Parker Stripped

COLUMN: Pastor Louie gets the vaccine

Yes, I got the shot. Yesterday as a matter of fact. I want to talk a bit about this in the faint hope that it might help those of you who are still on the fence to think things through about whether or not to get the shot. Please note this is not an article telling you to either get …

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COLUMN: Reaching the breaking point

I’ve been thinking about writing this column for quite a while now. But I’ve kept putting it off. In fact I actively looked for reasons not to write it. But it keeps coming up in many of my conversations and I see it all over the place, nearly everywhere I look in fact. So, for better or worse, I decided …

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COLUMN: There’s something happening here

I’ve been noticing something lately with a lot of the people I interact with and that I see and hear online. There seems to be a certain feeling they are projecting that I’ve had a hard time putting my finger on. It’s there, it’s real, but what is it? Yesterday I remembered a song from my youth that seems to …

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COLUMN: Getting below the surface

This column began way, way back in the good old days of 2013. You remember those times don’t you? When you could hang out in groups and didn’t freak out when someone coughed and weren’t getting emails from every business you know of telling you to stay home and stay safe? Ah, the good old days! This column began as …

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COLUMN: The declutter is worth the mutter

Have you ever thought about doing something for years? You saw the need and felt a certain amount of urgency to do it, yet somehow still kept putting it off? If your answer is yes then I’ve got some bad news for you – you are like me! Frightening, I know. But in the last month or so I actually …

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COLUMN: Looking back

How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Did you know that the average person sticks with theirs for about a month (or less?)? So, no resolutions from me this year, but I am planning on being far more regular with this column than I was last year. Having said that, I want to address something I hear a …

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COLUMN: One small step

I want to take a moment and talk about something that occurred to me during the recent 50th anniversary of the first moon walk. I was 16 years old when Armstrong first stepped on the moon. I was a huge space program fan, as almost everyone I knew was. I had followed the space program in school as it developed. …

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COLUMN: A Fallen Friend and Hero

Human beings are amazing creatures when you stop to think about it. Our behavior is often amusing, sometimes amazing and always has a consistent quality of inconsistency about it. We don’t like pain yet often seek out activities that we know will cause pain and discomfort. We all want to be happy yet regularly act in ways that all but …

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COLUMN: Reflections on Notre Dame

I’m writing this on the day after the fire that burned down most of Notre Dame Cathedral. It’s been in the news, of course, and even managed to push some of the usual political dreck out of the news for a little while, which is quite an accomplishment. Of course there’s been a lot of talk about what happened and …

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COLUMN: The desert is beautiful right now

I’m sitting at my laptop still shaking off some of the rain that’s been falling lately. This year we’ve had quite a lot of rain, and I suspect there’s still more to come. Who knows, maybe even later today? But there’s a wonderful benefit to all this rain, and that’s a very green desert. It’s amazing to look at our …

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