Playing Fair and Being Kind

I have been catching a commercial on the TV these past few weeks advertising a show called “Main Street”. The hosts travel the U.S. to various towns to improve the small businesses there. Season 3, the current one, is in a town in Illinois. Alton, Illinois which happents to be the birthplace of Miles Davis. … More Me and Miles Hangin’ in the Hood. Get Your Kicks on Route 66.

And other life altering traumas for better or worse.  Probably the worst ever thing to happen to me was ‘bright-light birth’. I was not aware of its existence before it arrived, to the best of my knowledge. I mean no one told me that I was going to suffer this embarrassment. It just came along … More Square Needle in the Left Nut

Most of you know that I facilitate Alternatives to Violence Workshops in Maine State Prison. I have been doing so for about twelve years. The workshops are experiential in nature. The men I work with come in with questions and answers. I prefer to deal with the answers. While surfing the internet I run across … More Thoughts of Childhood Trauma

A previous entry here did not sit well with some of my friends. Herewith is a revised, and possible kinder version of what I took down last week. Peace. GMG During a recent men’s group held in front of a fire pit at Saul’s house in Megunticook, thoughts of a magical nature arrived unintended, but … More Spontaneous Human Combustion: Take 2

I didn’t go to the authorities right away. I lived with the anger, sleaze, resentment, disgust, and fear for a long time. Even after I approached the new Executive Officer of a nuclear submarine I was assigned to in 1960, three years after the incident, I was still not free of any guilt-feeling or fear … More My Own Experience with Sexual Assault

My best friend forever told me this story. She was on the back of a motorcycle for a quick ride down the West-Side Highway. In the dark. In the night. In the shadow of the twin towers. She’s Nina. She survived. She’s from Brooklyn. Of course she survived. She’s Nina. LIVING IN THE FAST LANE … More Life in the Fast Lane

This is the time of year that sends us inside to retrieve a favorite sweater if we are outside and want to sit on a chair to breathe air for a few moments. My spot is in a corner of this tiny open deck by the slider under a canopy of Forsythia branches that have … More Fall Equinox

A news magazine I follow on-line published a story by one of their premiere correspondents. This guy is clever and young and savvy in many ways. He has used the term “Ex-Con” three times to my knowledge. I am an ally to those who are oppressed. Formerly incarcerated citizens are a group that fits that … More Labeling People for Fun and Profit.