I had this moment of clarity. The Hasan Minaj, interview on the New Yorker radio hour. It’s right after 9/11, Hasan is a teenager and his father told him not to answer the phone; but of course he answers to vicious racial and religious slurs and threats and violence and ending with, and the caller…
“Based on a true story.” That is code for a condensed version of the story, trimmed down to be told in a short period of time and carefully edited to create a compelling story of near mythical proportion. Coming this fourth of July, amidst the parades, barbecues and fireworks, are you celebrating a holiday “based…
On March 13, 2018, a flight attendant was responsible for a puppy being placed in an overhead bin. The 10 month old french bulldog died in flight. Less than 24 hours later, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana sponsored a bill to ban pets from the overhead bin, because “pets are family.” What does Senator Kennedy…
This Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph, The Soiling of Old Glory, by Stanley Forman is cringe worthy, sickening. It’s 1976, Boston. I heard statements like, well t at didn’t happen here, or that was 42 years ago.The kid wielding the flag is 17 years old. [Joseph] Rakes vividly recalls the “blind anger” that motivated him—anger aimed,…
The first sound – the loud smack of a 4×4 piece of wood hitting shin bones. The second sound – an anguished piercing scream. The third sound – silence. Everyone stopped – mid sentence, mid action, mid thought. A 145 pound wrestler with all his might tried to keep a gymnast on a beam, unaware,…
“An excellent cast is jobless because of Roseanne herself. The show was like a bridge and she burnt it. Lost potential.” That was one my text this week. Potential. It’s that thing. People stay in a relationship, a job or an investment because there is “potential.” Yet, there is the sobering moment when someone asks, what actions…
Memorial Day – at times it seems we are trying to hard to forget what the day is really about. Which is rather ironic for a holiday that is all about memory. Memorial day is in honor of those who have died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Formerly known as decoration day, the…
You think, “Yuk, that doesn’t taste right.” Then you remember, certain food combinations (orange juice after brushing your teeth – cringe)¹ destroy flavors. Hence, the value of a palate cleaner to remove food residue, and competing flavors; enabling you to fully experience your food without the yuk. A weekend is a cerebral palate cleanser. It neutralizes…
A blown fuse, caused by a temporary overload or power surge simply needs to be replaced or reset. A short circuit is frayed wires that need to repaired. They both result in no power, but the fixes are very different. After eight hours of trying to troubleshoot and fix a no power situation in my…
I had role models for my neurosis. When my Dad died, my mom routinely said, “I’ll be dead in a year, you know when one spouse dies the other dies within a year.” A few years later, my mom was deeply concerned and sad; she was still alive. “Does this mean I didn’t love your…
This was pricing discussion was about to take that ugly turn. Our pricing is 30% higher than the competition. The engineer flipped back to his PowerPoint slide detailing the functionalityand snapped, “We’re not higher, we have more features. You’re comparing apples and oranges.” The developers and offering management did the head nod, acknowledgement of the…
“Wow, that’s what you really think?” I slapped my laptop shut, stunned by what I’d read. Was I overreacting to a comment made by a connection on LinkedIn? What’s my problem? Is this a teachable moment? I returned to the post three days later. I read the replies and six out of eight expressed the…
The coffee booth was not at the framer’s market this week, so I took orders from a few vendors to do a coffee run. A customer heard “Starbucks” in the exchange. African American Customer: “No, you can’t go to Starbucks. After what they did, boycott Starbucks.” African American Vendor: “Listen, Starbucks has an engage the…
“…the police shouldn’t be drinking soda anyway.” Huh? The speaker was referring to Berkeley’s sugar ban and a new recommendation asking the … City of Berkeley departments and City food services contractors to refrain from: 1. Procuring sugar-sweetened beverages with City funds; 2. Selling sugar-sweetened beverages on City property, including in vending machines; and 3.…
Can we stop with the Easter Bunny? Look, don’t have kids, I’m not involved in child rearing, so herein is an observation. A key objective in education is critical thinking reasoned judgment in thought and action; the ability to reason well and the disposition to do so. This means, education has to first undo the…
I’m stalled. Work is stalled, the blog is stalled, my plans for world domination in some areas is stalled. A car stalls when the engine is overloaded. My stall is not an overloaded engine; it’s a lack of vision, an absence of what’s next? In times like theses, I watch basketball; it’s March Madness and…
