The kids are back in school, though football players have probably been on two-a-days for several weeks, because athleticism takes practice. It takes practice and study to build strong muscles and as it turns out, also character. None of this is news, but it seems I am capable of going long stretches of time willfully …
Social Media: Taking Gossip to a Whole New Level
One Sunday, the text from Ephesians contained, "... let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. [ ...] Let no evil talk come …
Continue reading Social Media: Taking Gossip to a Whole New Level
Houses, Hot Dogs, and the Homeless
There is a weird juxtaposition to looking for a physical home, with all my weird, well-fed little criticisms, oh, I don't like the crappy cabinets in this house; the green paint in that dining room will simply have to go, and passing out food to folks who wouldn't eat otherwise, in a vacant lot downtown. My …
For Cara, or, Comfort for Parents of Imminent College Students
For all the tea in China I would never be purposefully rude or hurtful to anyone, yet I so often am when unfiltered things come flying out of my face or occasionally, fingertips. For example, the other day a friend posted a heartfelt comment about her daughter going off to college, how she was already …
Continue reading For Cara, or, Comfort for Parents of Imminent College Students
A Man, His Wife, Her Neurotic Cat and His Tranquilizers Take a Road Trip
What could go wrong? We've left the Lone Star State, our home for many years, moving East and I seem to be on a reverse trajectory through life, erasing all those miles my ancestors put between Virginia Colony and me, their distant descendant. The move went as well as a move can go, with the exception …
Continue reading A Man, His Wife, Her Neurotic Cat and His Tranquilizers Take a Road Trip
Intro 101
With a long habit of cart-before-horse, I've been blogging for a few years, though never with any consistency or, God forbid, any formal training. Now, here is WordPress offering a free how-to course in blogging, regardless of where one's horse or cart may be in the great cosmic barn continuum. First up, an Introduction and …
Friday Five: Joy
My friend and fellow blogger, Mary Beth, accepted this challenge: “What’s the thing in your life that makes your heart sing? When do you feel most alive?” then threw down the gauntlet. Having rarely met the gauntlet I didn't want to pick up, I thought maybe I wouldn't be able to come up with five, or at …
Civil Rights for All Americans : The Job is not Complete
One sunny California day many years ago, I took in the bank deposit for my employer and this happened: our local bank's Merchant Teller was one of the Persian immigrants who came to Southern California after the Iranian Revolution. Farah was well-educated, efficient, beautiful, and always a pleasure to do business with. This day, however, her countenance …
Continue reading Civil Rights for All Americans : The Job is not Complete
Chaos before the Calm
The feeling of something forgotten, something important forgotten, only suddenly remembered when it's about too late? Yes, that slender, icy arrow to the heart as one's head pops up out of whatever had distracted one, say, the bed covered with the contents of one's closet: two giant plastic tubs full of winter clothing; camera equipment; hat …
Texas: Popping Up and Being Awesome
My senior year of high school, I dated a boy named Robert. He was an unlikely candidate for the job, actually, but in the weeks preceding our first actual date, wherever I was, he just kept popping up, being awesome. For some time now I have realized that, like Robert so many years ago, Texas …
Southern Fried Californian 