Journeys of a Bent Mind

Humor sometimes can be very personal. One joke strikes you as pretty funny, another elicits only a smile. A joke can reduce a part of a gathering to hysterical guffaws, leaving others puzzled with only a smile on uncomprehending minds. Generational jokes tend to fall into this category. Also, some puns fall into this resulting response. Continue reading →

The mind of an introvert is somewhat of an enigma, akin in a way to secret codes and cyphers. Ask ten introverts how they think and you’re likely to elicit eleven distinct answers. Sifting through the myriad words these individuals use to describe themselves would be daunting and superficially elusive, but listen to their use of words to describe themselves and therein lies the key. All prime words point to a realm within that each individual touch in order to power their move in and around and through the world in which we all live. Continue reading →

There is this place I go to, a wondrous setting filled with history’s wake and rife with anticipation. It is a sanctuary away from all manner of trifles, sundry distractions, and sometimes from responsibilities. It is at times a shield against debilitating worries, but more often a haven for inner recharging and renewal. Continue reading →

I am beginning work on a phantom volume to supplement the eight singlet volumes of puns I collaborated on with my four grandchildren as illustrators, and the two volumes of puns published by Ulysses Press out of Berkeley, California. I explore the mind of an introvert as the source of the word-play in these published works, and venture into the realm from whence all such creativity and playfulness comes. Continue reading →

In the summer of 1961 Barbara and I traveled to Japan with a group of students at the Wesley Foundation Methodist Student Center at the University of California in Berkeley to work with a partner group of students from the Kansai Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan on an international work project to foster international relations. We were in Japan for 9 weeks, during which we worked on the beginnings of a bakery building for a Christian group home serving disabled women in Tokyo, and the preliminary stages of construction of an outdoor amphitheater for a church camp in the hills outside Osaka. Continue reading →

What: First date, first kiss.                                                                                                          When: School year 1950; seventh grade; 5 years out from the end of WWII.                    How: She asked me to go with her to her best friend’s birthday party. She asked me. She asked… Continue reading →