Boomer Grands and Gentle Parenting

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“Don’t bleed on my floor” vs. “How do you feel?” “Don’t bleed on my clean kitchen floor,” my mother told my brother, who had fallen off his bike and abraded his leg from knee to ankle. “Go outside and wash … Read More

Queen Camilla Needs to Put Her Feet Up

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Many reasons why we should be glad not to be Queen Queen Camilla’s hands were seen shaking at some public event. She’s 76 years old. She probably needs to sit down, put her feet up and have a cuppa. She … Read More

The Divine in Art

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The juxtaposition of likes and opposites Robert Mapplethorpe and Michelangelo I had just taken a picture of my companion, a dark-skinned black man, with a white-painted come-to-life mime. The mimes posed still as statuary until they moved, startling us with … Read More

Nostalgia and Other Lies

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A poem for October Nostalgia and Other Lies Red maple leaf, Canadian flag bright Oak leaf crayola yellow Iron between two sheets of wax paper Label for school project and scrapbook Read O. Henry story “The Last Leaf” and Poem … Read More

7 Reasons Tom Emmer Might Be Our Best Hope for Speaker of the House

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He’s a pragmatist, underneath all the required posturing Tom Emmer was the guest speaker at a local chamber of commerce meeting I attended some years ago. I was representing a new healthcare facility in his district and was at the … Read More

The Ring of Fire and the Paisley Bar

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Traveling in the Oregon Outback I had traveled to the high desert of Oregon to see the annular eclipse. The October sunshine highlighted the yellow leaves on trees among the tall timber on my drive across the Cascades pass. As … Read More

Two Peace Activists are Missing

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A meditation Today I read about an Israeli-Canadian woman and an American-Israeli woman who are each missing near the Gaza Strip. Each has dual citizenship, each has spent decades working for peace among the hostile factions. I thought of two … Read More

My Financial Advisor Lost His License After Scamming Older Women

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Listen to your gut feeling even if it’s based on slivers of information I chose my financial advisor the way you are not supposed to make that decision. I went to a free lunch presentation titled “Can You Afford to … Read More

The World Inside Your Head

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Wayne Shorter, Jazz Artist, Sharing the Creative Process The Wayne Shorter documentary currently streaming (Zero Gravity) blew me away. It’s not often I see a piece on screen, or read an essay, that allows me to enter into and understand … Read More

The Gilded Age, My Aunt Olga, The Woolworths

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I thought my great-aunt was just a cook My Great-Aunt Olga emigrated from Sweden at the beginning of the 20th century. Like other immigrants, she found employment as a servant in some of the great houses of New York City. … Read More

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