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Clarity in Waves
Events may seem chaotic and unsettled today, but given enough time, history will provide clarity. The pattern of waves from a vessel as it cuts through the waters help to show us that after the passing ripples of disturbance eventually comes understanding and perspective.
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Meanderings Five Oh
On reaching the age of 50...
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Lord of The Flies Revisited
A success story about dealing proactively with bullying in schools
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The Next Layer
For what reason does a being spit forth into the silent darkness? For what reason does he seek connection, to others, to himself, to the universe? For what reason is there knowledge of what is sought? For what reason does he wonder, and seek,...
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You and Me
Reflections on being who and what we are.
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All that I survey ...
Is it just me, or have we become a survey-addicted society of needy poll-takers, temperature takers, and care-fakers? I finish a business trip to a hotel, and they want to know how well I enjoyed my lodging experience. I slept and showered there....
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Nutmeg - A short story
I'm in this mode where I want to open up the doors to books and articles I've written in the past, and Hubpages seems as good a place as any. This short story was written several years back, about a little girl and an old man playing soccer... I...
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It's out! My second novel: DOMINIC GRAVES
El Dorado County, California, 1969 Nineteen steps below their darkened room a battle raged. So begins the story of Dominic and Theodore Graves - twin brothers who share a disturbing past. Nick, thoughtful and studious; Ted, playful and...
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Off The Grid
The man's eyes open, unfocused and bleary; his body shivering in the early morning darkness. Briefly, he wrestles with the decision of whether to stay in bed, or shuffle to the closet for an extra blanket. His dog stirs as he moves him out of the...
- 15
Cliche Soup
As a writer and reasonably intelligent person (I've awarded myself that distinction, because I'm the one typing and am thus in control of the award program), I'm acutely aware of our overuse of certain expressions that have ceased having meaning....
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The Return to Scout Camp
For the second straight year, I returned to Boy Scout camp as an adult leader this past week. I wrote about my experience last year in my hub Going Back to Boy Scout Camp. This time, I returned to the actual camp I attended as a scout, nearly 40...
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The Journey: A Look at Aging - Chapter 13
This is chapter 13 of a 16 chapter collaboratively-written series on aging, submitted by 16 different Hubpages authors.
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It's kind of a smelly story ...
Every night around 10pm, I walk my dog outside through my neighborhood before bed. About seven times out of ten, I encounter a skunk somewhere on our walk. I used to be more alarmed about it, but now it seems as though we're used to each other - me,...
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Breathing life into my first novel: FATAL INDEMNITY
In the mid-90's, after I turned 30, had married, bought two houses and had my first child on the way, I embarked on one of my lifelong ambitions - to write a novel. To my recollection it originated with my first grade teacher, and was nurtured and...
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What's Become of Wonder?
There's a wonderful, quirky video recently out on PBS YouTube, setting Mr. Rogers' voice to a synthesized singing of the song, "Garden of Your Mind", which I've posted below. As I was watching it - three times - I realized not only was it cool, but...
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A Hike By the Sea
Every once in awhile I get the calling. Like medicine for the debilitated, it hints of relief with its bucolic salve. It asks for nothing, and does not try to impress, or offer heralded expectations. And even though I hope, it never disappoints....
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Should I Stay or Should I Go?
I've had this habit for some time. I'm driving on the freeway in traffic, when I notice the lane next to me seems to be going faster, so I switch lanes. Invariably, right after I do, the other lane starts going faster. But I don't want to switch...
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Pushing the Outer Edge
An exploration on the topic of human potential and living life fearlessly.
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All or nothing at all ...
How many news days go by without a new crisis? It used to mean something. Now when our government can't make up its mind about a spending/debt plan, it becomes a new crisis. A crisis is, by definition, "an unstable or crucial time or state of...
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Push Me Pull You
Using public transportation as an example, a look at how people tend to get stuck in the problem - like the Push Me Pull You from Dr. Dolittle - instead of being focused on collaborative outcomes. Once we let go of being right instead of relevant, there are few limits to the potential we have to...
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How to be A Positive Deviant
How to be a positive deviant, in whatever social, relationship, or organizational system one is in. Positive deviants are positive, solution-focused and continually look for ways to move things forward in unique, edgy and transformative ways. This hub describes the concept and then gives...
