This is a Guest Post by Matt Brotherton, part of the BIG QUESTION series: “What does America Want?“ — I don’t know that I can speak for everyone out there. I’m not sure anyone can define what an entire nation of people really want. The differences between people can be like night and day. Everything…
Category: Life in America
On Nostalgia: Wanting What We Already Had
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No matter where we fly, we are never free of memory.
We Want to Be Heard
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So, then we shout or drink and then shout. Because want to be heard. We are pilgrims in a wild frontier, uncertain of the path into the forest of tomorrow.
More Less, Please
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Today on “House Hunters International,” a family of four from near-Toledo were seeking a vacation home in St. Croix. They were a nice family: he an ER doc. She a nurse (now SAHM of a 9 and 14 y.o). They needed an escape from their designer, 5400 sq ft. home in the most wealthy (ish)…
Big Question #1: What does America Want?
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Welcome! It’s the kick off to my first month-long “Big Question” Series. During September, I’m asking writers, thinkers, poets, Buddhists — anyone, really — the big question: “What does America Want?” Important to Note about the origin of This Big Question: I don’t have any personal agenda that I can identify off-hand. I didn’t really have any…
A friend, her Emmy nom, and the afterlife
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I’ve discovered that my friend Colleen Bradford Krantz and her colleague, Paul Kakert (who is from my hometown!) have had their documentary film, Train to Nowhere, nominated for a regional Emmy. I’m so proud of them, but not really for the recognition from the awards people. More than that, I am proud of Colleen and…
What does America Want?
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Watching Britain riot — in the face of our own economic meltdown — has got me thinking about a core question: What do Americans want? What do we really desire? What is this nation pining for? Our land of plenty is in an interesting place of less right now… both economically and maybe even spiritually. So……
New Week, New World
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It’s 4:30 a.m. of course again. It’s a good time to think about things. In particular, how to change the world this week. As for me, I am thinking about how frustrated I get with other people: you know, I just can’t control them! Why won’t they follow my mind control??! I end up doing…
The Danger of Being Quiet
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Here’s what keeps happening… I keep getting self-conscious and don’t want to say anything so I stay quiet. Then something like a week passes and I think: what happened to that time? Oh my goodness, if I am just quiet, if I don’t say anything, what meaning does it all have?! How can I remember…
Passing Through
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Glassy days– Across the fields Crows can’t be bothered. Hot summer car rides Roads lounging into Forever. Windscreen winks at Passing clouds.
The Wall
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This heat has No name at all until You remind yourself He. Is. There. Exit the climate-controlled Iceblock Bedroom Only to hit The Wall. Day 11, A River of Stones
I Brought a Loofa
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Private talkBetween campground showers“You need soap, Karen?”“I caught it!” “I brought a loofa.”Two women sighingOver water pleasure andFriends. Day 10, A River of Stones
Riding Through Flyover
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We are passing through some flyover states today… Glad that we are not flying over but taking that slower time to look at the scenery, at what the shape of other places looks like. We came around a bend near Lake Erie and all at once the land flattened out into farms… The horizon was…
Perennial Work
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Our house had so many little projects after we moved in. Not the least of those was the gardens. The previous owner had some kind of psychotic idea of planting… Which is to say, she is exactly like me. So I really love to putter in the flower beds and took on the notion that…
A Friend of Mine
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Out of the blue, I got a call/voice mail from T. Mallie the other day. It was one of those lovely long rambling messages in which she updated me on her job status and her life and her hairstyle and the general feelings of things on the Other Coast. Last time I laid eyes on…