Homelessness is a massive issue in America. The National Alliance to End Homelessness provides the following snapshot: In January 2015, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Of that number, 206,286 were people in families, and 358,422 were individuals. About 15 percent of the homeless population – 83,170 – are considered “chronically homeless” individuals. About 2 percent – 13,105 …
December 31, 2015. What are my goals for the New Year? None! For a period in my life I swam in the waters of “positive thinking”; of goal-setting with the focus on living in prosperity. I read the books and listened to the cassettes, and attended a church that was infused with what Oliver Burkeman …
This Vinyl Memory is not about a record from my past. My distant past, anyway. The first time I listened to it was less than a week ago. I was in my basement, where the turntable sits and spins when I am either free-writing by hand or doing some other arranging, organizing, or sorting through …
Remember these high school assignments: Write a 500-word essay on _____. The struggle. The agony. Five hundred words? How many pages is that? You’d write something, then count the words. Only three hundred and ten? How am I going to add another one hundred and ninety words to that? (Yes, I know. Today’s word processors …
New Year’s Eve. I considered writing about my thoughts on New Year’s resolutions and goals, but after reading my earlier posts of Goals for 2013? None! and No Goals for 2014, I really have little to add to them. I’m not one who is about chasing goals in order to feel accomplished or wealthy or …
I read a recent article by Melvin McLeod, editor-in-chief of Shambhala Sun, on the growing numbers of Americans who do not identify themselves as a member of any religion. He writes that the “spiritually but not religious” group of Americans are ” the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. Generally, they’re educated, liberal, and open-minded, with a deep …
The Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, I was involved in the first car accident since the State of Michigan granted me a driver’s license decades ago. Fortunately, no one was injured, other than our vehicles. My car was towed to the insurance-covered body shop for assessment. At first, I thought it was totaled. I could …
This evening, I took the garbage out to the curb. On my way back to the house I noticed something odd. There was a doughnut on the window sill. I had to pause. Why is there a doughnut on my window sill? Who put it there? When? It couldn’t have been my mother-in-law, who lives …
Happy New Year! Wait, what? Masses are not headed for Times Square, bundled to protect themselves from freezing temperatures, in order to watch a ball to drop. No parties are planned with ample supply of bubbly champagne to toast at the midnight hour. Instead, in the Metro Detroit area, it’s a mild, partly sunny day …
Friday, Finally! June 6, 2014 – Country living discoveries: We recently moved from an apartment to a home with a half-acre of land and a creek running the western border. I call it country living, though really, it’s not out-in-the-boondocks country. A half mile away is a major intersection and freeway exit, with every big …
Do Haeng Michael Kitchen 