On the bus on a sunny and warm day in the middle of the week, a little girl (maybe 2 years old) with platinum blond hair smiled and waved to everyone who got on or off the bus as well as every pedestrian that the bus passed. Many people waved back. They couldn’t help but…
Stalled Out on the Same Things
I’m having another morning in which I’m stalled out and convinced that I don’t know how to write or what to write about. I tried to work on a poem about breaking a plate and the connection to feeling sorry for my elderly neighbor below. Earlier, while putting things away, I had dropped a plate…
It’s Late and I Should Have Been Taking Notes
This morning, I gave up. Sure, there was the darkened sky and the rain streaked windows. I wrote about those things, but I had nowhere to go with them. They didn’t remind me of a childhood memory. They didn’t call about some magical imagery. Dark clouds, rain streaks, both pitter and patter. “Attention without feeling…
The People in My Neighborhood
Storm clouds move swiftly across the sky – north and east. At 7:07 AM a man can be heard shouting from the street. The distance and the buildings between us make his words unrecognizable. If I had to guess, he’s under the overhang at the library across the street. Two crows shout back and I…
Valentine’s Day. Again.
Today is Valentine’s Day, again. My friends who work in the restaurant industry are working longer hours today – special dishes and menus, overbooked reservations, and covering shifts for people who want to celebrate. Yesterday, as I walked to the grocery store to get a bottle of wine to go with my solo dinner, I…
Friends of Varying Degrees
Yesterday, the group chat was abuzz about the passing of a friend. I knew this person the way we seem to know most people these days – we were friends on Facebook. Aside from the annual birthday wishes, we hadn’t talked or interacted in over a decade. He went to high school with my ex-wife…
It’s a Man’s World: Brain Rot in the Manosphere
For one reason or another, people like to debate with me at bars. Ok – maybe “like” is a strong word, and maybe I start my share of the debates. Quite often, the conversation begins innocently enough. They’ll ask what I do for a living. I’ll tell them nonprofit work – hunger, housing, poverty. They’ll…
Super Bowl Week
It’s Super bowl week here in the Bay Area. The game will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara (about 45 miles outside of San Francisco), but the lion’s share of events are taking place in the city. Venues in/near my neighborhood are hosting several concerts (Sting, Post Malone, the Killers) along with an…
I Hear the Ax Swinging
By mid-morning I was feeling lost. I wanted something different, but didn’t know how to get from here to there or there to somewhere else. It was sunny and temperate and I could feel that if I wasn’t careful, I just might lose the day. A sense of trepidation was setting in – about what,…
“Free America” Walkout – 1/20/26
Overcast with no breeze, the four o’clock weather is cool. The temperatures are in the mid-fifties. Near where I stand leaning against one of the barren and trimmed trees that line Civic Center Plaza, the click-pound hammer of staple guns echo above the chants of the protesters. We gather for yet another march against the…
College Football: It Ain’t What It Used to Be
My uncle’s email titled YOUR PSU SCORECARD, listed which Penn State football players were staying, which ones were leaving, and which ones were transferring in from other schools. The transfer portal, in which kids can now switch schools every year without penalty (you used to have to sit out a year if you changed schools)…
Rain Rain Go Away
Monday morning Slanting rain streaks the windows. The magnolia tree shakes and waves in quick bursts of wind. A firetruck blares in the distance and then fades. Tuesday… Yesterday, we were in the middle of, or maybe at the end of, a weather event. It had been raining for the past three or four days…