I see this in Target all the time. Shoppers start by picking up a drink at the in store Starbucks and upon check out, these shoppers do this strange juggling act of trying to carry all their items and not pay 10 cents for a bag. This is hilarious, because, oh yes, pay $5.45 for…
There was a time you’d find a bank of phone booths at any airport. Larger airports had set ups with privacy screens and a shelf for the working business person. But that was before cell phones. Cell phones were a disruption. The airports could have tried to keep the phone booths in place, made the…
If there is an invention, an idea, a discovery that is not accepted by a ruling body, does that mean it is not qualified or worthy? Consider the electronic feeding tube; rejected by the American Veterans Administration, but adapted by the French government in 1951. A few years later,the same inventor approached the same organization,…
First, there are sirens. Your brain registers that there are a lot of sirens and emergency vehicles; something must have happened? Minutes later, you are in the office and everyone is standing in the middle of the office, still and quiet with one guy on the phone. When he finishes his call, he reports, “my…
The Lunar New Year which is typically the second new moon after the winter solstice, started February 16th. This is different than the solar new year, which started January 1. Habit makes us want to map something unfamiliar to something we know. Which is why people unfamiliar with this start to look at me as…
My favorite cashier at Target – Karen. Sure, I could do the self check out, but I always laugh with Karen It wasn’t always that way. In 2013, Target had reported that hackers stole data from up to 40 million credit and debit cards of shoppers who had visited its stores during the holiday season.…
Put down the phone, walk away from the tweets and posts and hashtags and let’s talk. Drop the defenses and attitude for a few moments. #MeToo shed light egregious forced assaults, degrading groping and humiliating innuendo in the workplace. Now, Three months post Weinstein, what sound likes “embarrassing choices” and “regrettable sex” have crept into…
If you don’t know, what you don’t know, how do you learn? Follow me here. In the realm of knowing versus don’t know, there are 4 possibilities. 1. You know what you know 2. You know what you don’t know 3. You don’t know what you know 4. You don’t know what you don’t know.…
“You will feel a little discomfort.” A little discomfort is squinting in bright sunlight. A little discomfort is your underwear wedged in your butt crack. This feels like my teeth are being flossed with a very slender wire, this feels like a sharp object is being shoved into my gums. This is not discomfort, this is…
Because people were bombing black churches and he preached Because blacks had the right to vote in 1870 and Jim Crow laws kept them from voting and he marched Because he protested the Viet Nam, a war in which McNamara admitted we couldn’t win and he spoke out Because his message and actions were nonviolent…
“The doctors say it’s never going to get better. A nap won’t help. She’s not lazy. She struggles with pain and fatigue every single day. She has lupus, fibromyalgia or arthritis and it’s not the same as your cold or body pain. The most frustrating part is people look at her and say “you look…
Five minutes; I watched a movie this weekend and the last 5 minutes changed everything. Stories have an arc, the conflict, the climax and the resolution. What I thought was the resolution changed 3 times in the last 5 minutes. The Pacers versus the Knicks. It was 105 Knicks and 99 Pacers with 11 seconds…
She is a mini me. This little brown girl with wide eyes sporting a leopard print hat that matched mine. We locked eyes for a moment; both of us break into a smile. A few moments later, it all made sense. The last tent on the right. There are 4 tents pitched under the highway…
Is it that obvious? I’ve walked by this fence more than 150 times. I took pictures of artwork in October. Yet, it wasn’t until last Friday night, when my friend Audrey was driving me home that I realized, there were letters, there was a name, “The Lot.” How did miss it? When I took the…
Suddenly there was silence. My brother and I were in another room during our parent’s Christmas party and the only sound was fast approaching footsteps. The door flew open and my mom’s expression indicated she was not happy. We were 20 and 21, home forwinter break and got a look from my mom that indicated…
I write each week out of fear. This is the perfect day to read; it’s raining, I have hot tea and a stack of books to read. So why am I writing? I could take a break this week. With over 150 posts, surely one can be reused, or can’t I just post “on vacation?”…
