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Podcast Episode: Lost in the In-Between
Note. The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/08/31/lost-in-the-in-between/ Pip: There is a particular kind of melancholy that arrives in early September, right on schedule, whether you asked for it or not. Mara: Andrew Prokop is sitting with exactly that feeling in this episode — the uneasy space between what was and what’s coming, from… Continue reading
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Lost in the In-Between
I feel the taste of summer’s last kissa fond farewella sad goodbyeher warm embrace wears scarlet wingsriding retreat on cool autumn breezes Andrew Prokop It’s not even September and yet I feel the mutterings of autumn. The sun is slightly lower in the sky. The sumacs are already turning red and orange. The loons have… Continue reading
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The Made Bed and Other Tales of Transformation
Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. Aristotle Linda and I recently sat down for dinner with our friend, Keith. Keith is a retired social worker who previously managed housing for at-risk adults. His tenants included everyone from folks dealing with mental health issues to those with debilitating addictions. These people… Continue reading
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WannaHug — Values-Driven Shopping With a Twist
You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable. Deepak Chopra As a child, I loved going grocery shopping with Mom. I would like to think she appreciated my help, but for her it may simply have been a chance to spend… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: Let it Go
Note. The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/08/03/let-it-go/ Pip: There’s a podcast called Can You Hear Me Now, and today it has something to say about the things we protect so carefully we forget to actually use them. Mara: Andrew Prokop’s writing this week works through one central tension — holding on versus letting… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: The Boomer’s Guide to Surviving Technology
Note: The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/07/20/the-boomers-guide-to-surviving-technology/ Pip: There is a certain irony in a blog called Can You Hear Me Now being primarily about whether anyone can keep up with the thing they are hearing. Mara: Andrew Prokop is asking exactly that question today — how retired men navigate a world that… Continue reading
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Redefining Productivity
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. Marie Curie During… Continue reading
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Where do the Children Play
It is right that he too should have his little chronicle, his memories, his reason, and be able to recognize the good in the bad, the bad in the worst, and so grow gently old down all the unchanging days, and die one day like any other day, only shorter. Samuel Beckett As a grandfather… Continue reading
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Uncluttering
Amidst one’s daily clutter, one doesn’t usually reflect on the splendor of being free because – naturally – one has to get on with the business of living. Upamanyu Chatterjee Linda and I moved into our three story Victorian house (or barn as I often call it) in the winter of 1998. I remember it… Continue reading
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Randomness
This wretched brain gave way, and I became a wreck at random driven, without one glimpse of reason or heaven. Thomas Moore Linda and I are up at Lake Sallie for our annual cabin opening extended weekend. This involves cleaning up mouse poop, putting patio furniture back into place, coordinating with plumbers and dock installers,… Continue reading
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My Future Self
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Abraham Lincoln A little more than a week ago, I attended a retreat for older men. We discussed a number of topics during the course of the day, but the one that stood out the most was developing and maintaining healthy sexuality. Due to… Continue reading
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I Want You to Want Me
All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. Charles M. Schultz Want (verb): To wish, crave, demand, or desire. Need (verb): To require. The way I read the newspaper hasn’t changed in a very long time. I begin with a quick glance at the front page before turning to… Continue reading
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Amen
The Amen of nature is always a flower. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. On Saturday, January 24, I did something I haven’t done since I was a kid. As most Americans should know, that was the day that Alex Pretti was brutally beaten and murdered by ICE agents. The Twin Cities were still grieving for Renee… Continue reading
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On Death and Loss
The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross After a break for the holidays, I am back to my Coming of Age journey. So much has happened since the pause. Most importantly, ICE… Continue reading
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Where Do We Go From Here?
Some of them knew pleasure. Some of them knew pain. And for some of them, it was only the moment that mattered. Jackson Browne Minnesota is in the news again. Nearly six years ago it was for the murder of George Floyd. This past June, a crazed gunman shot and killed state representative Melissa Hortman,… Continue reading
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Unraveling the Knots
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. Roger Hornsby A couple weeks ago, I wrote of learning how to ice skate after decades of unrequited love. It was a feel good story about overcoming hesitations… Continue reading
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A 42-Year Ride
I left the ending ambiguous, because that is the way life is. Bernardo Bertolucci One of my last good friends at Avaya was laid off last week. Although he and I only worked on the same project team for the last four years of my employed life, we share a history of jobs, customers, conventions,… Continue reading
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On the Nature of a Higher Power
There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives. Josephine Hart This missive is part of my Coming of Age series of articles. If you haven’t been following along and would like to know what this is all about, you can find the previous articles here:… Continue reading
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First Frost
All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. J. R. R. Tolkien We had our first frost of the season on Saturday. Having lived in Minnesota since the 1980s, I know that no… Continue reading
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On Being Human
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I began an on-again, off-again relationship with Unitarianism sometime in the late 1990s. Admittedly, I was introduced to the religion by my wife who grew up Unitarian. I was raised a Catholic, but somewhere… Continue reading
Can You Hear Me Now 