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A Christmas poem and a word on revising
December rains fall on pines while I sit watching, contemplating—wondering if I’ve overlooked anyone. There are gifts under the tree, wrapped all neat— each one bowed and eager to be opened like a chrysalis waiting on April. Christmas is a day away; am I wrong to be relieved? Is it so bad that I wish…
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Addressing the Elephant in the Room
Okay, admittedly, I have no idea if anyone actually ever reads my blog posts, but, nevertheless, I still feel obligated to apologize for not posting all year. So… I’m sorry for not posting all year. I’ve wanted to, but I’ve just been super busy. Between schoolwork and family obligations and more schoolwork, I just couldn’t…
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A Remembered Fishing Trip Back Home in Palau
We have made it to November, and I haven’t completed most, if any, of the tasks I set out for myself in October. I won’t take inventory right now because that would just be too depressing to think about. I will tell you that I somehow forgot to turn in my VA certification for school.…
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The Color Yellow in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony
The color yellow comes up quite a bit in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, a novel about a Laguna Pueblo World War II veteran, Tayo, who suffers PTSD not only from fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific but also from his squalid upbringing as an indigenous person growing up in early-1900s America. The color’s meaning…
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The Good Die Young
I was friends with a boy, beginning in kindergarten until his death in fourth grade. On our very first day of school, we kissed each other on the lips after another kid dared us to. He had the bushiest eyebrows of any kid I’d ever seen in my life, and a little cavity on one…
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Is Home a Place or a Feeling?
Though I think it could be both, for me personally, home has gotta be a place. When I think about home, I think about lush, green limestone islands, clean, white sandy beaches, and a lazy, laid-back atmosphere that’s conducive for lounging the day away. Palau is home. It’s where I experienced many important “firsts” in…