This is a true story.

My nephew got married last week.  His name is David Brennan and his new bride is Nora Brennan.  He was born and raised in Massachusetts and she in Connecticut.    About six years ago they each were beginning a semester abroad in Ireland from their respe… Read full post »

This post is another in a series of occasional installments describing my early recovery and treatment for alcoholism.  The most recent prior post is Anesthetized to life: Thirty years of drinking and now this?   Others may be found in the “My Links” section on the left sid… Read full post »

This post is another in a series of occasional installments describing my early recovery and treatment for alcoholism.  The most recent prior post is  Recovery is so slow and the cold rain feels so good .  Others may be found in the “My Links” section on the left side of my… Read full post »

We arrived in Anchorage, Alaska after a two-week trek from Detroit.  It was September, 1971.  I had finished college that June with a B.A. in Sociology and returned home to Detroit to find a “real job.”  The first thing I did was get my old summer job back as an outdoor… Read full post »

My 25 year old daughter is the Executive Director of the Sister Communities of San Ramon, Nicaragua.  This organization got involved in Nicaragua over 20 years ago just after the Sandinistas prevailed in the Contra War.  They developed and support an eco-tourism lodge and coffee farm called/… Read full post »

 "The Meaning of Life Explained"

All my life I have been fascinated by people with rigid and somewhat doctrinaire beliefs. These folks espouse strong opinions about other’s behavior and beliefs and often act as if they are “right.” It’s almost as if they have secret info… Read full post »

 I have this recurring thought that Barack Obama will be re-elected in 2012 and will carry North Carolina (maybe by one vote; but, a win is a win). I think that the Tea Party and Republican right wing has behaved so badly this past year and have so angered the mainstream… Read full post »

Three of us went to visit a mutual friend in prison today.  It was about a two-hour drive and the last ten miles straight through mostly picked cotton fields in eastern North Carolina. Lots of huge downed trees everywhere courtesy of Irene’s recent visit.   Have you ever seen a l… Read full post »

On September 5, 1960 Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) gave a presidential campaign speech in Cadillac Square in Detroit, Michigan.  It was a brief speech delivered before 100,000 people. I was there. That's me about mid-way back in the middle with the curly blond hair. I was 1/… Read full post »

This post is another in a series of occasional installments describing my early recovery and treatment for alcoholism.  Others may be found in the “My Links” section on the left side of my blog. Every time I post one of these stories I hear from a number of people struggling wi… Read full post »

…and this is no April Fool’s story…only an alcoholic fool’s story. I had been arrested the night before driving backwards at 5mph in a small southern town I’d never been in before. The arresting officer later told me he had been responding to a barking dog complaint in… Read full post »

St. Petersburg, FL – (AP)

The AARP announced this afternoon that it is buying Open Salon from the Salon Media Group, Inc.  An email blast to media outlets worldwide provided insight into this explosive deal. “It’s a perfect fit for our organizational focus.  Our 90-day dat… Read full post »

This post is another in a series of occasional installments describing my early recovery and treatment for alcoholism.  The most recent prior post is How a nine-year old saved an alcoholic from getting drunk.  Others may be found in the “My Links” section on the left side… Read full post »

It sure does get depressing around this joint at times. Two posts in particular – one by koshersalami and one by  Cranky Cuss – just make me want to eat worms.  Not really. The worms deserve better. Sorry you guys are feeling so despondent.

Where’s the love fellas?&… Read full post »

My father died at 6:25 am on October 4, 2009.  He was 86 years old.  It has been one year.  I put up a post last November titled "That's it.  I can feel life leaving.  He's cooler already."   I felt agitated this morning when I woke up and at first/… Read full post »

This post is another in a series of occasional installments describing my early recovery and treatment for alcoholism.  The most recent prior post is   Sober? BFD!...Now move out of the house . Others may be found in the “My Links” section on the left side of my blog.&nbs… Read full post »

It‘s a mid- November Saturday in Detroit.  Sunny, cold and blustery.  I am standing at a podium in a Unitarian church delivering the eulogy at my father’s memorial service. It is the expected duty of the oldest surviving child and one I gladly accepted – in a sad sort of w/… Read full post »

Just got back from an AA meeting. I was asked there for the third week in a row if I’d “heard about Lisa.”  I had.  I’d known her most of ten years.

She was about 50 years old.  Lived much of her life in the street.  Her mental illness/… Read full post »

This Glenn Beck fellow has certainly managed to hog the front pages lately.  It seems that he is everywhere I turn – well on television at least.  The blog world is full of entries.  All over Facebook and he has severa/… Read full post »

Dear Mr. President:

You have all of us hopelessly mired in Afghanistan.  I hate to say it but a lot of us told you so.  No real pleasure in saying that. In a previous post I wrote:

“You have just stated… Read full post »

Autism is a language/communication disorder with many variations, degrees of expression, and outcomes. There are frequent excellent posts on OS regarding autism.  Keying in the word "autism" in the Search function above yielded 925 results. 

This is one young man's high scho… Read full post »

I was curious about the origin of Father's Day so I checked around. It appears to have been inaugurated in 1910 through the efforts of one Sonora Smart Dodd in Spokane, Washington in 1910.  She’d heard a sermon the previous year regarding Mother’s Day and wanted to do something to re/… Read full post »

This post is another in a series of occasional installments describing my early recovery and treatment for alcoholism.  The most recent prior post is   Early sobriety and these feelings are going to kill me. Others may be found in the “My Links” section on the left side o/… Read full post »

%I… Read full post »

Being Straight Isn’t Easy

Being straight isn’t always easy.  There are a lot of prejudices and false beliefs to hang on to. I mean, if one’s lifestyle is different than mine, then it must be wrong or even sinful.  Next thing you know, “they” are go/… Read full post »