Things I’ve learned the hard way… Never use the palm of your hand to see which stove burner is hot. Never try to iron that crease on the front of your shirttail while wearing the shirt. Two words – STEAM iron. Two more words – interesting scar. People don’t change. Their behavior might change, their motivation might change, but the core remains...

This morning, hidden in the usual infotainment glob that passes for news, I heard an intriguing story. A group of teens at a Texas high school have declared today a “No Makeup Day”. The say they want to focus on inner beauty and they are encouraging their female classmates to go bare-faced for a full 24 hours. What struck me was that the girls explained that they...

In the wild, I’d be dead. Some predator that looked to me like a friendly dog would turn out to be a hungry lion. My distance vision has been limited since I was in grade school, making life without prescription eye wear just one messy blur. But, with easy access to strong specs, I go about my business like I can actually see. At 40, I began to notice that...

I don’t play games. Everyone knows this. I don’t like competition. There’s enough of that out in the world, why would I want to intentionally have more? But, something in the tense black eyebrows of the angry red bird beckoned me, “join us and fight the good fight!” I was bored and somewhat hostile, so I began to launch birds at those smug, grinning pigs...

It seemed like a harmless and soothing thought: “by the time I’m thirty, I’m gonna have my shit together…” When I was 20, I went to a baby shower hosted by the sister of the mom-to-be. At the time, I was unsettled and angry. My career goal of greenhouse management had been ripped out from under me by severe allergies to all the chemicals used in greenhouses...