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THE INTIMATE PERSONAL, BUT WHY?

The intimate personal is the #1 Rule of memoirists, novelists, poets, playwrites, noodlers, doodlers, and bloggers. Their readers want to know things, not necessarily first hand. Something on a page, or screen, is more than enough. But, someone’s still got to get it there. Some of my favorites:

VIETNAM VETERANS ON BOOMERPDX

My Vietnam Veterans show up on BoomerPdx not as veterans but as guys I’ve met along the way. Extraordinary guys I’ve been lucky to meet. What’s my plan to meet anyone? Get out of the house and walk around and you can’t go wrong.

LATE SIXTIES GATHERING: 500K IN VIETNAM, 400K AT WOODSTOCK

A late Sixties gathering in the air: We would take off at max gross weight 6000 pounds light on fuel. At the first refueling we would fill up to the inflight max gross weight to head North.   Refueling here was a “piece of cake.”  Try it at night and in the weather and was […]

MAN’S FAILURE TO THINK DENIES HUMAN EVOLUTION? ASK JOHN STEINBECK

If you want to know more about about man’s failure, read John Steinbeck. He was born in a short span that brought us Fitzgerald (1896), Faulkner (1897), ( Hemingway (1899), Wolfe (1900), and Steinbeck (1902). (Turns out I’m not the first one to notice. Hey, Ed.) They knew plenty about man’s failure. And shared it. […]

DOPE STORY: WHAT TO SAY TO HEROIN GUY

What’s the right thing to say after hearing another sad dope story? The request: I’d like you to write my story. The response: Tell me the story.

LEGACY BOOMERS LEARN TO TELL TIME AND TURN BACK CLOCK

Legacy boomers showed up early. They were the first wave of kids when Johnny marched home after WWII. Families started between 1946-1952 produced future hippies and draft dodgers and leaders. Those are the people referred to when millennials drag baby boomers with “Ok Boomer.” So the rest of us get a pass? Uh, no. And […]

BOOMER BUBBLE: LIVING IN A PORCUPINE SUIT

Once you make it to the ‘home’ things change; you’re out of the boomer bubble and into the back stretch of life. Everyone can justify being nice since you’re on the clock. Or when you move to the ‘over 55’ community? Same deal, things change, but you’re still not out of the boomer bubble. No […]

Chain Of Command From The Bottom Up Point Of View

After you’ve lived in a chain of command culture the picture clears up. It’s not about being over-burdened, neglected, or picked on.   It is about preparing to be a better link in the chain. Not exactly another brick in the wall, a chain is more active.   Or it’s preparation to leave the chain […]

NATIONAL VIETNAM VETERAN DRILL SERGEANT DAY

    By the time of September, 1974, people joining the armed forces knew they wouldn’t go to Vietnam. At least the people who kept up with the Vietnam War knew, and keeping up was as easy as watching the six o’clock news.   Back then joining the Army wasn’t the same as being drafted, […]

MOTORCYCLE HOODLUM GRANDPA, EARLY WWII ANGEL

  One enchanted evening the man on the hog met a woman at a USO dance. He saw her across a crowded room. They married just before he shipped out to the Pacific Theater of Operations, PTO.   Score for a motorcycle hoodlum, but he was the least motorcycle hoodlum on the road.   He […]