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Oh, Teacup, How do you Vote?
Blow it off? Wait until you’re not so busy? Too confusing? It’s all rigged anyway? Whoa, kiddo. No! You need to vote! Incredibly lucky to be a citizen of a democratic republic, you cannot take time off from being an American. Popular claims that the ‘American Dream’ is about owning a home or rising in your job is rubbish. The American Dream is, at its … Continue reading Oh, Teacup, How do you Vote?
What’s the Matter with Kids Today?
The stage and film musical satire Bye, Bye, Birdie contains a great song,” Kids.” If you are not familiar with the song, find and listen to it. You’ll get my point fast. Many of my contemporaries and several of my elders wonder if today’s kids are worth a hoot. The numerous seeming differences in Baby Boomer and Millennial youth generate responses from bemusement to outright … Continue reading What’s the Matter with Kids Today?
The Best Expression of Me: “Have Less Stuff”
I’ve been working with numerous healers to regain my health, strength and stamina. And my obliterated Sense of Self. That happens when one is sick for a long time. One of these healers is a hypnotherapist who specializes in rewiring our brains to help us overcome chronic conditions. Despite not knowing each other and working in separate ‘modalities’ a thousand miles apart, Dr. Hypno and … Continue reading The Best Expression of Me: “Have Less Stuff”
Rollercoaster Ride
The house build proceeds. As the ‘homeowner’ the process reminds me of riding a roller coaster. You strap in. You wait while others are strapped in. Then, the jerky movements that gain you a few feet at a time, throwing your head back with their abrupt halts, begin inching you toward the mountain of track ahead. Finally, the snake of cars in which you are … Continue reading Rollercoaster Ride
Gunning Down America
I used to be a news junkie. The accompanying commentary interested and informed me. But, I’m done. Between journalistic political opinions and conjecture and minute-to-minute coverage of ‘blood on the streets,’ I can’t bear to tune in anymore. What am I missing? That another black male was needlessly killed by police officers? That another movie theatre, classroom, church or nightclub massacre ‘broke out’? I’m fed … Continue reading Gunning Down America
Count Your Change: Lenny’s Markets
My friend Lenny lives by the sea. He and his family dwell in one of San Francisco’s older neighborhoods, where houses were built for working people. Unpretentious homes, packed tightly together, with the Pacific Ocean in their backyards. Clanging streetcars ratchet up and down the avenues, northbound planes yawn overhead. Crashing surf echoes, its rhythm bouncing off succulents and paving stones. Fog sidles. Lenny walks. … Continue reading Count Your Change: Lenny’s Markets
May’s Knees are Bone: Wednesday Wanderers
May’s knees are bone-on-bone. Each step is agony. Carl just learned his unabated fatigue is rooted in metastasized cancer. Levon‘s eyesight is going, throwing off his balance. Denny just learned she has a lethal heart condition. My colitis rages. Medications, treatments, tests. We are cheerful people, granted some nascent grace with which to face each new day, even when the day greets us with unavoidable … Continue reading May’s Knees are Bone: Wednesday Wanderers
Exile. Chapter 1
“No, not today. But thank you for the offer.” Incredibly grateful for friends who haven’t given up on me, I am in month 17 of long days of protracted illness. The majority of the 12,200 plus hours I’ve spent guessing whether my biology will cooperate, allowing me a short outing, attendance to a neighborhood gathering, or strength enough to get to the doctor and back. … Continue reading Exile. Chapter 1
On Call
My oldest daughter’s current job includes several days of being ‘on call’, days she must keep her phone and herself ready to go in to work. She both dreads and hopes for the call. I can relate. The phone calls I wait for are from doctors. More accurately, I wait to hear from nurses, schedulers or whichever office member drew the short straw. I wait … Continue reading On Call
Garden News: May at Lawrence and Adams
I’ve torn up my three-year-old garden. Still it offers beauty. Bold blue delphinium are pushing five-foot stalks upward. At their feet, alyssum pours itself into strawberry plants that pose tiny white flowers and green berries waiting for a break in our cloud cover. Canna unfurl their blood-red leaves. Sedum crawls between the slim trunks of rhododendron bursting with pinks and purples. My home is on … Continue reading Garden News: May at Lawrence and Adams
Gardening
I have to garden. For me gardening is elemental. It’s about immersing myself in the dirt, air, and phenomena of nature. I read about plants, compost, insects. But that’s not the real learning my garden yields. My garden is a classroom about all life, an exhibition on cycles of inception to decay to rebirth, a primer on behaviors and adaptations, a refuge of revelation. Whatever … Continue reading Gardening
The InConstant Muse 