All My Other Havoc Elsewhere

I began this draft a few weeks ago, after the US decided it wanted a war with Iran. Things have escalated since and I am feeling more internal pressure to GTFO. But I am currently committed to working on one of two Lakota reservations— theoretically sovereign nations— for the next two years. That’s something I am grappling with because this is something meaningful I can do to serve people here,…

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals? I am conflict avoidant, so I tend to say “yes” to all kinds of stuff I want to and should say “no” to. In just the last few weeks, though, I have decided to take advice I have given to others: Say “no” if you don’t want to say “yes.” And “maybe” is not “no.” After a lifetime of peacekeeping at my own expense, it is hard…

I spent January giving myself time to reflect on 2025, decompress from that mess, and prepare to tackle the rest of 2026. Now I am ready to get back to setting goals, trying experiments, and generally doing things. We’re a week into February now, and my challenge for this month is to start a business and make a dollar. I am going to try my hand at a learning support business, helping older…

Daily writing promptWhat snack would you eat right now?View all responses I just had a snack. It was a cinnamon-raisin drop biscuit with vanilla glaze. Here’s a picture of them from earlier today. The white bits are confectioner’s sugar I didn’t completely dissolve in the glaze because I was in a hurry this morning when I made them. They were 10/10. I wish I had written down the recipe.

(The following was posted on my Facebook recently. It has been lightly edited and expanded here.) I didn’t really discuss it here, but last year, I applied to and was accepted by both City Teaching Alliance (for Baltimore) and Teach For America (South Dakota). Without getting into all the personal and interpersonal details, I ended up picking TFA, and then more details happened, and I ended up…

Yesterday we went for a nice hike in a state park for the winter solstice. I don’t have pictures to share because I didn’t take my phone. I feel like that really did help me be present in the moment, but it’s not doing a darn thing for this blog post. We took our dog out with us. This was her first hike in the woods, and she loved it. There were so many things to sniff! There were new things to…

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech? Not recently, which is a shame, given that I am one of three people on the planet who likes public speaking. Don’t get me wrong, I used to hate it as much as anyone, but when I returned to college in my 40s, I took a public speaking course and discovered that I love it. Not only that, but I am good at it. I had other classes that required…

What are your favorite physical activities or exercises? Is sleeping an exercise? An activity? Man, do I love sleeping! Oh, Okay, Fine. Hiking.

 Write about your health and fitness goals. How do they reflect your beliefs about well-being? Health and wellness is fundamental for everything else I want to do. Your body sets a lot of baseline limitations. You’re not going to be a champion rugby star with arthritic knees and a bad back. Ok, that’s an extreme example, but those conditions will lock you out of a lot of common jobs too. Your…

What book are you reading right now? I am re-reading How to Grow a Robot: Developing Human-Friendly, Social AI by Mark H. Lee. It was published in 2020, so it may be a little dated in a field that is moving so fast, but it fires up my imagination with “what if” and “could we” questions. I am keenly interested in social and companion robots, making this a real page-turner for me. I may write…

For many years, I attempted and failed NaNoWriMo. I am happy to say that I am back at it this year, even though the organization behind that even has gone belly up, and this year is looking more promising. I had originally thought I would write flash fiction every day this month, but last night I had a flash of inspiration: I am going to write stories based on the ones I’ve made up on the fly at…