IN THE ABSENCE OF A national social-service corps, and for proper character-building, everyone should work in retail sales for a year. (Especially during the holiday rush.)
Tag: arm’s length
Because the word “community” is over-used.
Pithyism #2=1
TRUE LOVE IS NOT AN emotion — it’s a dedicated series of related actions.
Ask Me Another
IT’S HARD TO STAND OUT from the billions of people using social media — but you can do it in a small way, at least among friends.
I’m speaking as a self-appointed Facebook Questioner, posing queries every Monday through Friday mornings. The questions are widely varied, e.g., “What is your language of love?” “What are you listening to?” “How would you accessorize your personal action figure?” “What qualities do you (try to) cultivate?” “Dubbing or subtitles?” “What’s your instant-relaxation strategy?” Continue reading “Ask Me Another”
On “Secret Fame”
IN ANY HUMAN AFFINITY GROUP, of whatever size, there are always one or two people whom “everybody knows” — be it for their work, skills or sheer ubiquity.
This is the concept of Secret Fame: celebrities of the specialty worlds lying hidden all around us.
Secret Fame isn’t something you can claim for yourself. Like the terms “rebbe” or “saint,” it can only be bestowed. For example, if you were into Star Trek fandom in the late 1960s through 1970s, you’ve likely come across the name of fan extraordinaire Bjo Trimble. Continue reading “On “Secret Fame””
Grudge Match
THE GOLDEN RULE OF INTERFAITH colloquy: Don’t Confuse The Levels.
A few years ago, a “JewBu” (Jewish Buddhist) friend of mine told me a story that he felt illustrated the superiority of Buddhism over Judaism, or at least the limitations of Judaism compared to Buddhism. It goes something like this:
A rabbi once met a Buddhist monk, who invited the rabbi into his temple. The rabbi refused, saying, “I cannot enter a house of idolatry.” The monk said, “If I can prove to you that you are an idolater, will you study under me for a year?” Continue reading “Grudge Match”
On Homo relator (w/ Special Guest Star John Wheeler)
IT TOOK A WEIRD BOUT of synchronistic weather to illustrate for me how our species loves to tell stories.
First, you need to know about Mugwort Manor. It was a Victorian apartment near the corner of San Francisco’s Fulton and McAllister streets where all the best 1980s’ “major ragers” took place, roughly according to the neo-Pagan calendar, for a specific group of Renaissance Pleasure and Dickens Christmas Fair(e) habitues, occasional bike messengers, poets, musicians, theater folk, and other outliers: social circles mostly (though not exclusively) centering on secretly famous Mugwort resident John Wheeler a”h [1]. Continue reading “On Homo relator (w/ Special Guest Star John Wheeler)”
Allegiance Redux
A FEW YEARS AGO, I revised the Pledge of Allegiance — instead of stating support for a piece of cloth, it celebrates what that cloth stands for. In today’s hyper-partisan political and cultural climate, it’s important to be both precise and concise so as not to be misunderstood.
All that said and done, here once again is the revised pledge, on this the 243rd anniversary of our nation’s first Independence Day. May you say it in good health, and may that good health steadily spread throughout the Lower North American body politic. (Because we really, really need it.) Continue reading “Allegiance Redux”
How Many Dead Friends Are There?
Little did I know that it would generate such traffic.
Since the ‘logs showed this article had surfaced via search-engines, I first thought it was from people wanting to make one last goodbye Sputnik-ward. Continue reading “How Many Dead Friends Are There?”
Endurance Test
IT HAS BEEN SAID BEFORE. And sadly, it will no doubt be said again. But I feel the need to say it anyway:
A friend of mine told me the other day that, after Poway, she’ll be afraid when I go to synagogue.
“I’m not,” I replied. And meant it.
What I’m also not afraid of, is wearing my yarmulke in public.
Am I a target? Yes. But then we all are — whether we wear yarmulkes or visible stars-of-David or no. As we have been for centuries, even millennia, by haters and cowards and fools. Continue reading “Endurance Test”
Road Wisdom
“WHEN YOU’RE ON THE ROAD and somebody offers you something, take it.”
This piece of learning was gifted me by a temporary chauffeur during my 1985 hitchhiking trip (detailed elseblog) who, somewhere on EB I-80 between Placerville and Stateline, asked me if I wanted a beer — my favorite brand, in fact. I demurred, until he convinced me otherwise with the above epigram.
Since then I have done a poor job with keeping up my side of the bargain. I am a pretty fierce let-me-do-it-myself-er. But I’m trying to do better.
It’s important to let people help you. It makes them feel good. It makes them feel needed and useful. And isn’t that the best gift we can give each other?
“The Soft Tyrant.”
Thus the nickname. Whenever Geronimo meows, it means he wants something: food, loving, lifting onto or off the bed, access to the out-of-doors (or back inside). He is nothing if not insistent, but rewards his human companions for these small kindnesses with purring, headbutts and slow blinks. Continue reading ““The Soft Tyrant.””
Mentors — An Appreciation
BECAUSE OF DARRYL CURTIS, I still say “deh-TAILS” instead of “DEE-tails.”
Darryl was my boss at Santa Rosa news-talk radio station KSRO more than 20 years ago. To say I learned from him everything I know about radio reporting would be an understatement, just as it would be to name Bill Hoban as being responsible for everything I learned about newspapering during my 1998-2003 tenure at the Sonoma Index-Tribune. I owe both of these guys a lot; not only for teaching me about the craft, but also about the ethics involved — and the sheer joy of doing the job. Continue reading “Mentors — An Appreciation”