Be a Lighthouse Like Patti
Grief has struck again. I just lost my closest friend in Iowa, Patti Durflinger, to cancer. I was by no means Patti’s only close friend, she was a good and true friend to countless others. She was also a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a sister, and a daughter. She was a lighthouse, living her […]
Need Hope? Jane Goodall Will Give You Some
This post originally aired as a commentary on Tri States Public Radio. To listen, go here. Author E.B. White once said, “I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.” For me, planning my day is never the […]
Forget First or Second, I Am Third
(You can also listen to this on Tri States Public Radio) I hear myself saying a little too often these days that I’m glad I grew up when I did, before cell phones and selfies. Before the internet became a runaway train of disinformation. Before being famous was valued more than being a good person. […]
How to Help the World
Taking a walk on the wild side Yesterday morning I wrote in my journal that I want to do more to help the world, but that I don’t know where to start. The world is so desperately in need of help just thinking about it made me feel bad that I’m not doing more. The […]
Is Social Media to Blame for Our Anxiety?
This post originally aired as a commentary on Tri States Public Radio. To listen instead of reading, go here. So many things are making me anxious these days. I have fears about getting COVID-19, about the November elections, about the rise of white supremacy, about our divisions growing so deep we could end up in a civil […]
Stay Calm and Bake Pie — Episode 5: Chicken Pot Pie
In episode 5 of “Stay Calm and Bake Pie,” Doug is back by popular demand, demonstrating his culinary skills. Not sure if it’s him or my improving editing skills, but damn if he doesn’t look like a professional chef in this episode. Also, there’s some great music in this one. The Mike and Amy Finders […]
How I’m Dealing with the Pandemic (And Other Anxieties)
I want to get back to being a writer, to writing the book I started in early December, or to scrapping that and starting a new one, even just to blogging, but I’m too restless. Like most people, I am sitting in a prickly pear cactus field of fear and anxiety. With the world as […]
Farewell, Our Fearless Little Warrior
Quality of life. Quality of life. Quality of life. This is your new mantra. Quality of life is what you have to determine when your pet gets old or sick, or both. How do you define quality of life, and how do you measure it? And when it’s an animal—a pet who is considered a […]
Luke Perry, I Knew You When
Former “90210” Publicist Remembers the TV Star Luke Perry, aka Dylan McKay, in 1990 When I heard Luke Perry had had a stroke, I expected him to live. That’s because a friend of mine recently had a stroke, his second one, at age 56 and he is recovering. My friend, like Luke, is fit and […]
Radio Commentary: An Outlet for Dealing with Overwhelming Issues
Over the past few years I have occasionally written commentaries for Tri States Public Radio, but only when an issue bothered me so badly I was compelled to weigh in on it. Apparently listeners appreciate the positive messages I try to convey as I was invited to contribute more commentaries, but this time I was […]