John Michael

Life Is a Sweet, Tender Bruise XIX

(cropped image by Joe Haupt, Creative Commons)
John Michael continues his series Life Is a Sweet, Tender Bruise, reflecting on life and people encountered, with two new stories about talk radio and pondering the effects of money.   Equal as Everybody When I was on the streets in the south, a transistor radio was my primary friend and kept me connected to the human race ... Read the full article
John Michael

Hello, good people. I am rarely sure how to describe myself. If I say I am a Christian, many things may arise in your mind that ain't necessarily so. I was homeless for seven years and learned more about myself in that stretch of time than in any other segment of my life. I read the Bible a lot out there and came across a passage in Proverbs that has shaped my approach to life: "A man's pursuit is his kindness." I am well educated with a Master of Social Work degree and have worked a wide variety of jobs in my 52 years. None have lasted too long however. When I was homeless, the beauty of Texas wildflowers made me decide to want to live again. Along with kindness, beauty, play, and self-expression are life-guiding ideas. My shadow contains things like feeling sorry for myself, a truckload of defiance, a desperate need to please women, and no small amount of cruelty. A quote from Luke also has had a lasting effect on me: "For God is kind to the ungrateful and the evil." When I read that I thought, "Hell, I have got a fighting chance." I am here to tell you, you have a fighting chance as well. Besides Christianity, practicing Buddhist and Shamanic techniques inform my relationship to God and the world.

Risen Apes: On Being a Factotum, Part II

February 18, 2019 on , , by

S.M. Park’s continuing column Risen Apes about being a 70-year-old boomer. In “On Being a Factotum, Part II,” Park shares some of the 50 jobs he’s held over the years.

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