Parents in camo and pajamas reeking of cigarettes and marijuana and hard work and BO at the 7th and 8th grade show. A bunch of kids playing instruments for people that don’t really care. Moms and Dads swiping phone screens talking not giving a shit about anything because they confuse being present with parenting. I … More Middle School Band Performance
July 17, 2019 8:26 am We are citizens of the Universe. Feeling like we’ve been here before. Energy waves. Vibration. Attracting and repelling other energy. It’s difficult to remain connected—centered, but even more challenging to rediscover connection once it’s been lost because this existence requires a measured amount of disconnect to function. The great trick … More Been Here Before
December 3, 2018 We’ve got the cold wrapping up all around us. It’s time for long johns, parkas, and insulated boots. Trekking through snow and slush. Penguin-stepping over ice. Or dodging puddles. It is Michigan, after all. Twenty-seven degrees right now at 7:32 pm but it could … More magic stuff
I lifted the cat and hugged her. Even though she’s shit on our bedroom floor and I stepped in it twice. Barefoot. Once, as I clomped my way to the john in the dark. Bladder so full of vodka, Sprite, and water that I thought I’d never go back to bed. The other, a weird … More the never end
I have many faults. I’m impatient. Lack discipline. I’m too lazy to understand our differences. And so, I get stuck in deep ruts. My wheels spin. I create paranoia. Make problems that don’t exist. Because I’m bored. Like a coyote in a cage. Running back and forth and back and forth and back and forth … More understand
(this is a work of fiction) Getting too old for these crazy things. Polishing off a bottle of wine at 10:14 pm, well after the kids have gone to bed. Too locked into the norm to believe I can write with the best of them—Stephen King, Margaret Attwood, the writers for Ozark. But I have … More ticking
It’s a strange trip. Buying the dips. Waiting. Patiently. For the bulls to run. I hope it’s soon. I want to be able to help as many as I should. Not with these little words or necessary acts of kindness—though those will never stop—but with cold hard cash. I want to set up my kids. … More bull run
We have these great beautiful minds and souls to explore and a whole life to do it. And yet, we shy away or flat out refuse opportunities to open up and learn. We subscribe to someone else’s beliefs. We fulfill expectations that aren’t our own. We pull away, opt for comfort and safety, and slowly … More Exploration
This morning is a good one. It’s going to be another beautiful summer day in Alpena, Michigan. Clear sky, probably high 70s. Little to no wind. Except for cars passing down 2nd Avenue every so often and crows cawing and heckling a few blocks over, all is quiet in the neighborhood. Julian gassed up with … More church doughnuts
He’s lost it a little. That something that pushed and pushed and pushed him. It was light. But there was deep darkness too. Days did not end or begin. They only moved seamlessly one into another. And now that he is full and filling out—heavier, slower, more patient with the world—he has so much of … More and tonight, there is this
The Crooked Steeple 