Masculinity and Rites of Passage

One fulsome morning in the late autumn of my 16th year, I was a student pilot at the controls of a Piper PA-28 “Cherokee” in the afterglow of the rollout from what had to be the best landing I’d ever accomplished. That took an epiphanous turn when I heard my Flight Instructor telling me to […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 22: Keeping Watch

Another rite of passage piece with echos of last season’s Willie and the Bear. The term “traveller’s lantern”, perverted to Hunter’s lantern here, and not to be confused with Hunter’s Moon, refers to a time when safe travel was denied to the average bloke between the last quarter, through new, and to the first quarter of […]

Dark Sentiments Season 9 — Day 28: When the Blind Lead the Blind

“To be a Man possessed of Masculinity, experiencing the near daily necessity to engage in social intercourse or commerce with the unschooled males abroad in the land today, is to know the reality in the spirit of the other of what, “… feels inherently unreal ….”. To be unsurprised at a society proclaiming the necessity […]

Dark Sentiments Season 9 — Day 11: Willie and the Bear

“Tare” is the weight of an empty vessel. That should be all you need to know to understand the intent of its use here. Weighing Out the Tare By LFM As day begins, the Warrior doth lay his weapons out, Then, unaccoutred, stands he there, whilst cleansing soul of doubt. His code, his tools, he […]

Masculinity is a Guided Hunt

When last we spoke, it was on the subject of Masculinity and Rites of Passage through the personal experience of soloing an airplane. In case the point eluded some of you, the instrument of transformation — the airplane — didn’t actually need to be what it was. It didn’t hurt in teaching a young Man […]

Death and the Child

    “A dragon lives forever but not so little boys. Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys. One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more, And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar. “His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain. Puff no longer […]

Worldly Wisdom Wednesday – Education

Speak the word “education” and the most common image conjured is that of a set of knowledge and skills conveyed under the auspices, and bearing the stamp of approval, of some official grantor of credentials. People seek to learn by enrolling in classes so they can emerge bearing a certificate or diploma they can display […]

A Long Winter’s Night – What’s a Sibling For?

This is a tale from a Christmas Eve long, long ago. I grew up with a younger sibling – a sister three years younger than me. As the oldest child, and a son at that, I was raised to be responsible, respectful, steadfast, and true; and it took. My sister, on the other hand, was […]

Milo — Last of the Old Pack

Mrs. LFM and I first met Milo at the SHAID (Shelter for Helpless Animals In Distress) Animal Shelter in February 2007 where even before being taken in to see him I was specifically told straight away at index finger point that, “He won’t like you,” the implication being he harboured an ingrained dislike of men. […]

Dark Sentiments Season 11 — Day 20: Worse End of the World Than Thou — Part the First

The longer I live and write about the experience, the more I find that without prior knowledge of what I was referring to or clues provided in the content, it’s possible for someone to read something I’ve written in the past and believe it’s about what was in the news this morning. For example, there’s […]