The Plight of Pain

Textured backdrop of soft crumpled textile in darkness

I am pain.

I cannot survive in the light

so I scurry into the corners, into the depths of souls,

swimming in guts

where it’s blacker than the darkest night.

And there, I molt and grow, whether I want to or not.

See, that’s the thing about me:

I’m not trying to hurt any… Read more...

How We Deal With Road Rage

Screaming blurry face

I sometimes read Quora to find out where job seekers’ heads are at and to read stories of human kindness, particularly among strangers.

One such story involved a woman’s victory over road rage.

Something happened out there on the road, and a man pulled in next to her in… Read more...

The Fire in 7th Grade

7th grade interview about a fire

My friend found old news footage of a fire in our 7th-grade classroom. The teacher, one of my favorites, was trying to take chlorophyll out of a leaf. Alcohol got on the hot plate and, BOOM, big explosion.

In the newscast, after some panning shots of the charred classroom, the re… Read more...

Burnout’s Nemesis

brown and white cigarette stick

Burnout is real.

And he can sneak up on you quick, disheveled and in a bandit’s mask.

At first, you won’t notice him; you’ve been too busy, that’s how he slips in.

And once he sat down at your workspace, he wouldn’t leave, not of his own accord anyway. … Read more...

Part of the Solution

2 person holding hands

Another shooting, this time at a university.

The killer is still at large. My daughter, 16, usually the pragmatic one, surprised me with her response to the news coverage.

“How sad your life must be to kill a buncha people.”

This made me think about something I learned i… Read more...

Patrick

white textile on brown couch

I wish it were a grander dream.

I wish it had taken up the whole night.

But it was only a moment, a quick flash of a scene.

We were all in the Airstream trailer. He was sitting across from me in a fleece vest on a bench seat.

(That should have been my first clue. He couldnR… Read more...

One Conversation

Descent Into The Mist

Whatever happened, or didn’t happen…

You are always one conversation away from making it right.

And the more difficult the conversation, the more important it is to have and the more beautiful the landscape on the other side.

Wisdom comes from failure; love from loneline… Read more...

Good Men

Men Hugging In a Crowded Room

I listened to a 15-minute podcast yesterday about two men hugging in a hallway.

They’d both lost their moms.

One was a young man, a high school student who had shut himself down in every way. The other was a football coach who “didn’t normally do that sort of thin… Read more...