Memoir

As most did, I learned to walk at a young age. I never looked back. I’ve always loved walking. “No, you guys go on ahead. I’ll walk.”  To be sure, I took this for granted. Some whom I love have lost this ability to walk altogether. The first piece of creative writing I ever did … [read more]

  The Day the Music Died I was ten. November 22, 1963 Time stopped in the far west at 10:30 am and then again at 11:00 that morning. Though we had only two television channels in our small desert town, the nuns wheeled in sets and tuned in to Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley and … [read more]

I learned to drive a manual transmission at twelve or thirteen years old, maybe fourteen, out in the Washington desert with my old man, in a car exactly like this. Usually as the sun set over the channeled scablands of the Columbia Basin. Usually Dad had a tall vodka with ice, neat between his knees. … [read more]

Covid Dharma 23 January, 2021 I do my best to toe the line in these covid days. So I rarely start the car, rarely drive the twelve minutes down the 1,700 feet and six miles to people, conversation, culture, comida Mexicana, and gas stations. But I went for a haircut today, fantasized showing up in … [read more]

Moments July 28, 2021 I’m doing my best to focus and stay efficient. Three screens going. A dozen apps apping away. Windows open since we’ve no A/C. 90 F outside. Lots of lists and timelines and spreadsheets. We all have multiple acre “yards” of forest, grasses, cactus and wildflowers up here. My neighbor friend Paul … [read more]

Three Bows to 2020 I loved 2020. I know that beggars popular orthodoxy, but it is so true. And it may trigger some of you. I apologize for that. You have a right to be indignant about 2020. I do feel deeply for all the pain and loss everyone is suffering. But for me, personally, … [read more]