I've never been a fan of war stories, but if I thought more of them were anything like Alan Chin's The Lonely War, I would seriously re-evaluate the basis for my longstanding aversion to the genre.

“I try my very best to stay positive,” a friend lamented recently.  “But it’s tough to do when everyone around me is so negative.”  In particular she was asking what to do about a pessimistic mate. The question was, how do we maintain a positive outlook when the important people around us all seem to be down-in-the-dumps drama queens?

I’ve never had a near death experience in the literal sense.  Seeing the car I was in skidding across a winding two-lane mountain road into the path of an oncoming van several years ago was pretty close, but there was no leaving my body and going toward the light—only a blackout that lasted a few seconds, and a headache that made me wish I was dead.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?  What’s your first reaction to the face that stares back at you every day?  When you stop and look around at your life—at what you do or where you live or what you have—how do you feel?

One of my favorite names for a drag queen is “Karen Maintenance” probably because it resonates on so many levels (somewhere a couple of ex’s—not to mention my current partner--are snorting at the understatement).