Peace Travels Light
Alice Miller has made me a minimalist. All that’s left? Me and the truth. The agendas; the philosophies; the advice and instruction; the judgments, opinions, and ratings; the rules and the “this is the way it’s done”s; the excuses and…
One Piece Leads to Another
Well, goodness knows, I’m tenacious. I certainly wouldn’t be here writing if I weren’t. On my kitchen table right now sits a 28 x 22” slab of foamcore board and on it is a partially complete jigsaw puzzle. I wanted…
Still Going
This is where the road gets lonely. I thought that it looked pretty desolate back at the beginning of April, 2020, when I was sending friends and family videos of ambulances sitting idle and hospital parking lots that were just…
Word of Warning
Let’s find the loophole, the technicality that makes what she is offering wrong. There is certainly something there that will let me dismiss what she’s saying. Oh, I’ll find it, alright. In the meantime, I’ll just just give her a…
We Are All Afraid
We are all afraid. Despite that, and because of that, we tell our stories. We tell them to figure out who the hell we are, and when that fails, we read other people’s stories in the hopes that they can…
Word Problems
A Declarative Sentence Life Sounds Like This Don’t ask questions. Don’t tell people things. Don’t get fat. Don’t get too skinny. Don’t embarrass us. Don’t get bad grades. Don’t think you’re so smart. Don’t misbehave. Don’t blame it on your…
Continue the Conversation
Everything is interconnected, which is why I cannot try to isolate the books I read. I need to keep a dozen or so in process. I need to stop worrying about not finishing one or another: no more self-imposed rules,…
What is Your Name?
Is name just another word for label? No. The two could not be more different, but we get lazy and interchangeably use words that are fundamentally incompatible. A name places you in the universe. It makes it clear that you…
If You Want Dragon Smoke
Could it be that Robert Bly’s Looking for Dragon Smoke is the book I’ve been looking for? And what did I do? I read a few pages after it arrived back in May, then put it on the shelf—always saving…
The Gaslighting Will Continue Until Morale Improves
Keep calm and carry on. What does that really mean? Don’t scream when the fear fills you. Don’t walk away from the intolerable relationship that is slowly and methodically stealing your soul. Keep the secrets. Play by the rules. Don’t…
Holding onto My Own Soul
I sometimes worry that I’ll copy down 99 percent of the words in this book, and if I do that, it will mean that I’m still trying to hide behind the words of others, still trying to avoid my own.…
I Look Only if I Know There’s More to be Found
Few moments of my day (and night) are not filled with thoughts: self-analyzing ones; funny or ironic ones; important, life-changing ones; perceptions; understandings (often years in the making); meager ideas about dinner and getting the laundry in the dryer; connections…
