Twelve years. A day, and forever. Not sure which. But it does, finally, feel like enough distance that I can bear to go back and find the eulogy I wrote for his funeral. It was the best I could do to build a memorial for him at the time. Turns out, it still brings him […]
2 days ago, I made an impulse turn from my usual path and found myself on a posh Newport Beach street that I’ve never biked before. The homes are mostly walled off, except the ones that are in the process of being torn down and rebuilt even swankier. So I only saw a few local […]
You guys. I just saw it so clearly it took my breath away. The pattern is, there is no pattern. Walk with me here for a sec: We’ve got a holiday today, so I’m on an extra-leisurely coffeewalk. Thinking about the sine wave hum of anxiety that backgrounds my existence, and how it’s based in […]
Short rant ahead so listen up: 1. I am a lifelong coward. Conflict averse like you wouldn’t believe. People angry at me feels like death. 2. Offhand I can think of no fewer than three occasions when I have deliberately risked my career on a principle. Including once where I actually torpedoed my own job […]
My college classmates group is all abuzz over the Cabinet confirmations of a couple of our alums, and it is triggering me right in the Shoulds, big time. Because that’s what it seems like so many of my classmates are: Big Time. Now, it’s a huge school, so I’m not implying I’m BFFs with these […]
Welp, today is my birthday. Looking back, 48 was quite a year by the numbers: Left my office in L.A. on March 11 and never went back Voted twice (I mean the primary and the general, what’d you think I meant?) Beat one big scary bully with my brain and my ability to build strong […]
Wanna do something nice for me on my birthday this MLK weekend? Give me one minute of your time to really read Dr. King’s quote about “white moderates” below. Then give me just one more minute where you reflect on today’s voices calling for supposed “unity” — yes, including President-Elect Biden. Is Dr. King’s daughter, […]
Season 1 recap: Back before the election, you may recall I posted asking for guidance on whether I had a duty to respond to my very elderly neighbor’s habit of parading around wearing a MAGA hat. Y’all were wise and helpful in advising me not to waste time on a single individual with whom I […]
Reflecting on how this week’s nearly unrestrained White supremacist insurrection is landing differently, more heavily and yet more familiarly on my friends and colleagues of color, and a memory flashes back to me: I’m in the back seat of the wood-paneled station wagon with my sister, maybe 10 years old. My father, Nurn, pulls the […]
It started officially here on April 28, 2016. Trump launched his presidential campaign in CA at the OC Fairgrounds, a mile from my house. We biked over to protest – but my voice is quiet and the crowd was loud, turning violent as the sun went down. There was another option, though, and we took […]