In recent weeks, many people have been losing friends, questioning their friends’ morals, or finding their friendships strained because friends are taking social distancing less seriously than they are."Friends Are Breaking Up Over Social Distancing" Ashley Fetters, The Atlantic, April 2020 The excellent Atlantic article quoted above is about how people are ending friendships over… Continue reading The Coronavirus and Friendship
I listen to a lot of podcasts these days. Even shows that are shows meant for radio, such as most NPR podcasts, are podcast-ified radio shows. "This American Life," "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," Alex Baldwin's "Here's the Thing" are all radio shows that also have a supporting podcast. But I don't listen to the… Continue reading The Hardest Thing about Growing Older
The mind is an interesting thing. The other day BTO's "Blue Collar" popped up on my Spotify Discover playlist. This is a song that I love, and I hadn't heard it in years. The song reminded me of a similar song that my stepfather, Larry Steely, turned me onto and which came out around the… Continue reading The Chain of Memory
My wife has been gone for six months now. Conscious magical thinking has turned into internalized magical thinking. Early on, it was as if she was just in the other room, or was on vacation and would walk back into the house at any time. I knew this was not correct, of course, but the feelings were… Continue reading I Still Have Her Meds
When I was a teenager, we had a neighbor next door who lived in the same house since the mid-1930s. She had a sister who was a pack rat, and subscribed to magazines and news papers, and never threw them away. Rather, she put them in the garage. After fifty years of this, the garage was full. Since… Continue reading We See Dead People
The first snow in Central Oregon was December 5th. I live in Sisters, near Bend, and we are in the high desert. The dry, cold air makes for nice powdery snow. The snow was beautiful! I was prepared: I bought a new set of snow tires for my four-wheel-drive F150. The truck even with regular… Continue reading Beautiful Disaster
Indelible Mark 