Blog
The Call – Part One
Lee and me: The beginning of the end. And then there was one. The fact that five of the seven that comprised my family were already dead was indisputable. The sixth, my only full-blood brother (the one with the same blood mixture as me) was what I had come to think of...
The Call – Part Two
Lee and me: The end. Then again when he drank Dad’s morphine, I was at his ICU beside the next day, trying to coax him back. Like a reverse Horton Hears a Who episode…I was trying to reach him way down in Whoville… my voice getting smaller and smaller, diving down...
Straightening Up
When I was being shaped and baked in the oven of Berkeley in the sixties - being straight - as in socially conservative or aligning with the establishment was a liability, a slur. My brother Lee used to scorn “The Straighties” (pronounced Straight-teeez) along with...
The Bomb, Joji, A Vermont Museum
My brother Joji was born into post-bomb-drop Japan. A "brown-skinned-bastard" from a Black American soldier. I imagine his young Japanese mother, as the earth shook for a moment, then blew away. What could she have thought about the new world of sickness, terror and a...
I’m Back
Just my luck! I moved to Vermont for a more peaceful life, and the craziness of the world just followed me here. Yes. Vermont is very much engaged in the fight for social justice. In my small town we have Trump supporters & graying hippies living side by side. And...
Steps: From Soul-Sick to Soul-Healthy
(This is part 2 of a 2-Part article. Read Part 1 first ) I was soul-sick. No doubt about it. When I should have been bonding with my mother as an infant, she was nurturing her career and I was left with a babysitter & bottle. When I could have turned to her for...
“Soul Sickness Killed Off My Entire Family”…But What Is It ?
What is soul sickness? Let's start by defining soul-health and work backwards. According to soul-guru, and Oprah's good friend, Gary Zukov, the soul is a nurturer, soother, and provider of life energy. When one connects with this source, well-being and a direction in...
Dragon Free Zone
I'm part of a spiritual program that's helps me abstain from destructive substances because "There Be Dragons" waiting off the edge of that map, and that dragon already ate my entire family, so I'm pretty sure he's licking his chops waiting patiently to finish off the...
She Is Not A Gift – Girl Scouts Dry-Up Holiday Brainwashing
She's lovely, innocent, and deserves to enjoy a developmentally appropriate holiday free of unwanted touch, and yet that human right is often undermined by "socially accepted" norms. In an article about brainwashing, the writer Julia Layton states, In...
Moth Story Slam: “Pussy Bushes”
In one of my first posts of the school year, I discussed how we as educators each find our tipping point for intolerable acts regarding children. At the end of the article I described the tensions of being mixed-race during the start of school integration, and a...
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Inspired by what I've shared? Or have your own survival story to share? I'd love to hear from you.