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SELF MYTHOLOGY: DEATH, DYING, PAT CONROY’S DAD

  What are the best stories told but the ones we tell about ourselves. From Greek gods to Steinbeck sharecroppers we can be whoever we like when we tell our own stories.   Of course the best self mythology comes from the biggest liars and you can’t believe a word they say, still we need […]

COMFORT ZONE AND BIG SNAKES? GET. OUT.

      If you’ve ever seen a snake wrangler in their comfort zone, they probably don’t look like this. There I was in a lovely Santa Monica apartment with nice people in Los Angeles.   They seemed like nice people, then I saw the snake in a cage.   “Do you like snakes?” someone […]

GET A JUMP START ON GLOBAL WARMING IN THE ARIZONA DESERT

The Arizona desert feels like the future of global warming. I’m not complaining about one hundred ten degree days, and neither is the cactus. But how much hotter would it get if global warming trends continue? Check the temps next week. The weather news calls for potential records. My home turf in Oregon gets record […]

A DIFFERENT PORTLAND, A DIFFERENT TIME

Today’s city is a different Portland than anyone expected from it’s past. I walked the hard pavement of NW 14th street toward Burnside, the Mason Dixon Line of Portland. I crossed against the light, skipping past a new chain tavern, leaving behind a music store with too much exposure through its showroom windows. I angled […]

STREET FIGHTING MAN, OR PUSH OVER

Breaking up a street fight doesn’t take a street fighting man. My reward for breaking up a street fight was a punch in the face. Street fighting is a personal thing, apparently one you shouldn’t interfere with. Except when it’s in your neighborhood. And it’s a man beating a woman. Then it gets personal. City […]

ANGRY AMERICA? BBC SAYS YES

The BBC knows why you live in angry America. And angry Oregon. Research shows an angry America. Is it true? Yes, according to BBC research that includes all the big names in poll sampling. A CNN/ORC poll. Be angry the results are posted on a twenty nine page pdf file for clickability. NBC/Wall Street Journal […]

MMA REPUBLICANS IN THE OCTAGON

Who can take a hit best? Read MMA Republicans in the Octagon. The Sunday Oregonian ran a column by E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post titled ‘GOP plays at being television tough guys.’ Not to pick to closely but that’s the only place most of us will ever hear them. On television. Maybe you’ve heard […]

MILLENNIAL BASHING? NOT SO FAST, BOOMER

Baby Boomers need to stop Millennial bashing for the sake of all. Remember the generation too lazy to work, to loaded to care, and too free to stick around? Were those millennials or boomers? Self pampered boomers look at millennials today with everything from disgust to loathing, especially since they raised them. They are experts […]

PARADE MAGAZINE FOR BOOMERS?

Sunday’s issue of Parade Magazine is full of gift ideas. Boomers, just look at ads instead. You open the Sunday Oregonian, or the big newspaper in your city, and the cover features ‘the hottest stuff to give and get.’ How hot? Scarves, socks, hats that will keep you warm in the chilly winter. But those […]

PORTLAND STRIPPER OF DIGNITY

The Oregonian explains the Portland stripper. BoomerPDX does it better. Everyone had a stripper story, or ought to. Like the time they got up on stage just before getting thrown out of the bar. Or the time the dancers got the crowd so revved up the bartender started flashing. This isn’t one of those stories. […]