campout. That’s the early stage. Later, they show their work place, a replica of the one they wanted to avoid, their home desk. […]

TRAVEL BUG BITES BACK? SCRATCH THAT ITCH

Once upon a time the bite from a travel bug meant one thing: pack that bag. We all know people bitten by the travel bug. From pictures, to videos, to restaurant receipts, they can’t stop re-telling the same story over and over. We know them because that’s just who we are. See something that draws […]

NEW YORK, NEW YORK? COME ON NEW YORK

Doing the right thing in New York is the same as doing the right thing in Oregon: Stay home, keep a social distance. My social distance from NYC is 3000 miles away, but it wasn’t always that way. Frank said it best:

Cultural Exchange Without Leaving Home

  Last night my cultural exchange student, better said as ‘our’ cultural exchange student, prepared dinner for seven.   And the kid can cook.   I know the difference when someone mails it in from the kitchen. How? Because someone I know tried doing it for years.   Me.   Now I’m much better and […]

BOOMER GENERATION BREAKS AMERICA ON TIME COVER BUT NOT IN OUR HEARTS

    At some point every generation can take credit for breaking America. The pinata of democracy is strong enough to take a few whacks.   It helps that those swinging the stick are usually too old to do much damage, but watching them still hurts.   Steven Brill explains it all for baby boomers, […]

NEW YORK CITY 1980: HOW TO QUIT A GREAT TOWN

    New York City is easy to quit. Get on a bus, train, or plane and leave. Go ahead and be a quitter.   Except moving on isn’t the same as quitting. You got promoted and the new job wasn’t in New York City? You’re significant other got promoted and their new job wasn’t […]

MANHATTAN STATES OF MIND ACROSS AMERICA

    Does anyone see a Manhattan sunrise and feel the power of the Big Apple, the urge to go out and take a big bite? Or a Manhattan sunset at the end of another satisfying day sorting chicken and chicken sh!t.   Manhattan promised you could make it anywhere if you could make it […]

ROLLING STONE AND PLAYBOY BOTH DIED IN 1980. WHO NOTICED?

  Growing up in the shadow of the sixties, I turned sixteen in 1970, two magazines ruled the media rack: Rolling Stone and Playboy.   Ten years later in 1980 two icons from each were murdered. John Lennon and Dorothy Stratten were both shot down in tragic style.   Rolling Stone and Playboy did a […]

THE KING OF NEW YORK CITY, 1975

Stoner nation rolled in the muddy Woodstock slip and slide in upstate New York. Five years later they took a shower, got a haircut, and danced the disco. Top New York City discos needed the right people managing the door and lines that grew down the sidewalk most weekends. Full of Queens, Brooklyn, and Jersey […]