Went fishin’ once. Didn’t catch nuthin’. Now we live fifteen feet in front of Colvos Passage, a body of water that’s part of Puget Sound. It’s like living in front of a stocked pond–sea lions, Orcas, seagulls, blue herons, and fish fish fish.So I bought me a fishin’ outfit. Last night one fish after another […]
During the ten years Susan was dreaming about her perfect car, no one told her that the convertible would be a dead and dying model by the time she started cruising the island of Vashon. After seeing one of those Yahoo news lists—Ten Things American Aren’t Buying Anymore, I did a search of similar articles concerning […]
Dropped Susan off on one our first rainy mornings and headed for home. At a stop sign a few blocks from her school, out of the blue, the car behind me pulls up along side and a back window slides down. A tiny voice inquires about the reptile in my back window.” Is that a […]
This was an article I wrote for the Oregonian, my home town newspaper, the first year we were in China. Voices My Turn Summary: Beaverton school librarian in China treads softly when exchanging views with students on Kosovo, NATO bombing On May 7, 1999, the United States during a joint military action with NATO forces, […]
Indie Publishing, My Way : The topic of one of my presentations concerns the experiences I’ve had publishing my books as an independent author. For all the years I’ve taught, I’ve never had the confidence to share my writing with my kids. Three years ago that changed for three reasons; 1) my discovery of the ease […]
With great apologies to NPR for using a portion of their program title, the time is right to start my meager mouthing off. I’ve waited so long, for the right moment, the right niche, persona, inspired contribution–writer, storyteller, traveler, library guru to guys–that if I can’t find the time now, in retirement, I am hopeless. The older […]
After three days at the American Library Association Conference in Las Vegas, Susan and I felt like trapped players in an adult video game. As Woody Allen once said, “Vegas is a city dedicated to greed and bad taste,” an observation as accurate now as it was when Bugsy Siegel moved the Mob west. Like […]
Censored From the Start On September 22, 2007, I sent a copy of the first draft of ChinAlive to a good friend in Beijing. Although I left Beijing in 2006 to work at a school in Hong Kong we stayed in touch. She had the kind of credentials to be able offer me great advise on […]
Ladalizing the Liberian — Nov. 24, 2004 After three years in Shanghai and a year and a half in Beijing, one of the best things about living in China – as we have repeatedly bragged to family and friends – was the how safe we felt here. The rose colored glasses came off last night when […]
