“All Around My Hat”: Or, Vital Life Lessons I Learned From Early Exposure To Steeleye Span

I absolutely crazily head-over-heels love the band Steeleye Span. “Who Span?” you say.  “Steeleye what?”  I’m glad you asked.  Regardez-vous. Go ahead.  I’ll wait.  (BTW, the absolute best part of that entire article is the chart at the bottom of the rotating band members.  A FULL.  COLOR.  CHART.  Oh, Wikipedia nerds.  You is my people.) [...]

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25 Things About My Dad You Probably Don’t Know Even If You Know Him

#1.  He can waltz. He was in several musicals with me at my all-girls high school, and in My Fair Lady we got paired up as waltzing partners for the big scene at the ball.  He’s a really good dancer.  Every day we would come home from rehearsal and practice our routine for my mom. [...]

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The DPC (Dead Parents Club): Or, In Defense of Gallows Humor

Jordan was first. When my close friend Jordan – husband of my best friend Erin – told me his dad had shot himself, the whole world changed for all of us.  My mom was sick at the time, in the second year of her ultimately three-year battle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as [...]

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Hell Triathlon: or, Why I Want To Know the Random Things That Inexplicably Infuriate You

So for some reason, I absolutely LOVE to know people’s random irritants.  I can’t get enough.  I love knowing the stuff people don’t like.  I’m not talking about reasonable, universal dislikes (spiders, Paris Hilton, interpretive dance) or ideological dislikes (Bill O’Reilly, Michael Moore, whoever is currently president or was president most recently, and whatever they [...]

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Sal, Dorothy, Lydia & Glen

TRAITS INHERITED FROM MY GRANDMOTHER LYDIA (DAD’S MOM): Obsession with Watergate. Argumentativeness. Stubbornness. Pride in being smarter than people. “Tough love.” Love of retro kitsch like plaster seahorses in the bathroom or commemorative plates from every state in the U.S. Terrible eating habits. Sass. Fierce protectiveness of family. TRAITS INHERITED FROM MY GRANDFATHER GLEN (DAD’S [...]

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My Parents

An excerpt from an article that appeared on the front page of the Oregonian on Easter Sunday (April 8th), 2007, written by our friend Nancy Haught, the Oregonian’s religion editor. The Crossroads of Faith For Christians, Easter is a time to reflect on their lives and their journey While many people celebrate Easter with new [...]

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