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EARLY SCHOOL RIVALRIES FUEL LIFETIME OF CONTENTION

Early school rivalries explain so much about how we interact with one another. I started school at sea level; the rivalry schools were on higher ground. That’s where kids from the fancy part of town learned how important they were and why they were better. At least that was the theory in first grade. Sports […]

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?

World’s Factory: China Fills Big Box America To The Brim

  The world’s factory, otherwise known as China, fills big box America from Costco to Target to Walmart.   From Home Depot to Lowe’s the world’s factory supplies America with the suburban necessities.   If it’s electronic components, or sporty textiles, or steel, look for the Made in China tag. You won’t have to look […]

TEACHER ABUSE BAD FOR STUDENT BODY

  How does a seasoned school administrator lose their job by ignoring students? When they decide some student voices are more important than others.   The old saying about a squeaky wheel getting the grease may apply here, but the school official was out of lube. Now they’re out of a job, or will be […]

NIKE CANCER TEAM TRAINING CAMP REVIEW

  After a diagnosis for hpv throat cancer I found a cancer team. An Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, a radiation oncologist, and a chemo-therapy oncologist, all gathered data for my best outcome.   That was the shared goal. I had a couple of others I shared with them, like avoiding opioid addiction and secondary […]

DONALD TRUMP, JUST ANOTHER SMALL TOWN BOY?

    By paying attention and listening harder, I’ve learned what it means when men are who they say they are, and when they aren’t. All gets strained through a small town filter of right and wrong, good and bad, the perceived values of small town life where everything happens on the front yard.   […]

A TIME LONG AGO AT A HIGH SCHOOL FAR FAR AWAY

North Bend Oregon High School, class of 1973. What’s so special?   Like later generations staking their claims to, ‘the first digital generation’ or ‘the first paperless generation’ or ‘the first generation raised on video games,’ the generational niche of 1973 is ‘the first modern generation.’   Born of the roaring ’50’s with TV dinners […]

FACEBOOK WINGS ON AMERICAN AIRLINES

    I stood across the concourse, the airport hallway, from my check in studying my boarding pass with Group Nine printed on the bottom right side.   Group Nine is last to board, last to sit, and last to find an overhead bin for the carry-on.   Luckily my wife and I were flying […]

APACHE TEARS HAPPY ENDING

    “Let’s meet one of my facebook friends,” I said one day during a Mesa Arizona visit.   “You met someone on facebook and you want to meet them?” she asked. “You never want to meet anyone.”   “Yes, I do. We’ll go prospecting. He knows where to find Apache tears,” I said.   […]

TIME TRAVEL WITH GUITARS TUNED GOOD AND FIRM WOMEN

        Time travel with music happens every second of every day. A song comes across the waves and we’re back in the day we first heard it from the first beat onward.   Unfortunately I never hear the first song I ever played on a guitar.   Down In The Valley isn’t […]