Poetry
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Home
The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. Maya Angelou Each month, my Unitarian church chooses a theme that influences everything from the Sunday readings to ministers’ sermons. The goal is to push us deeper into our own spiritual practices… Continue reading
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Too Much of a Thing
Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? T. S. Eliot Despite more than four decades working in technology, I am not an up-to-date gadgets guy. I tend to hold on to devices long after most… Continue reading
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Hong Kong Travelogue
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust On March 28, 1998, I flew from Minneapolis to Hong Kong. As with my recently published trip to Ireland, I kept a travel journal that somehow survived the years. As with Ireland, I was there to teach… Continue reading
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Traducation
The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn. Alvin Toffler Bear with me while I set the scene for this week’s blog topic. Linda and I are both graduates of Arizona State University — she in education and… Continue reading
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Irish Travelogue
Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. Dave Barry I did a lot of business travel over my long career. Looking back, I realize that it was too much. Both my family and I struggled with the long absences. I didn’t see it at the time,… Continue reading
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The Things We Keep, The Stories They Tell
Humans think in stories, and we try to make sense of the world by telling stories. Yuval Noah Harari Frequent readers of my blog know that nostalgia plays a significant role in my writing. In fact, just last week in Lost in the In-Between I wrote, “I catch nostalgia like a cold.” While I don’t… 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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A Myth Understanding
A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence. Rollo May As many of my readers know, I am an avid biker — as in bicycles. With the exception of the rare rainy day cancellation, I ride from the spring thaw to… 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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Let it Go
Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. Rumi Warning: This is a bit of a convoluted, shaggy-dog article. It’s my hope that if you hang in long enough, it will eventually make sense. That is assuming any of my articles ever make sense. Despite not being related, I called my parents’ best… Continue reading
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Podcast Episode: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Note: The underlying article can be found at https://ajprokop.com/2026/07/27/knockin-on-heavens-door/ Pip: There’s a moment when you realize you’ve been closer to the end than the beginning for a while now — and instead of panicking, you sit down and pick funeral songs. Mara: That’s exactly where Andrew Prokop takes us today. The episode covers one extended… Continue reading
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Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
And were an epitaph to be my story I’d have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover’s quarrel with the world. Robert Frost I am not the kind of guy who overthinks death. My life is too full and rich for that.… Continue reading
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The Boomer’s Guide to Surviving Technology
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Alan Watts Every other Monday, my men’s retirement circle meets for connection, conversation, and friendship. It’s the most formal of all my groups, but the formality is still fairly loose. We begin with check-ins… Continue reading
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July Meditations, Reflections, Travelogue, and Scrapbook
My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July. Rick Bass July is very important to me. First and foremost, it is the month I was born. It’s hard to imagine what Mom endured… 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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The Burden We Call Love
The burden which is well borne becomes light. Ovid At a recent gathering with a few male friends, our freewheeling conversation turned towards aging and caring for those who are no longer able to look after themselves. As is common, and somewhat expected with a group of white Americans, someone almost immediately said, “I don’t… 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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Podcast Episode: Free Range Retirement
Note: The underlying article can be found at Free Range Retirement. Pip: There’s a quote that opens the post we’re covering today: “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” Which, honestly, sounds less like a warning and more like a sales pitch. Mara: Andrew Prokop is two years into retirement… Continue reading
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Free Range Retirement
The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off. Abe Lemons I love a good coming of age story. It doesn’t matter if it comes in the form of a movie, book, or song. I love thinking about the transition from one way of living to something completely different. In many ways,… Continue reading
