Category: Uncategorized
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Before I Lost My Sense of Humor, I was Apparently Amusing
Eighteen years ago was a long time ago. In 1999, Hillary Clinton was admired by most Americans for having gracefully endured the humiliation brought on by Bill’s behavior. In 1999, my drinking was kept a low boil—I relaxed with six or eight beers each week night, relaxing with a dozen or 15 nightly on weekends. …
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Country Dog/City Dog
I’m back in the city (or at least Manchester’s rendition of a city) for the week, and Sam (is a dog) and I are already feeling a bit out of sorts. We’re going to spend the rest of the week with two of my daughters and Lucy, the Dutch Shepherd Libby stole from me a…
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Since You Asked–Responses to Reader’s Questions
Reader Mailbag I am a horrible correspondent. It’s not that I don’t respond—eventually, I do, and I never know whether it will be with a brief squirt of syllables or a fire hose of verbiage. Here, I will try to briefly answer some questions that have been emailed me by readers (keithhoward@gmail.com). How long have…
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Pan Drippings and All
Some of you know I’m working on a memoir. Regular readers of this blog, know it contains no rewriting. It is a snapshot of my mind while writing–pan drippings and all. Life at the Tiny White Box was transformed yesterday from monastery to bowling alley, as today there have been a dozen people here–a twelvefold…
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Five Books I Wasn’t Asked for on National Public Radio
Last night The Bookshelf with Peter Biello on New Hampshire Public Radio (http://nhpr.org/post/bookshelf-north-country-free-writing-retreat-veterans) aired a segment on the Tiny White Box, Sam and me. Peter did a yeoman’s job in helping me sound sane and safe and sober, which I am. The last two adjectives at least. Usually, Peer asks his guests for five book…
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In Which Sprite Gets It–And Why You Should Get Gavin Beland
Everybody loves a story about an aging veteran, almost 40 years out of the service, who picks up a weapon for the first time in years and finds he can still shoot with the surety and aplomb he had as a soldier. I love that story, and would love to tell it today. Unfortunately, I…
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There is No God but that Doesn’t Stop Him From Working
A dear friend wrote me last week, expressing her spiritual jealousy of my life in the Tiny White Box. Cate, who is much wiser, more centered and much, much more in tune with the universe than I ever dream of becoming, talked of my bravery and purity and purposefulness. All very kind eggs, but placed…
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Pennies, Hijacking, Jenga and September 11
This past Monday, September 11, I got a group email from my previous life at Liberty House. The group, composed of folks from around New Hampshire who work with homeless veterans, is meeting next week, and this email announced date, time, place, etc. Because the first veterans’ writers’ retreat begins a week from Friday, and…
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Beauty Tips from the Barely Presentable
In my quest for perfection, I could make choices to increase my humility, my generosity and my kindness. I could, but that would take work and dedication. Instead, I’m living a life where it’s easIy to give things up, shed possessions and call it success. Some things I’m living without are obvious and easy. For…
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Eleven Hours in a Tin Box
No post yesterday. Not because I had nothing to say. Not because some evil befell me and I couldn’t drag myself to a keyboard. Not even because it was Sunday, the relatively recently-sanctioned day of rest in our culture. (And, as you might expect in this space, here we take a detour: since the Sabbath…
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Two Visitors? How Will I Ever Get My Writing Done?
Sorry, but today’s masterpieceful 500-1000-word essay will have to wait, a casualty of my social whirl. After two weeks of solitude, I had yesterday not one but two, visitors, not including a drop-by by Doc, one of the Warrior@45North board and an all-around good guy. (For those of you trying to piece together the Tiny…
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My Gatsby Moment–A MacGuffin
I first read The Great Gatsby when I was in 8th grade and going through a Ring Lardner, Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker phase. Excuse me, but I just laughed out loud at that last sentence. As if any reader out there has read Ring Lardner or Robert Benchley or Dorothy Parker—or even heard of…
Tiny White Box--Thoughts on Life, Death, Recovery, and Other Mundane Topics 