I am a football geek. My goal is to elevate my football IQ to as high as possible in this lifetime. Admittedly, this is an odd pursuit, especially for a middle-aged goober like me. Crochet or shuffleboard would be so much easier, right? And it’s not a life ambition that I’d exactly planned on. In ... Read More

The Seattle Seahawks are known for taking their fans on wild rides, but last week’s game against the LA Rams brought it to a whole new level of madness. It had all the elements:  a clunky start, freakish athleticism- from Tyler Lockett’s super catch to Tedric Thompson’s ridiculous interception- on both sides of the ball, ... Read More

On Saturday, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck announced his retirement from football. After seven successful seasons in the NFL, the toll on his body became insurmountable. He explained that he’d been caught in a “cycle of injury, pain and rehab,” which was “unrelenting, both in season and off season.” This is understandable. Over the course ... Read More

It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything. For the past several months, I’ve been in an abyss of sorts, uninspired to write or sing. The muse wandered off someplace, and I’ve never experienced such a prolonged period of creative drought. It feels as if my very soul’s been frozen. Although I’m still thinking it through, I ... Read More

My mother died on December 9, a little over a week ago. The ravages of pneumonia were too much for her tiny frail 91 year-old body. She spent her final days in inpatient hospice care. This unassuming wing of a quiet Albuquerque hospital was like a Zen monastery – serene and oddly sublime. Here, she ... Read More

According to a memo last week, the Trump administration is pushing to redefine gender as strictly binary- male or female- based on designation made at birth. If adopted, this narrow and egregiously flawed definition would erase the identities of millions of transgender and nonconforming people across the country and significantly roll back protections as granted ... Read More

I was such an inconsiderate idiot.  I’m so sorry, dude, that I totally wrecked your day. We were driving along in the late afternoon yesterday, and I stopped to let a guy cross the road. You were behind me. There were a lot of cars, and the guy had been standing there for a minute, ... Read More

There’s a dirty haze over Seattle tonight. An orange sun glares eerily in the smoky sky. The usually bustling city is subdued.  It’s hot still and uncharacteristically quiet. The feel is almost apocalyptic. Many people, near and far, are having a hard time right now. I’m good at articulating the problems but not always the ... Read More

Every day, there’s a new affront: another egregious human rights violation, another deplorable policy, another nefarious assault on fundamental decency. Just when we think it can’t get worse, that there is nowhere lower to sink, we’re proven wrong, slapped in the face once again. Most recently, it’s asylum-seeking families being treated like criminals, with children ... Read More

Over the course of the past year or so, I’ve become increasingly angry at how the NFL treats players who kneel during the national anthem and/or who speak out against police brutality and systemic racism. By NFL, I mean everyone from Roger Goodell and the franchise owners to a loud faction of the fan base ... Read More