The Art of Being Human

      Paddlers have an expression, “You never paddle the same river twice.”  Change is constant on the river and off.  There are changes we grab hold of, a wedding of a child, a new baby, the first house, a new job and  changes that grab hold of us, a spouse dies, a child leaves home, a job ends. The only sure thing is that there will be change of one kind and another rather you like it or not. Resistance is futile, born from fear. I mean, it’s either fear or love, right?   We fear losing control, fear failing, fear success, fear the unknown. Fearful souls who have forgotten who they are clutch at an illusion of what is like a drowning man clinging to straw.       I’m not immune to the siren call of fear no matter how often I salute happy endings and new beginnings.  I like change… most of the time.   Although I am loath to admit it there are moments when change and what I think it may or may not bring ...

    I love bars. Some of my favorite times have been in bars. I loved having a Singapore Sling in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore . It was like visiting a piece of history. I experienced the same thing the time I had a gin and tonic in the bar at The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong . Those were places I read about in books and I was there. Then there was a bar full of the biggest men I have ever seen in my life in Edinburgh who made me laugh my ass off. I miss Fuzzy’s, a great dive bar in Atlanta where Francine Reed used to sing once in a while.   Check out her singing Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues . It does a soul good. I grade papers at the pub around the corner from me and I go to a bluegrass jam at the Redlight where everyone knows my name and is happy to see me.   Bars are good places for me.      I’ll admit that once or twice I ended up dancing in the streets after being in a bar down in Little Five Points but it involved a drummer and tequi...