There’s a chance I may have slipped into crazy old lady territory. Evidence? I just took a 3-mile afternoon walk wearing dress slacks and a sweater, a grey puffy vest, cobalt blue tennis shoes, a pink scarf fetchingly wrapped around my head for warmth and – wait for it – a hiking hat to block …
How to train a Christmas angel
The angel in our nativity scene - I call her Joy - falls down a lot. She can’t seem to stay put, no matter how often I wrestle her four-inch-tall frame back onto the tiny nail sticking out of our stable's plywood roof. Joy only has one job, to stand guard over the stable, wings …
What happens when we lose newspapers
It has been nearly a decade since Tucson went from having two daily newspapers down to one, and the effect of that loss have been difficult for me to watch. As a former reporter who worked for the now-defunct Tucson Citizen, it pains me every day I see stories go uncovered. The remaining daily - …
Fear-based parenting
A few months ago, my grandson and I attended the grand opening of a new playground. It was his third birthday, and he was thrilled about all the festivities, especially that there were police officers attending. All in all, it was pretty great event, until I became the latest target of parenting (and grandparenting) in …
Trump and mocking sexual assault survivors
This week, President Trump sunk to a new low when he made fun of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in regard to her allegation of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh when they were teenagers. Trump did this at a rally and, sickeningly, everyone in the crowd cheered him on. Every time I …
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Me, and radio: Wake up Tucson
I had my first radio appearance this week on Chris DeSimone's Wake Up Tucson show, taking a deep dive into the recent Catholic Church controversy about which bishops knew what and when in regard to the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. He'd asked me on the show after reading my Arizona Daily Star column …
Catholics: Stop donating to Church
I’ve read with interest the dozens of op-eds, blogs and social media posts since the Aug. 14 release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing Catholic priest atrocities against more than 1,000 children over a 70-year period. Everyone says things need to change, but no one is offering exactly how Catholics can get change in …
Garden guy lust
Every woman, they say, has a celebrity crush, and most are based on the object of said crush being really good looking to the "average" woman. According to various internet polls - so you know it must be true - men who fit in this category are Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper and Matthew McConaughey, although surely everyone knows …
Life by PIN and password
I stood in front of the ATM machine with my almost 3-year-old grandson contemplating the meaning of life. It was already 98 degrees and 3,542 percent humidity, and this was supposed to be a very quick stop to get money from Nana's rarely used "special" account for our spontaneous adventure. The problem was that said …
Holding hands with a Trump voter
One of the best parts of being on vacation for Catholic nerds is having the luxury of going to daily mass. Sure, vacation could be defined as sleeping in, laying on a beach, reading through summer book lists or hiking Machu Picchu, but as a working stiff most of the year, I rarely get the …
