State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Paul Deaton

  • Seven Influences

    We are blinded and forever changed by our experiences if we are lucky. Insights and epiphanies are few in life’s span. They can shape who we are and the choices we make in profound ways. Some become passions and border on enthusiasm. Enthusiasm as in close to spiritual ecstasy, or possession by a god or… Read more

  • Walt Whitman’s ‘New Book’

    That scholars would publish newly found material written by Walt Whitman is not surprising. In a time where old newspapers are being digitized and new methods of scholarship seine existing publications like factory ships trawl the Bering Sea, Whitman’s voluminous work shows up. Manly Health and Training: With Offhand Hints Toward Their Conditions, serialized beginning… Read more

  • Politics Takes A Holiday

    The Bernie Sanders campaign is laying off hundreds of staff members, indicating either he is planning to throw in the towel after California, or that he won’t be placing people currently on his staff in local political organizations for the fall campaign. Maybe both. The presidential nominating party may not be over, but most of… Read more

  • Kale in Sunlight

    Yesterday was a spring day as good as it gets. I took advantage of it and worked outside. The kale seedlings have been slow-developing, so I put them in direct sunlight. The day’s growth was noticeable. I transplanted the scarlet variety into bigger pots to give them room to grow. They were laggards of the… Read more

  • Finally A Writing Plan

    The next non-internet writing project will be an autobiography in 10,000 words — taking the relative success of Autobiography in 1,000 words and expanding it to twenty 500-word parts as follows: Birth and parents (1951 – 1954) Earliest memories (Through 1957) Kindergarten (1957 – 1958) First Grade (1958-1959) Marquette Street (1959 – 1970) College (1970… Read more

  • Warp and Weft of a Garden

    Farming is more than putting plow to furrow. It is a multitude of experiences, evaluations and decisions made over time. The same is true for gardeners. Each garden, each plot, has its own micro environment and climate. Not only sun and rain, but wind, topography and history play a role. This year a friend changed… Read more

  • Outdoors Weekend

    It was a time to spend outdoors. The sounds of children playing, dogs barking and yard equipment running dominated the air waves of an unseasonably warm and dry Saturday and Sunday. I heard hardly any of it as I dug in the soil, cleaned out the garden composter and planted. Yesterday’s average temperature was 16… Read more

  • Earth Day 2016

    My participation in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 evolved in a convergence of social vectors. Among them was this Apollo 8 photograph of Earth above a lunar landscape by astronaut William Anders. After viewing the photograph I felt conflicts and maladies in society were insignificant compared with what we have in common… Read more

  • Breaking Fast

    After a week, I’m coming up for air. Our daughter visited for four days — just over 96 hours. Once she was safely returned home, I was incapacitated with a headache, fever and dizziness for a full 48 hours. Of course I went to work sick. That’s what low income people do. I broke fast with… Read more

  • Supervisor Race Update

    JOHNSON, COUNTY, Iowa — Last time I visited the county board of supervisor race, I had picked the two incumbents for the June 7 primary, Rod Sullivan and Lisa Green-Douglass, leaving one pick open. The Johnson County League of Women Voters is hosting a public forum with the candidates on Wednesday, April 27. I plan… Read more