I’m doing nothing for Thanksgiving, I have a stack of books for a reading frenzy. I’m going on a literary feast of words; I’ll be swept off into other worlds; presented with challenges, dilemmas and triumphs. This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful to be able to read what I want. A book once disappeared from my e-reader.…
I optimistically emerged from my post Futurama cartoon binge coma. I’m ready to write. How does this sound as a Hollywood policy and process for filing a sexual harassment claim? The accuser must first engage in 30 days of counseling with a legal counselor in the Office of Compliance. After 30 days, they can choose…
I am on a binge; a Futurama binge. It started last week and now I’m 84 episodes in with 56 left to go. I’ve calculated 20 hours left of viewing time with an estimated completion day of next Saturday. Hmmmmm, is this normal? Am I in avoidance mode? I read that binges are a way…
The bogeyman is a hoax; it’s some made up creature that spans multiple cultures, albeit with various other names, used to frighten children into good behavior. We’ve seen children reduced to tears, fearful of the threat of mythical bogeyman. But this trick is not just for kids. Consider the adult version of the bogeyman. It…
The crash and burn of Harvey Weinstein produced shock, rage and a hashtag. But, this is just an event. An event without action remains an event, not a movement and not a change. While many question how Mr. Weinstein’s behavior continued for decades, the better question is, will this continue? History shows it will. The…
We’re under a collective fatigue. A lot has happened the past few months and this is the breaking point. Between the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, an earthquake, events now called by cities, Charlottesville, Las Vegas, followed by trial by Northern California Fires and Hollywood Harvey and a time line of taking the knee.I felt…
Ace does not like me. This is a fact. Ace is a dog and every time he sees me, a barking frenzy ensues. He is not afraid of me. His tail is wagging, but his demeanor is more, let me get off the leash and see watch what happens. Ace has spoken barked. Someone mentioned to…
Assumed you’re always being watched. I know there are those bristling at the thought. From my 7th floor balcony I can see people in a parking garage 3 blocks away, see housekeeping enter and exit rooms at a hotel a block away and see inside which restaurants have a line before I go out to…
I hadn’t intentionally changed my order at Starbucks in 10 years. In March, the barista made me a vanilla latte instead of a chi tea latte and boom, for the last 6 months, my drink order has switched. Funny, it hadn’t occurred to me to try anything new. “Stuck in a rut” is defined as…
The song, Ain’t too Proud too Beg* has been on my mind and I’m not happy with the dictionary definition of beg which says to earnestly or humbly ask for something. Begging is pleading with a sense of urgency and fervor. It’s been informed by 3 generations in my family. I begged for Captain Crunch cereal…
I don’t associate vegan restaurants with decadence, but Souley Vegan, Monday through Friday, from 6:00 am – 10:00am, serves beignets and chicory coffee. It takes 11 minutes for me to run across the street, grab my fix and get back to my desk for a sugar and caffeine party. My party was interrupted on Friday.…
Houston is incomprehensible. The scenes of people fleeing with water above their necks, The narratives of people who fled Katrina, moved to Houston and are fleeing yet again. People have lost everything. It will take years and years of recovery. I’m just going to eat cake. I started a new job in February with a…
How are you doing? The clerk caught my eyes, and he knew I meant it and admitted, “I know I’m suppose to say I’m good, but I am tired. I have school, two jobs and I’ve not had a day off in 10 days.” With that, we could have a conversation. The exchange left me…
We’re getting eclipsed. There is a total solar eclipse visible in the US. For more than three years, I have posted a new blog post every Monday until last week. I posted eclipsed part one on Friday. After all, there are times to break the routine and do something different. When do you break routine?…
It’s about to get dark in the US. Over 7 million people will travel to specific sites and millions more will participate in local events. Participation and interest are optional, but, awareness is not. There is a total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. There is no pain when you stare at the moon…
I hadn’t planned on anyone I know dying this week. I don’t have special powers or control over the universe to know when these things are going to happen. My reaction this week was not out of surprise as much as it was denial. She was just a couple of years younger than me. With…
No one knows where I am including me. I’m in a barely motorized vehicle that looks like an adult sized baby stroller attached to a motorcycle with Mr Lindht. The man at Wat Pho convinced me to take “easy way to marble temple” and then instructed my driver in Thai. As soon as we pull…
