Failing to learn from losing is a chapter title in my recent book Election 2016: The Great Divide, The Great Debate. Actually a partial title. The full title is "A Sobering Weekend: Failing to Learn from Losing" (pg. 109). Last night's Democratic debate reminded me of that chapter. The sub-title is, "April 12, 2016". Empathy is just … Continue reading Failing to learn from losing
Category: Books
The Magpie Cafe, part II
Yesterday, two days after Valentine's Day, I walked when the weather had warmed. The usual - past the site of the future Magpie Cafe - and lo, the birds had begun nesting behavior - repairing winter damage, preening and posing, chatting, and yes - kissing. Call me crazy for asking, but how do they know? The … Continue reading The Magpie Cafe, part II
Snowbound, screens, & self care
On the cusp of the New Hampshire primary, here in Colorado I've been snowbound. It has snowed six of the last eight days. Back-in-the-day (forty-nine years ago to the day), such a barrage of snow would not have fazed me. In fact it would have invigorated me. Then, I was living in a cabin in … Continue reading Snowbound, screens, & self care
The Magpie Cafe
The Magpie Cafe is a dream. Ever since I began working in the restaurant industry some fifty years ago - I've imagined having a cafe that integrated where I lived with that which I love. Mostly, of all things - I love people and conversation, good food and spirits, music, wood and wild country. So … Continue reading The Magpie Cafe
2020 Democratic Candidate Quiz
The Washington Post has devised a quiz to see who you most agree with regarding policy positions amongst the Democratic candidates. I took it, and so did my friend Max. (Max is a fictional composite of real people I know who first appears in Election 2016: The Great Divide, The Great Debate.) Max and I debated … Continue reading 2020 Democratic Candidate Quiz
Books, bookstores, and bookshelves
Books, bookstores, and bookshelves could certainly be a book in itself. So where and when to begin? I may be the foremost expert on the subject. Because in my life I have been a reader, builder, seller, writer, and teacher - all at a high level. When I was three my father would read to … Continue reading Books, bookstores, and bookshelves
Triggered. This might hurt.
Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us, is Donald Trump Jr.'s story. It's also mine. Because not only does the book tell his story from his perspective, but in doing that it accounts for what happened to me as I told the same story, from my perspective--an outside, independent observer … Continue reading Triggered. This might hurt.
My Year-end Inventory
My Year-end Inventory is something I've been doing ever since I began journaling daily twenty years ago, in 1999. My journal began with a Christmas present from my father: Morning Pages Journal. I'll tell ya - neither he nor I had any idea the wildfire that simple gift would ignite. Twenty years ago today A … Continue reading My Year-end Inventory
Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho
Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho. Or maybe that ought to be - merry impeachment. Ho, ho, ho ... Pictured below is my first Christmas tree in my first home as a young man. I was barely twenty-seven and on my second marriage. We lived in a small cabin, in Conifer, Colorado, on a quarter acre … Continue reading Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho
Living solo, part III
[excerpt from Overcast: The Unauthorized Biography of Sunshine Rodriguez] Pages 136 - 38. Alternatively, if you take that solo hike, or if you live alone, you get no help, or hindrance, with all those troublesome choices. If things go awry you’ve no one to blame. You’ve got to work, clean, cook, talk, shop, and listen only … Continue reading Living solo, part III