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BAGS PACKED TO FLEE? WHAT DO YOU TAKE WITH TEN MINUTES NOTICE

You’ve got your bags packed to evacuate, to leave right now. What’s in your boogie bag if you thought you’d return to a home in flames? More important, what’s not in your bug-out bag?

HOW NORMAL HISTORICAL TIMES GO ABNORMAL

Normal historical times are also called boring, stuck in a rut, and monotonous times. Too much normal can drive people crazy. Nothing ever changes? Or maybe you don’t understand how changes happen. Is everything too slooooooooow for your liking?

GOOD LIFE? HOW LIVING IT HONORS THE PAST

A good life, living a good life, is a worthy goal. Give it a try if you haven’t already. It sets an example for those still working out right from wrong. When you talk about living that life to people who ought to know right from wrong based on their age and experience, and they […]

WHY WRITE A PERSONAL BLOG? WHO ELSE WOULD DO IT INSTEAD

Why write a personal blog? Or anything? If you do write, keep going. Taking time off to stop and think about it might be the end. If you’re looking for a reason to quit, it’s right there. However, if you’re looking for things to keep going, keep reading.

WRITING HISTORY FOR FUTURE READERS

Writing history, engaging history, helps readers. What doesn’t help readers is writing bad history. But bad history has an appeal, a great appeal. Bad history writing plays to the audience who need their feelings and actions validated in a way they understand. What do they need to understand?

ABANDONED PLACES WHERE COMMON SENSE USED TO BE

Abandoned places can be literal or figurative. The first is an old log cabin in the woods rotting into the ground; the other is the hollow spot in your chest where a heart use to be. Why a heart? Because I’ve had recent experience with that hollow spot. With regard to emotions, ignore them long […]

BLOG PRESSURE DRIVES PEOPLE TO QUIT TOO SOON

Quitters find a way to quit that suits them, but blog pressure? Please. Who quits a blog after twenty nine days? In a blogger rule book, #1 would be ‘Don’t Quit Early.’ Some of us have a different idea of what early means, though. Besides, if you’re going to quit something, why not try and […]

GYM ELECTIONS: WHY I MISS THE OLD MAN WHISPERING GROUP

Even if there’s no such thing as Gym Elections, you’d never know it. A focus group used to gather regularly, lean in, and talk the talk. Fun guys, conservative learning republicans, working out their latest take on overnight news. A retired teacher, a retired doctor, and a current fire breather, were staples, though they had […]

AMERICAN PRACTICE: VOTE LIKE IT MATTERS

An American practice is like a medical practice: sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes we get it right and it’s still wrong. If you’re old enough to vote, do it. Vote like it matters and encourage others to do the same. Voting is part of an American practice, like minding our own business and staying […]

LEAVING PLACES BETTER THAN YOU FOUND THEM IS NOT ASKING TOO MUCH

Experienced campers know all about leaving places better than they found them. Pick up the trash, pack your gear, and move along. It’s that easy, and that hard with campers. After the camping trip is done and they get home, the clean up continues for the next time. Will Mr. Trump be a good camper? […]