Category: Post
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Life in Spain: Two-Month Update
The moment I walked out of the Barcelona El Prat airport in December I felt a stimulating sense of belonging, it seemed to defy the angst of my life in fragmented America—a country I no longer recognize or feel comfortable in. There seems always to be an inner breeze of excitement, joyful gratitude for Barcelona…
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Sexy Fun—Our Trip to the Erotic Museum Barcelona
Warning: If you are offended by explicit sex acts, photos, and paraphernalia, do NOT read or visit this page. No kidding, do not go further. I have no intention of offending anyone, but I have every intention to enlighten and entertain those who feel free to express their sexuality and erotic desires. Upon learning Barcelona’s Erotic…
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Our Most Magical Day In Barcelona So Far (Museu Nacional d’Art de Cataluna and Maitea Tavern)
We finally had a free day and determined not to waste it, and voila! it was our best day here yet. Many years ago, I watched Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé perform the song Barcelona at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Cataluna. As I wept profuse tears of joy, I vowed one day to go there. Today…
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Thoughts After One Month In Spain
It has been a fast and furious thirty days in Barcelona, preceded by an extremely busy September through December, evaluating neighborhoods, selling most of our earthly belongings, estate sales, obtaining our visas, getting our vaccines, and so much more. We have not stopped for five months—no wonder we feel exhausted. When we settled into our…
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Why This Christmas Was My Best Ever
As Gina and I reflected on this holiday season while enjoying a festive cosmopolitan a few evenings ago, I told her it was my best ever. She asked why. Here are a few significant reasons. —I love new things. And moving to Barcelona has provided a multitude of them: new languages, new routines, new foods,…
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A Day At The Barcelona Opera (Gran Teatre del Liceu)
I am still processing this magical day. Somehow, I got unbelievable seats to a performance of “El Conte De Nadal De Charles Dickens” (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens) at the iconic Gran Theatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Honestly, I thought we would be most impressed with the grand theatre’s aesthetics and the incredible seats,…
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Our First Week In Spain
Joyful. Scary. Romantic. Confusing. Apolitical. Tapas. Peaceful. Vermut. Surprise. Walking. Acceptance. Running. Freedom. Anonymity. Future. Ancient. Pleasure. Idioms. Excitement. Colloquialisms. Savour. Kissing. Slow. Anxious. Delight. Excitement. Culture. Yes, we are in the honeymoon stage of life in Barcelona. And we are loving it. We have almost as many friends and acquaintances here in one week…
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Our First Day In Spain
At long last, we are here—the beautiful and seductive city of Barcelona, Spain. I plan to chronicle the first day, the first month, and each month after that to see if this dream of life in Spain matches the reality. I asked Gina her thoughts on the first day this evening (we are six hours…
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The Joy of A Lonely Thanksgiving
I am fourteen years and thousands of miles away from my last nuclear family Thanksgiving. I could never have comprehended the massive toll my affair, divorce, subsequent marriage, and renunciation of Christianity would have on my relationships—from thousands to a handful. And those precious few are mostly younger and still in the frenetic pace of…
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Songs That Shaped My Life
Note: Jeff Tweedy, frontman for Wilco, one of my favorite bands, recently published a memoir by the post title’s name, inspiring me to write this post. 1963—“Dear Jesus, Abide With Me,” as a five-year-old local celebrity child singer, this song was my standard. I sang it solo at my kindergarten graduation and many other churches,…
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Honored To Be On the Cover and the Featured Story for Johns Hopkins University & Medicine (Winter 2023)
Photograph locations were my art studio The Sandbox and the back lawn of our beach cottage Cocomo. Click photos to enlarge.
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Randy Elrod: Same Interview, Six Decades
15-year-old Randy (1973) What is most important to you now? High school marching band. Your biggest fear? Hell. Your favorite artist? Chicago Your favorite book? Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Your favorite movie? I’m not allowed to go to the movies. What makes you happy in a relationship? Being together. Describe yourself in four words….
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My First Encounter With Militant Christians
I had just graduated high school in 1976, and my new girlfriend’s church’s music director invited me to summer camp. It sounded like a great way to spend time with her and a much-needed break. I was working two jobs (one was the third shift at a yarn mill) to save money for college the…
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Why I Will NOT Pray for the Peace of Israel
Nor will I pray for Hamas and peace in the Gaza Strip. As long as fundamentalist religion and authoritarian rule are a part of the culture in this war-torn region, there will never be peace. Ironically, religion has an outsized role in Israel. Yet, most of its Jews aren’t observant—recent surveys show that almost fifty…
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I Read Banned Books as a Child and am Better For It
During my elementary school years in the early 1970s, I read everything. Books about Roman gods and teen detectives (male and female) and gruesomely martyred saints, but also ancient encyclopedias bought at Goodwill, used Reader’s Digests and my grandmother’s Penny’s catalog. In the time-honored tradition of nerds everywhere, I read the backs of cereal boxes…
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Observations As We Prepare to Move to Barcelona
9/24/2023 —We are back in the States, and Gina and I miss Barcelona desperately. It sounds strange but true. Why? —We miss the atmosphere. The division, anger, and daily mass murder we take for granted in the US are not there. There is a peacefulness, a sense of family, and a zest for life rather…
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The Search for an Equal Companion
9/21/2023 Eighteen years ago, in 2005, I sat down with my wife of twenty-six years in our dream home on Main Street in the utopian town of Franklin, Tennessee. I will never forget it: the classy Lane recliners, the marble fireplace, the horrendously expensive Oriental rug, the aroma of Spring flowers coming through the open…
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Why Are We So Divided?
9/20/2023 America is a fragmented country. Her people are divided. Why? An opposite of division is wholeness. As I continue to travel inward and expand my Quest for wholeness, I realize once again that most people want easy answers—sequential steps to a better life. But what if life is more like a meander, not a…
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I Defy You, Oh Church (Notes from a Rebellious Ass)
08/31/2023 And now I, at long last, know why I can’t stand religious people. They try to take away my wholeness: my sensuality, my curiosity, my intimacy, and my freedom. For how can any person be free without an illimitable life? Yet religion tries to imprison me in a sterile sanctuary and make me sing…
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Rewriting the Rules (The Ten Commandments)
08/29/2023