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Are All Writers Crazy?
So, you're wondering, aren't you? You, who clicked on this article. I caught you. Yeah, it's all fine and good when I pick on the uber-smart in Are All Geniuses Crazy, because those smarty-pants technogeeks need to be explained away so we regular...
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An Intrepid Miner of Substance
A meditation on the struggle for meaning following a difficult life circumstance.
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A Cactus Flower in a Vineyard
At the end of a relationship...
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Little Hub of Horrors
A look at what scares us - from urban legends, to ghost stories to horror movies - and why people keep going back for more!
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The Lucky Life of Dick Van Dyke
In his memoir, "My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business", talented actor/comedian Dick Van Dyke revisits his life in show business with wit, circumspection and wisdom, After reading his memoir, I feel honored to have spend a special few moments with this wonderful man who has helped to create...
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Duct Tape: A Love Story
It had to happen sooner or later. I had to write about duct tape. I didn't seek it out, it came to me on its own. My son, you see, has developed this artistic interest with the amazing, durable, polyethylene fabric adhesive binding. Not for ducts,...
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Going Back to Boy Scout Camp
Yup, that's me... As I clipped the carabiner hook onto my harness, I took a deep breath as my eyes scanned up the 25 foot telephone pole before me and tried to imagine how I was going to perch myself in a standing position atop its 12 inch diameter...
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You can't escape from yourself
So often, we want to be somewhere else, but still we bring ourselves along. If you're not happy with who and where you are, it doesn't really matter where you go.
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So long and thanks for all the nuts...
A seemingly innocuous little story caught my attention this past week. Of course, I'm one of those annoying people who looks beyond the more obvious headlines that scream for my vapid attention while I reach for the Valium, and instead search for...
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The Not-So-Secret Secret of Bohemian Grove
Tucked into the wooded hills outside of Monte Rio, near the Russian River in northern California is a campground for the conservative elite (including several US Presidents), sponsored by the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. Every year, notables come there to relax, bond, and share in camaraderie,...
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Capturing the Spirit of the National Parks' Grand Circle
My travelogue of a trip with my two kids touring the landscape of the American West through exploration of its National Park system. Frommers described it as the "Grand Circle" of Parks located within a loop north and east of the Grand Canyon, covering parts of northern Arizona, southern Utah, and...
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The Art of Tossing Children’s Artwork
In the process of purging through accumulated stuff in my house and garage, in order to be more organized and simplify my life, I came across the boxes filled with my children's artwork. How does a parent decide what he can toss, vs. keep? I want to keep it all! And who knows whether my prolific...
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Punch Drunk Enlightenment
Sometimes we try too hard to find things that are sitting right in front of us. There it is, and we want to move it out of the way so we can get to the hazy, muddled universe on the other side. When you search for complex answers to problems, you begin to realize that there are only simple...
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The Power of Silly
Eckhart Tolle made a killing with his book The Power of Now. That's great and all, but in a transcendent moment of awareness, I've become aware of another great, inspirational life lesson, which I am titling The Power of Silly! Late one recent...
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The Tough-Minded Optimist in the 21st Century
More than 50 years ago, Norman Vincent Peale published "The Tough Minded Optimist", one of the books that reflected his perspective that life should be approached with enthusiasm and positivity. So many of the ideas embodied in those books are not only applicable, but vital in today's world. This...
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The Unexpected Beauty of Wabi-Sabi
As a writer and contemplative person, I enjoy concepts that refocus my attention in new and surprising ways. When we reach midlife, there's a budding awareness that the pursuit of more, the abundant learning of facts, and the relentless jockeying...
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"Think" Smarts vs. "Feel" Smarts
Our culture seems to value thinking intelligence far above feeling intelligence - what is referred to as emotional intelligence. They are clearly not the same, as a person can develop one without the other. This article discusses the concept of emotional intelligence and how it is relevant to...
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Whatever happened to SchoolHouse Rock?
Growing up, back in the days when my mind hungrily absorbed information (as opposed to the way it now pings off my overtaxed brain like hail on a windowpane!) there were certain concepts I retained that still resonate strongly to this day. Certain...
