Summer before I began my undergraduate years, I spent every day on the family room floor not taking my eyes off the Watergate hearings on television. They introduced me to Barbara Jordan and inspired me to pursue journalism. So this morning the heartbreaking testimony of the four Capital police officers. Really I cried at what … Continue reading Watergate, Now This, and Off Topic Again

Simone Biles, thank you for the joy you've brought. And also now, Suni Lee. If that's not the world's most physically (and yes mentally) demanding sport, hard to guess whatever else is. Gosh now Allyson Felix...a Mom of precious young daughter...and oh yeah winner of most track and field records ever in modern Olympics. And … Continue reading Off Topic Again

At its start, I decided this blog would include not only serious things but also just some life things that I find meaningful. Today a guy with a shirt that read...."Some days you're the pigeon. Some days you're the statue." (Or que sera sera, or c'est la vie, or let it be, or all things … Continue reading Some Days You’re the Pigeon, Some Days You’re the Statue

This post began just as a reflection on my years of accumulation and disposal—what I’ve needed, wasted, thrown out, lost, missed, kept, still need to deal with. A followup to my musings on the privilege of voluntary simplicity, now I guess it’s the woe-is-me dilemma of so much stuff. Tonight and for the next week … Continue reading Stuff Part Two, Tent Cities and Storage Blocks

President Biden so resembles my own Dad, a little in appearance, a little in manner of speaking, and alike, one hundred percent grounded in the character of fundamental human decency. Hours after the ceremony, doing the job. Day One. Rejoin Climate Accord and World Health Organization. Deal with the vast devastation of COVID, Defense Production … Continue reading Day One

Unusually, in Austin last Sunday it snowed for hours. Gorgeous white and grey, very quiet day through the big sky windows my desk faces. (On the gallery page of my site, my tiny ancient Eeyore and his tiny good luck travel buddies are respectively alarmed and complacent at snow in Austin. The travel buddies have … Continue reading Stuff Part One, Simplicity Privilege

For those of us with secure, comfortable, abundant/overabundant lives, it may take imagination to consider the desperation of this wealthy nation’s most vulnerable. For those who wish to see, the grotesque disparate economic impact of the pandemic has made it only more obvious. During the 1930s Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt fiercely fought conservative opposition … Continue reading Universal Basic Income, the New Social Security For All, Part One

My first blog post. I’m terrified but here goes. Just a short explanation of my getting here. For a few years, I took a bit of a break from a lot of pressure trying to keep work and family together, finally becoming just plain exhausted and demoralized. I completely understand I’m not unique in that, … Continue reading Riding With Lyft