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Resentment is a dry, bitter pill. It tastes awful, and is incredibly hard to swallow. Read more
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315 homeless people died in Multnomah County in 2022; that’s almost one person per day, and 23% more than in 2021. The number of deaths has increased by nearly 30% each year between 2018-2022. “Accidental deaths” (146), which includes overdose (123) was the leading cause of death. “Natural causes” including infections, heart disease, cancer, strokes, Read more
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Happy Birthday, Deborah! Read more
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Have you ever been insulted, but not cared about the content of the insult? When I was in high school it was an insult to tell a girl that she was flat-chested. I knew from the nasty energy around the words, both written and spoken, that the comment was meant as insult, but being flat-chested, Read more
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When we were little, Dad came up with an idea to slow the pace of Christmas morning. We could open our stockings as soon as we woke up. But, before we could open gifts, Debbie and I were in charge of making breakfast. (Mom’s contribution to Christmas morning management was to allow us to open Read more
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I’ve found unexpected freedom living in the Pacific Northwest these past 25 years. I came west in 1997 when I moved to Federal Way, WA, located midway between Tacoma and Seattle, from Syracuse, NY in order to be closer to my sister and her family. I used to tell my middle school social studies classes Read more
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As the spring snow blanketed our small village, my sister and I spent hours drawing blueprints for the leaf houses we’d construct the following autumn. A leaf house, if you’ve never constructed one, is an outline of a home, with maple leaves piled about 6in. high, acting as the walls. As I recall, my outlines Read more
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Genetically, I’m Wonder Bread White, with roots deep in rural Iowa and South Dakota. My ancestral geography stretches across Northern Europe: England, Sweden, Germany, and Ireland, with a bit of Scotland kilted around the edges. My roots are also rural and small town White, which, in the minds of the coastal elite, translates instantly to Read more
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It was ridiculously wonderful to be back in New York! Even after a long day of cross-country travel, I still couldn’t contain my glee. To my sister’s amusement, my delight overflowed into spontaneous happy dances on the street corners waiting for the WALK sign. “I’m in New York, I’m in New York.” Going home is Read more
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I got my first symptoms on Sunday, August 20th, the last day of our four day celebration of my mom’s 85th birthday in New York City. It was a long flight home with what I hoped was just a bad cold. By the next day I tested positive for Covid. It is the weirdest dang Read more
The Hammer Times 