Jar Jar Binks Fan Club
#extradirty
Color Me Curious
KIROKAZE
todays bird
noise dept.
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Monterey Bay Aquarium
oozey mess
YOU ARE THE REASON
Product Placement
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
official daine visual archive
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Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
Sade Olutola
if i look back, i am lost
EXPECTATIONS
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Origami Around
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@thisisreylo
Playing Under the Table and Dreaming
It’s been a year and a half since I wrote anything, at least anything I wanted to share in this space. One would think the pandemic gave me the opportunity to step it up. But, like so many others, I settled. Settled in. Settled for. Settled on. Settled. Like a dog circling its bed until it finally plops down to sleep, I fell into a routine. Wake up, log on to work from home until the…
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No Longer Alone
I spent the morning with my friend Michael last week. We did what is probably my favorite thing to do, talk over coffee. We touched on myriad subjects: the loss of friends, relationships, kids, politics, religion, flying, our college experiences. I told my partner later that same evening how much I value Michael’s insight, perspective, but mostly his friendship. We all want to have life-giving…
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Stop selling. Start being.
Stop selling. Start being.
I’m tired. There’s no other way to put it. I…am…tired. As I scrolled through my social media feeds today, I realized that part of my exhaustion comes from watching how much we try to sell others on the notion that we’re living our best lives 24/7. Sometimes, social media feeds seem less like real life and more like a series of ads for tooth whiteners, travel destinations, and fashion. Instead…
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I am no diamond
I am no diamond
I am no diamond, but I know my worth. I breathe. I think. I feel. I breathe in non-stop: Waking Sleeping Working Drinking Running Driving Living Eating Living I think all of the time: About life About love About God About death About you About me About us About the past, the present, the future About life I feel…
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What Happened to Donald Miller?
What Happened to Donald Miller?
I was pondering this very thing today and wondering about writing something when I came across this “unfinished” post on another blog. Hard to improve on something that so clearly reflects my own thoughts. Whoever you are, Douglas Underhill, thank you.
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I celebrate it
As we begin healing from the collective trauma we have experienced over the last four years, I wanted to make a final observation best summed up with a personal experience. I received a message recently with a screenshot of a post from a mutual friend. As I read her post, I was heartbroken. To read the words of a former colleague and friend lament what she referred to as the “colour revolution”…
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What it's going to take
What it’s going to take
I’m not an Evangelical, nor would I classify myself as a Conservative, and certainly not a Republican any longer. But I did spend decades living and working among those communities, and I do care about them. While I cannot envision a day when I will ever give much thought to my rejection of the GOP, I imagine there will always be a complicated affection for the Evangelical community, my spiritual…
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Justice. Mercy. Humility.
Most mornings, you’ll find me sitting at my desk under the glow of my vintage-style desk lamp, writing my morning pages. I started this practice near the beginning of this year while reading Julia Cameron’s seminal work, “The Artist’s Way.” The idea is that you wake up each day and write, in longhand, three pages of unfiltered thoughts. My entire life is a collection of journals that I’ve started…
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I was wrong.
I came across an article a couple of years ago on Elephant Journal. Kate Rose wrote about the three loves we experience in life. She wrote: “Someone once told me they are the lucky ones, and perhaps they are. But I kinda think that those who make it to their third love are really the lucky ones.” I was one of the lucky ones but, true to form, I did them out of order.
The “hard love” came toward…
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Alone, but never alone
All of us hope to have those "forever friends" to walk with us, don't we? They are rare. As I look back on my journey thus far, the relationships that stick are few and far between.
Cindy and I have known each other for almost twenty years. We met when I started working for a non-profit. She was the office manager. Our jobs led us to collaborate on several projects, and we quickly become good friends.
Cindy eventually decided to go back into the Army. She had separated some years earlier and wanted to return to her career as an RN in the military. After I left the…
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More than Policy
I grew up in a Republican home, but I supported Mondale the first time I was able to vote. That said, however, I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians. At one point, I converted from the Catholicism of my upbringing to Evangelical Christianity and gave myself to Evangelical culture hook, line, and sinker.
My commitment to Evangelicalism eventually led me to Dallas Theological…
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1978 to 2020
I’m a pretty nostalgic guy, probably more than most people I know. Put another way, my orientation to time tends to be rooted in the past. I have a much clearer perspective on what has happened rather than on what could happen.
I spend a lot of hours reflecting on days gone by with more than slight idealism. I can spend hours on end looking through old photos albums or just lying in bed, sifting…
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Power | And Those Who Weep Now
Power | And Those Who Weep Now
James E. Allman, Jr.’s credentials—degrees in biology and business—qualify him for an altogether different trade. However, he easily tires of the dissected and austerely economized. He is a dabbler with an expensive photography-habit and a poetry-dependency. Nominated for three Pushcart Prizes, his work appears, or is forthcoming, in ‘Black Warrior Review’, ‘The Literary Review’, ‘Nimrod’,…
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Four more years?
Someone recently asked me to finish this statement:
“Four more years of Donald Trump means…”
Before I answer, a little background is in order.
LBJ was President when I was born. I don’t remember much about him, except what I heard about him after I left office. I do remember Nixon and the Watergate scandal. I saw Ford stumble his way, often quite literally, through his accidental presidency. I…
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Consumer or Creator? “There is much evidence on several levels that there are at least two major tasks to human life.
Moving forward, post-quarantine
As the country starts to reopen, I see many people acting like nothing ever happened. It’s like the kid who gets grounded by their parents for a week and, when the restrictions are lifted, goes right back to the same behavior that got them grounded in the first place. No lessons learned. No change in behavior. Not an encouraging sign.
I have a friend, Imelda, who is especially troubled by what…
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Guest Writer: It's not about you
Guest Writer: It’s not about you
I’ve longed for this blog to be a place to give other voices that catch my attention to speak. I’m excited to introduce you to a new voice to this site. Jamie Escareño is a resident of San Antonio and a veteran of the United States Air Force. She’s also mom to Jante’, David, Nayeli, and Mireya. .:reylo:.
I used to be someone who didn’t get white privilege. I knew there was lots of racism, but I…
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