I recently began to follow a guy named John Polo. John lost his wife to cancer in 2016, and shortly after, began to write and post about his grief journey. In the 6 years since, those that have followed him have probably noticed an evolution. He recently shared that he was changing the name of…
When you move or even vacation in another city, you find yourself wanting to learn about the area. At least I do. I find the history of the places I visit enlightening, interesting, and sometimes sobering. Such is the case with Portland in particular, and Oregon in general. Over these 7+ years of visiting, I’ve…
I rarely watch awards shows, but I really enjoyed the Grammys last night. The day after any awards show, I see a lot of opinions, often negative, expressed on social media, and it reminds me of the on-going debate about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame every induction season, (“that’s NOT rock and roll”)…
When my late husband got his cancer diagnosis, we both felt shock, fear, and an instant sense that everything that seemed important only an hour ago, just…wasn’t. At least that’s how I felt, and that’s how he later said he felt. But I guess there is really no way I could have understood what he…
I wrote a blog a while back about how sharing any kind of opinion that might stir controversy on social media is hard for me. I’m one of those “I don’t want to offend people” types. I, like many, would say that “no one’s opinions are changed by a social media post, so why bother?”…
Note: This blog was originally written and posted in August of 2018 and revised in August of 2022 in light of recent events Slacktivism is a relatively new term for “feel-good” measures in support of an issue or social cause that doesn’t take much effort. After reading about the phenomenon, I feel a little called…
There’s a lot of chatter these days about infringements on our freedom. There’s no doubt a lot is out of our control when it comes to the virus and the inconveniences of staying safe. No one loves all this mask-wearing and social distancing, in addition to other safety guidelines that have affected our economy and…
The movie Hidden Figures tells the story of three African-American women who worked behind the scenes as “computers” to solve problems for engineers and others at NASA. These women were as smart, or smarter than many of their male counterparts but because they were women, and because they were black during a time of segregation, it took…
Has this happened to you? You are feeling sad, scared, or vulnerable. You share those emotions, and the response you get is not what you expect. You may not be able to recall the exact words someone said or what the well-meaning piece of advice they gave was, but you remember how it made you…
I know I’m not alone in searching for ways to get through this. I’ve been doing my best to be positive, and yet, as I scroll through social media, too much positive can be downright annoying, because it’s not real. Sometimes I have a “we got this” “it’s gonna be alright” attitude, and sometimes I…