You gotta land sooner or later

There has never been a national disaster after which I laughed. I can’t conceive of a situation where a disaster could occur and I would wake up laughing. What kind of cruel animal would I have to be? What kind of sadistic madman could do such a thing? Oh no, Lordy no, say it ain’t…

Remember high school Spanish? ¿Cómo estás? it stuck in your head like asking directions to the library. As a güero, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Fast forward. We lived in Colorado for a dozen years and my kids were brought up there. The next door neighbors moved away and a family from South…

In 1969 I was 13 years old. There are only a few things that I remember about the tumultuous time. I remember the dark wind that blew through our neighborhood every time a family lost a son in Vietnam. It was during this formative time that I experienced racism and my part in it. And…

Since this pandemic began, a person very close to me has put themselves at risk to protect me. I am a 2 time cancer survivor and while I feel strong enough to wrestle bars, chemo and radiation leave me vulnerable. It occurred to me today that there are big heroes and little heroes. From day…

I’ve been working my way up. Started the summer of 2019 when we used to go to the pool almost every day. Just for clarification, a pool is a hole in the ground covered in cement that you swim in. Granny Clampet called it the Cement-Pond. This is where my practice began. I would hang…

Years from now we will be able to take account of our personal histories and say we lived through this time. We will no doubt wear our survival on our sleeves. For some it will be something that we just don’t talk about. Others will whisper this history. As a boomer, my parents experienced two…

I don’t think that I rattle easily. I can generally observe the world around me and encounter it honestly. I can see that there is both bad and good and for most of my life I have believed that good will prevail. After the occupation of the Capitol yesterday I am left stunned. I am…

For my kids

When someone shows up at your door on a snowy day and hands you babies, I really don’t care who you are – You take the babies. One day there was a knock at the door and my brother in law walked in. In his coat pocket he had two babies. He told us they…

If you haven’t seen this on Netflix, please do. It takes place in a rural town in Kentucky and there’s lots of MeeMas and PawPaws there. Quite a few years ago I worked in West Virgina Coal country and MeeMaws and PawPaws are real. I rented a little house next door from some that they…