Author Archives: Jim Blackwood Jr

Finding an Old Friend in My Car’s Trunk

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Jim Blackwood Jr

There is one book I own that has never been on my bookshelf. Since 1984, it has been under the seat or in the trunk of every vehicle I have owned. In sequence, that includes: Toyota Pickup, Toyota Camry, Ford … Continue reading →

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Christmas — Ego Te Absolvo

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

The bar is too high for a single day. No day should ever have such demanding intentions thrown upon it. Humans should never rely on any day, by its title, to change so much in their lives. Year after year, … Continue reading →

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Faint Echoes of Pearl Harbor

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Before I went outside to rake the last of the fallen leaves, I heard a little story about Pearl Harbor Day. As is often the case, as I pulled the leaves to the street, I mused about what I know … Continue reading →

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When Essays Become a Book

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

For some time now, I have not written many essays on this site . Now you get to know why. I have been using the COVID-19 quarantine to write a new book composed of 24 essays. It was the years … Continue reading →

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Time to Ask. Why Are We Still Marching?

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I was channel surfing local Portland news last night watching the protest and the riot. They were happening at the same time on different streets. The protest left downtown and ended up where it started, Revolution Hall in inner SE. … Continue reading →

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Portland’s Dangerous Street Plaza Idea

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Alone and masked, during the lock down I have walked many of the business districts in Portland. I set out to record a history of the closing of small businesses, restaurants and bars by photographing every closed sign I could … Continue reading →

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Looking for a Leader

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

Five months into our pandemic crisis, I was starved to recall what leadership looked like. Not just leaders in our day to day world, but in our most dire collective moments of crisis. In all my historical reading, I mostly … Continue reading →

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While America Plays — The Virus Doesn’t Care

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

People who know me well will be surprised by this statement: I am an optimist. I try to believe that rational people gather information and make decisions to support themselves and their community. I am a child of the Enlightenment. … Continue reading →

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My Coronavirus Haircut

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I was getting very shaggy, so I scheduled a haircut for this afternoon. Never in my life have I spent so much time thinking about a simple haircut. I thought of the chair and the people rotating through it. I … Continue reading →

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What Do You Do When You Don’t Know What to Do?

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Jim Blackwood Jr

I am a contributor to the public health web site The Mighty. Here is an essay they published a few days ago. As a boss, I must have interviewed over 100 people for job openings. Because my engineering teams were … Continue reading →

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