Dorrier Underwood

I am thinking about my relationship with money.  It is hard to tell the difference between my relationship and our r elationship, “ our ” being our culture ’ s. The cultural conversation mostly seems like a reality -- ain ’ t  no “ conversation ” to it.  You gotta be kidding me!  Take in more than you spend? Even THEY are struggling with that “ reality ” in Congress.  Don ’ t live high on the hog, higher than your means.  Save for your old age.  Get the best deal.  Don ’ t give money to beggars, it just perpetuates the problem.  Don ’ t show off. Then there is:  Don ’ t talk about money, definitely not about how much something costs.  I barely look at the bill when it comes from the waiter. I just give them my credit card. When I am with someone who examines the bill for dinner with great care and attention, it embarrasses me a little, not for myself, but for them and their rudeness and tediousness. Don ...

February 4, 2013 Today we went to Angkor Wat in Cambodia at Siem Reap. Ket was our guide and he warned us he was not a cat herder! We thought our guide might be Hoy who told us stories last night and this morning of the killing fields But we ended up on bus 3 with Ket very fluent in  English and knowing the history of 12th century Angkor Wat, translation "city temple".  Once Hindu and then Buddhist.  Cambodians call themselves as do Thai, Hindu Buddhists I got the book The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha that tells of the middle way, the way between pure philosophy, texts and analysis and on the other hand, practices, daily life and the heart and soul of Buddhism.   Sitting in the Sofitel hotel after an incredible Thai massage with several beautiful flight attendants staying for the night here, too, in their ivory suits with turquoise blouses with bows at the neck. So a mixture of t...

The Second Amendment: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. When I read the 2 nd amendment, I get a little confused.  First, the darned thing seems a bit convoluted…what does a well-regulated militia have to do with the right of the people? Are the people, ALL the people, the militia?  I suppose, at the time this was written, the people WERE the militia, pretty much all of the people. And we were disorganized trying to create a new country. That’s not true now…we have a real well regulated militia, and all the millions and millions of people who have guns are just not part of it.  We allow our militia – the army, navy, marines, coast guard - to protect us, which is likely what the writers of this amendment intended to mean, and what Jefferson would have meant when he approved it. There would be some designated people to be our militia, and they would be wel...

The tiny pieces of ice hit the windshield with a muted crunch, a soft noise that made the rest of the world seem strangely quiet and still. It was still and quiet in my head too, despite the jockeying for position in the pickup line. I snapped out of my reverie just soon enough to move forward in the line on Monroe Road, along with the other parents whose schedules were untimely ripped by the arrival of the ice storm. I am immune to the struggle today. I am not trying to get ahead of the other cars. If it takes longer than I have planned, then I will be late for the chiropractor, hardly tragic. I suddenly stop noticing the “wintry mix” as the TV weatherpeople would have us call the sleet and rain, and start noticing my life. I am having a normal life. I am in line at the high school, waiting to pick up my kid. I am not doing anything else. I am glad to be doing this, I am glad that my daughter will remember, somewhere in the recesses of her cortex someday, that her daddy was ther...

The Gift After the Mistake Elbow on the back of your chair Elbow formed in a V with your hands behind your head You are sitting there curious You want me to say something Besides, I made a mistake Besides, I thought you did the right thing   Besides some explanation or excuse I did chop down that cherry tree Besides wanting credit that I told you I had made a mistake even though I could have kept it to myself. Besides not engaging in subterfuge I give you the gift of trusting The gift of saying what you need The gift of seeing that you got it The gift of being of partnership The gift of asking for what you want really The gift of sharing what threatens you The threat you feel by merely being alive And taking on this big huge over the top goal for some little girl from the country Some little girl looking to be the President of a company And so many balls in the air And players playing and who is going to do what when The gift of cleaning up a m...

My father killed himself with a perfectly legal handgun left over from his law enforcement days.  He kept it long after he retired, in the top drawer of a mahogany chest of drawers in our big hall, unloaded but right beside the ammunition. My brother and I knew not to touch it…not ever. Dad was troubled about his health, and the gun was handy and available that December morning. I don’t know if he would have used another method. I just know he didn’t.

Every night I see the same thing, crutches, stretchers, ambulances poised nearby, just in case the combatants fall. After all, it’s football, every night the same thing, have you noticed? It used to end on New Year’s Day, with the Orange Bowl at night. All the time I was growing up, Cotton and Sugar early, Rose in the afternoon and Orange at night, and if you stayed up for the end on the East Coast you’d be tired at work on January 2 nd . But now it stretches on even past the twelfth day of Christmas, a new bowl game every night into the second week of January. And all will apparently get high ratings on TV. Bread and Circuses, that’s what the Roman poet Juvenal said the people’s hopes had been reduced to. That was in about 100 A.D. Today we crowd into our own coliseums for our version: Beer and Football. It’s what we LIVE for, according the commercials on television. Talk about opiate of the masses! Beer and TV and football are more pervasive than Protestantism today in ...