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Wet, Wild and Whimsical
Recently, I've read a very interesting theory about a shift in our culture from the numbers-oriented, production industrial-age focus to one where we are more focused on the artistic, spiritual and whimsical. A book that introduces this idea in a...
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Us and Them
Divisions have defined us. Wars have shaped countries and determined the shape and nature of our history. What drives humans to be so polarized on so many issues? If we're "us", who is "them"? It's a deeper wound from which we - all of humanity - suffer. A wound amplified by ego, divisiveness...
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Coffee Love!
Ahhh. I'm up and my brain cylinders are starting to pop. Lying in bed was so comfortable and warm, but I longed for that first sip of warm, sweet java. After filling the coffee maker with water and adding the fragrant ground beans, I leaned...
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Write Therapy
So, I've had nearly a three-month hiatus from posting hub articles. No particular reason, other than it being summer, and me just not feeling the inspiration. I was taking a long walk/run down into the east part of town yesterday morning;...
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Don't Call Me Fred
You don't find many Freds these days. There used to be an abundance of them. Fred Flintstone. Freddie Mercury. Fred Meyer. Fredericks of Hollywood... I grew up on a cul-de-sac with several families who had boys about my age. One of them was Fred....
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Running On Empty
A reflection on reaching middle age and finding myself with a different perspective on who I am and why I'm here, and once again returning to running - which I did back in high school - for exercise and inspiration...
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The Most Memorable Children's Movies
A reminiscent discussion of some of the best children's movies both from my childhood, and from raising my own children. Includes my list of the best movies for children, and the whole family.
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Having the Heart of a Sky Diver
This morning, amongst the plentiful stories about the gloom of the recession, crime sprees and other random death stories, I was drawn by the story of a 70-year-old man, afraid of heights, who chose to sky dive for the first time, to honor the heart...
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The Most Memorable Children's Stories
A father's reflections of the best children's stories he read with his children when they were little, along with a listing and summary of some of the most memorable phrases from those wonderful books.
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Gift from the sea
In 1955, Anne Morrow Lindburgh, the wife of aviator Charles Lindburgh, published a wonderful little book entitled "Gift From The Sea." It's one of those little gems that didn't make bold claims, or profess to be anything other than one woman's reflections on modern life, with allegorical references...
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Sleepover sanity: Is it possible?
Our memories filter things in an interesting way. I remember having sleepovers with my friends when I was young, and they were simple, fun events where we slept under the stars in sleeping bags, laughing and causing harmless mischief. Honestly, I...
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embracing minimalism
"We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.” "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." – Henry David Thoreau Not...
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Do you have a monkey mind?
Some time back, I was eating at a local sushi restaurant and, while we were waiting, the server brought out a plate of sample rolls for us to try. "What are these?" I asked. "Monkey brain," she said. I paused momentarily, then saw it was comprised...
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How to Draw Comfort Through Sadness
A reflection on the value of pain and sadness, which often brings a sense of authentic wisdom and meaning to life.
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Is life truly random?
One of my daughter's most-used phrases is "that was random." At 13, she has this amazing sense of humor, filled with oddly conjoined thoughts and phrases - for example, we've often signed off email messages to each other with randomly selected...
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The Economics of Happiness
I am happy. There, I said it. There were so many years when I couldn't have accurately made that statement. In the past, I've been through periods of time when I was so self-reflective (ie "in my head") I couldn't see that as possible. Our culture...
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How To Boil A Frog
If you've been around for any length of time, you've probably heard the analogy about the boiling of frogs. Basically, it goes like this: if you heat up a pot of rolling, boiling water, and drop a live frog into it, the frog will wisely jump right...
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Are All Geniuses Crazy?
Satirical look at the overused media premise that those with mathematical genius are somehow closely connected with mental disorders, such as paranoid schizophrenia. Why is that? Could it be that writers make movies and writers are seldom gifted mathematicians, and what we don't understand, we...
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Do the opposite . . . of what doesn't work!
So, let's say you've had a series of bad judgments that have led you astray. In a Seinfeld episode, George Costanza decides his own judgment has gotten him nowhere in life, so if every instinct he has is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right! This hub outlines how to turn things around,...