Author: clmcdermid
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Day Thirty-Two: The End of Recreational Retail?
When I was a kid, my Mom did home daycare. All week she stayed at the house, tending six small, noisy children, baking chicken nuggets, microwaving frozen vegetables, chairing the Clean Plate Club, changing diapers, and gently teaching emotional regulation. More weekends than not, she just wanted to get out. We couldn’t afford to do…
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Day Thirty-One: Haunted
The girl cuts into the path in front of me from the woods to my left, the black hoodie tied around her waist flapping in the stiff breeze. There is something furtive in her movements. I feel a little bad following her, having spent more than my fair share of time coping with SOIS, or…
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Day Thirty: Quiet
The birds seem louder now. The phenomenon has been much observed, but I was surprised to realize it applies even in my semi-rural area. Spring isn’t just here, it is burgeoning and bustling. Now that we are, at last, hopefully, done with snow, the early flowers are blooming, and the songbirds are congregating. Living in…
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Day Twenty-Nine: Essential
I read an article today from FastCompany about all the permanent changes we can expect to see coming out of this. The bulk of it was about how more people would work from home, with a few interviewees selling their different products or industries. Granted, the publication is FastCompany. It’s not exactly your go-to magazine…
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Day Twenty-Eight: Dog
Dog is back in commission! She had picked up stiff little limp, so I benched her for two weeks. I missed her terribly on my walks and runs. It really got me thinking about why a walk or run with a dog is so much better than one without. 1. Happy Dog Butt. She doesn’t…
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Day Twenty-Seven: Aquaman
Don’t get me wrong. I love a good superhero movie. That being said, Aquaman, which I watched the other night with my elderly mother, was objectively terrible. The CGI was lovely, I’ll give them that. But the acting and the plot were better suited to remain in the comics. And I don’t mean a graphic…
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Day Twenty-Six: What it Could Look Like
A while back, when I was commuting, I ran across an idea on the TED Radio Hour podcast. I think it is in the interview with Naiomi Klein. The subject is what can make a movement hold together? What inspires people to take the big step and actually act, instead of just complaining about things?…
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Day Twenty-Five: Instagram
I posted my entry to Dorian Mases’ #challengemirrorimage Instagram challenge today. These challenges are everything social media is cracked up to be, but often isn’t. I’m not sure how Dorian, in Lincolnshire, ran across me in Colorado, but he invited me into a great group! In an online world where tides of toxic sludge lap…
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Day Twenty-Four: Ambiguity
I went to a very unusual k-12 school for most of my education. The best way to describe it, without getting too far into it, is to say that it is a free-range curriculum. It’s even called the Walkabout Program. In order to graduate, in addition to six large and often intensely personal projects, we…