Category Archives: Lessons

Counsel

When I was 15 my mother began referring to me as Dear Abby. It was the spring of my sophomore year in high school. Our house in Chula Vista was just half a block from Hilltop High, and maybe that’s … Continue reading

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Activism

     When I was 17 I experienced my first disappointment about activism. I was a senior at Redwood High in Marin County. Rumor then had it that our building was designed by the San Quentin architect (impossible). But the school … Continue reading

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Bob Vision

     When I was around 40, I noticed the misconceptions that specialty can produce. I had acquired some medical clients who were putting together one of the first infertility clinics. The group consisted of two OB/Gyns, two urologists, and some … Continue reading

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Yellow

When I was 10 or 11, I was a coward. It was a one-event wuss but I’ll never forget it. I was in sixth grade at the time. One of my classmates was a trashy girl named Edie May. There … Continue reading

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Teacher Teacher

When I was 7 years old I had my first good teacher, and when I was 9 I met Mr. Borup. There were a few remarkable instructors in junior and senior high, too, but in elementary school the teacher has … Continue reading

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Steady Catcher

When I was 8, the kids on the block made me their steady catcher. We lived on a dead end street named Leuce Place, about four houses from the bulb-shaped terminus. Because our street didn’t go anywhere few cars traveled … Continue reading

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How to Be a Good Lover

When I was 15 I had it figured out. It was all theoretical then, but not less true for that. I’d spent some time on the subject. I’d read what I could without humiliating myself (I considered the illustrations in … Continue reading

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Brain Train

When I was 13 I learned how quickly our brains can be trained. We were all required to take a class called Reading Communications, and the classroom contained a tool called a tachistoscope. “Tachis” is from the Greek, for speed, … Continue reading

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Moot Question

     When I was around 41, I asked my kids the question we haven’t yet answered. I think it was summertime, which made Danny 9 and Katie on the approach to 15. “Imagine you have a perfectly balanced coin,” I … Continue reading

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Egolibrium

     When I was 13, my 10-year old brother asked our dad, “Why is it when I leave my milk out it warms up, and when I don’t eat my soup it cools down?” Dad stopped dunking bread in his … Continue reading

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