Observations of an Octogenarian Optimist — 1 — Start positive. Finding one hopeful thing to focus on can kick-start anybody’s day, especially when there’s not a lot of hopeful going around. Finders keepers. 2 — Pay attention to Mother Nature. The planet needs help: turn off the water, turn the thermostat down if it’s winter and…

The sky is falling! Breaking news! Our fragile democracy in peril!! Life still feels shaky. Even without those constant, frenetic tweets threatening to alter the course of world events in moments, truth competes with fake news. Long-established rights and laws are questioned — or disappear before our eyes. …

This essay appears on the blog page of End of Life Choices CA, a nonprofit which I am proud to serve as a volunteer and board member. Perhaps you’ll visit the site, or at least find a little food for thought here. When is being comfortable and pain-free not a…

Nearly 70 years ago I survived an amateur abortion. On a kitchen table in a drab house in a down-at-the-heels neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. On a dreary February morning, the loneliest day of my life. …

When climate craziness becomes the norm — The weather report: “Another A.R. tomorrow; bundle up.” I promise that’s exactly what the weather person said: “Another A.R. . .” A few months ago, whoever heard of an atmospheric river? Drippy air pulled north from the tropics to swashbuckle down upon California. And maybe elsewhere — but it’s famous…

An expose of the creamer biz — You think it’s harmless. You think it can’t take over your life. Wrong. This is the full story behind the teeny tiny creamer tub bearing your half-and-half. Who knew what evil lurked? Just to make everything clear: My primary experience is with the tiny tubs brought from my retirement community’s…

Intake phone conversation recorded with permission — Hello! Lost Sock Shelter hotline. You’ll be safe here! Ummm, I’m not sure where to turn. You’ve called the right place. Have you been abused? Sort of. And I’m so alone and abandoned. Ohhh, I’m really sorry! We get a lot of that. Can we talk about it? Well, I…

The joy of feeling like you’re part of the solution — There are political junkies and political junkies. Me, I’m an addict. I had to face my powerlessness about it, sort of like we do in AA. Unlike drugs & alcohol, though, political addiction responds to ongoing nourishment. The more you make phone calls, write postcards and emails, and old-fashioned letters…

Down-&-out doesn’t always mean out of ingenuity — Joe has lived in this carefully constructed tunnel home for several years. It shares a block with a branch library and a community center where he cleans up, etc. …