Blog
The Journey Continues
23 Feb 2022
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 [...]
Read more The Journey ContinuesWhy Is Portland So Liberal?
20 Jul 2021
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 [...]
Read more Why Is Portland So Liberal?Because You Don’t Like It Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t Good
15 Mar 2021
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 [...]
Read more Because You Don’t Like It Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t GoodThe Journey From Guilt to Gratitude
26 Dec 2020
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 [...]
Read more The Journey From Guilt to GratitudeAll Lives Matter (that used to be me)
7 Jun 2020
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 [...]
Read more All Lives Matter (that used to be me)I Admit It, I’m a Slacktivist
6 Jun 2020
Note: This blog was originally written and posted in August of 2018. Posting again 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, [...]
Read more I Admit It, I’m a SlacktivistThe Acoustic Escape: Freedom Through Creativity
23 May 2020
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 [...]
Read more The Acoustic Escape: Freedom Through CreativityResearcHERS: Women Fighting Cancer
12 May 2020
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 [...]
Read more ResearcHERS: Women Fighting CancerWell-intentioned Comments
15 Apr 2020
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 [...]
Read more Well-intentioned CommentsCoping through COVID with music
3 Apr 2020
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 [...]
Read more Coping through COVID with music