I first read this novel by Mark Haddon on the island of Saipan. I didn’t read it in one sitting. I think it was in three. Maybe four. It was in one day. The voice captured me, the situationally specific details made me nostalgic and curious for elsewheres, and the detailed descriptions of disparate thought […]

I love Walter Mitty. I love the 1939 short story by James Thurber. I love the Ben Stiller movie. I love that the name Walter Mitty like Judas or Juliet or Romeo or Hamlet or Nemo or Benjamin Button was created in a story and then became part of our language, signifying something specific. I […]

In a scene in the movie About Schmidt the character played by Jack Nicholson is staring at his clock in his office. He is waiting for it to hit 5. His bags are packed. When he walks out of the door, he has reached retirement. This mini-drama is played out numerous times a day at […]

Today is Oregon’s Primary Election. In Oregon, we vote by mail, and we recently passed the Motor Voter Law which makes voting in Oregon an opt-out system. In Oregon, you are automatically registered to vote if you are eligible AND they send you a ballot in the mail. You don’t have to register. You don’t […]