Published inILLUMINATION’S MIRROR·May 24Member-onlyIn Defense of the ParagraphWhere’d They Go? — This is the beginning. And in the beginning it always feels like I’m about to start a long and arduous climb on yet another foreboding mountain. Worries about the climb abound. Will I make it to the top? Will I give up halfway and read the news instead? Do I…Paragraph3 min readParagraph3 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·May 17Member-onlyIt’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say ItThe One Time My Mom Spoke to Me in Japanese — English is my first and only language. In my Americanized family, it was the only language we used to speak to one another. When I did happen upon my parents saying things in Japanese I knew it was because they didn’t want me to understand what they were talking about. …Japanese Culture4 min readJapanese Culture4 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·May 9Member-onlyA Crown is a Thing on Top of Someone’s HeadIn Other Words, Isn’t a Crown Just a Glorified Hat? — Scanning over my article list on Medium, I see two sides of myself in all the things I have chosen to write about. It’s either the child in clown face that’s writing or the other one who is best represented by an old man staring up at the stars at…Coronation3 min readCoronation3 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·May 8Member-onlyMemento Mori, Memento VivereRemember That You Must Die, Remember That You Must Live — Be yourself; everybody else is already taken. — Oscar Wilde — It’s hard to stop listening to everybody talking at you and go to scratch, that nothingness that keeps eluding but is the only real opportunity to know thyself, the beginning of wisdom. There is no more important mission than…Authentic3 min readAuthentic3 min read
May 5Member-onlyWerdsThe Bane of My Journey to Writerdom — Uh-oh. Staring at a blank page again. Then staring out the window. Rummaging through my thinking cap and finding bupkis. Nada. I typed bupkis because it is the name of a tv series starring Pete Davidson that flashed by as I was careening around the internet trying to avoid looking…Just Keep Writing3 min readJust Keep Writing3 min read
Apr 24Member-onlyPsalm for Our BrokennessRing the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. Anthem, Leonard Cohen Wherever we are broken can remain with us till we die. The last breath we take will be laced with a regret that we…Kindess2 min readKindess2 min read
Mar 30Member-onlySometimes You Just Have to Start RappingIf I Could, I Would Rap About the News — There are times in life that fuel enough outrage and indignation that make me wish I could spit bars like J.Cole or Chance the Rapper. The only thing analogous to this in any other genre of music would be heavy metal or punk rock. These are muscular, testosterone driven, mad-as…Songwriting3 min readSongwriting3 min read
Mar 29Member-onlyThe More You Know, The More You Know You Don’t KnowDoubling Down is a Loop, Not a Path — Cherish your doubts, For doubt is the handmaiden of truth. Doubt is the servant of discovery; She is the key unto the door of knowledge. Let no man fear for the truth, that doubt may consume her; Only he that would shut out his doubts denieth the truth. …Believing6 min readBelieving6 min read
Mar 17Member-onlyYou Gotta Be Willing to FailTo Get Anything Worth Getting in Life — I wonder how many men in the days of yore decided to leave their creature comforts in order to sail the sea in creaky wooden ships risking a fall over the horizon and into the abyss? And how many stayed home in their warm beds that sat on a ground…Fear Of Failure6 min readFear Of Failure6 min read
Mar 7Member-onlyWhen The Sky is Dressed to the NinesInspiration in Plain Sight — It’s been raining lately in my state, giving lie to the old pop song about how that never happens here. The result is a sky freshly cleaned of its major pollutants so she’s strutting around beyond my window in an azure blue coat. Adamantly blue, certain in her ability to…Nature3 min readNature3 min read
