If Only the Small-Minded Could Comprehend the Vastness of the Universe
As I remain painfully aware of this presidential administration’s manufactured conflicts and outright constitutional corruption taking place in various locales, including the city of Portland, OR, where I have close ties, I’m also mindful of the monumental legal ramifications of the Texas trial regarding desperate Republican gerrymandering taking place in nearby El Paso—because the now […]
A Gypsum Gift and the Gift of Friendship
Last week I visited what is now White Sands National Park as of 2019, a wonderous and, quite frankly, seemingly otherworldly gift from white gypsum located in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico, where I have also now resided four months and counting. I’d been to the park when it was still a national monument […]
Fiction As a Form of Healing Hope? Boy Howdy!
On Thursday I read an online Writer’s Digest article one week after it was posted on 9/11. Not only was “The Healing Power of Fiction: Turning Pain into Prose,” by author and peace negotiator Somia Sadiq, well-timed after a difficult two weeks, it also stood out as perhaps the most profound and validating piece ever […]
Latest Mars Rock Discovery is Downright Otherworldly
Desperately looking for news this morning that wasn’t distressing, I stumbled upon the latest from NASA, which announced last week that its Perseverance rover (love that name) found rocks representing, “The clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars.” Boy howdy, as my Other Worldly series persevering protagonist Rowan Layne would say. Given […]
Collections Denoting Connections to the Past
Needing a break from the onslaught of traumatic headlines, today I read an essay titled, “Why do we collect things?” It came from Substack in the weekly Cazadora newsletter by Elsie Morales, this one from August 27, 2025, and it resonated on myriad levels. This piece about “things we keep” sprang from a writer who […]
Fort Bliss-fully Stupid? Military Bases are Not Supposed to House ICE Pet Projects
No sooner did I write about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) throwing a damper on the construction and operation of a detention facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz in Florida last week, when the whole shebang of a shitshow resurfaced much closer to my new residence. Last week the dubious Department of Homeland Security up and […]
Environmental Law called NEPA, Like An Alligator, has Teeth
Last week a federal judge determined that the State of Florida and the current presidential administration—aka thug regime— violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by building what’s known as Alligator Alcatraz, ordering the despicable state-run immigration detention center be dismantled. The uplifting legal ruling requires detainees at this horrific inhumane hellhole to be moved […]
Prickly Pear Prescience Of a Sunday Serendipity
This is a serendipitous story that goes back more than ten years, but ends up where I have landed most recently, in the White Sands area of southwestern New Mexico. On this Sunday morning, I decided to tackle unpacking two boxes of small, framed pictures and photos, because I have a lot of them from […]
Anyone Else Dumfungled by Government Thugs?
I just read a headline that said, “DHS is a Menace,” and practically spit my coffee. My first thought was, Ya think? Also, isn’t that pretty much what I’ve been telling everyone since this dubious and ridiculous—and wholly unnecessary—new department of the federal government was formed in the wake of 9/11, back when its first […]
Medieval Scotland Time Travel: The Great Getaway
For months I’ve been traveling back to medieval times—as in a bit of time travel—in drafting the first scenes of my eighth Other Worldly novel featuring Rowan Layne, Alien Origins. Who knew that immersing myself in the world of highly misogynist medieval Scotland would be cathartic relief from current US atrocities? But here’s the ultimate […]