http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom Twelve Steps to a Real Life and a Pretty Good Time. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:08:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en to go so long between posts. I had another piece in the Chicago Tribune and have been spending my spare moments responding to the many, many interesting e-mails it generated. Here 'tis. This is part of a larger piece that I'm working on about being in partnership with God. I'd be ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/08/08/sorry-sorry-sorry/ Ashley Bryan, 85 last Sunday. The Warm Springs Gallery in Warm Springs, Virginia (population around 900) had an opening for a rare exhibition of his paintings. Bryan is best known as a writer and illustrator of children's books. He was one of the first persons of color to present images of ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/07/19/i-met-a-remarkable-person-last-friday/ Multi-tasking. I'd like to suggest it's the antithesis of sobriety--at least of the all-important part of sobriety that's manifested by a calm mind. I re-decided this (for the 89th time!)  a couple of days ago while  talking on the phone while e-mailing someone else while simultaneously doing a web-search while trying to ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/07/09/arguably-the-biggest-challenge-to-a-sober-head/ God and I can only partner in any useful way in the real world, and the reality is that the real world often makes me uncomfortable. I’ve certainly done my share of damage by shying away from my own discomfort. Back in the early nineties when I was first climbing out ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/06/30/the-liberation-of-discomfort/ and decided that I sound just too-too spiritual and perfect sounding. In fact, I thought I sounded like the kind of person I wouldn't enjoy lunching with at all. So I feel a burning desire to make one thing clear about my personal code of conduct (that's the title of my ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/06/18/i-re-read-my-own-last-post/ I have a code of conduct, but it’s far less specific than it used to be back in the days when I used such a code mainly as a Richter scale for measuring the strength my current rebellion. These days I try to be kind, thoughtful, completely honest ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/06/13/my-personal-code-of-conduct/ I make my living reporting for public radio, which means that I spend my days having conversations with folks I don't know well. And as I do a lot of feature work--as opposed to hard news, a lot of those conversations go on for quite some time.  A successful in-depth ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/06/09/on-line-conversations/ This appeared in 81--a regional publication that I love. Like most of what I write, it's about issues that are relevant to sobriety. lastwords June 2008 Crossing the Jordan River So What About God? by Martha Woodroof I began school in the Southern Bible Belt before the Supreme Court removed prayer from the classroom in ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/06/04/another-print-essay/ Our Head Cat, Mr. Lewis, is old, has feline HIV and has been on his dignified way out enough times to qualify as the definitive proof that cats have nine lives. Lewis' latest flirtation was death involved a bad reaction to a new medicine for joint pain. He stopped eating--and I ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/06/02/making-indirect-amends/ Had this essay come out in Sunday's Chicago Tribune, and I was amazed at the response. So, I thought I'd post it here and see if any of you had anything to say about what I had to say. Age before beauty is true view By Martha Woodroof May 25, 2008 For me, 60 ... http://www.thesecondroad.org/bouncing_off_the_bottom/2008/05/27/fun-in-chicago/