Blog Archives - Page 7 of 11 - Dallin Malmgren
2020
The Skeleton in my Closet
My uncle, Hafis Salich, served time in San Quentin as a Russian spy. Honest. My mother’s family had to leave Russia when the communists took over. Born in Moscow, she was seven years old when they left. At least, I think so. My mother’s birth date was listed as January 1,1917. I have been told […]
2020
Pescatarians for a week…
Well, almost a week. Tomorrow morning will be a week. I got the idea when we started hearing about all the Covid problems in the meat-packing plants. Rather than hoarding meat, it seemed like we could explore other options. Karen liked the idea. Both of us realized it would probably be good health-wise. My third […]
2020
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…”
I didn’t get off to a very good start with The Church—thankfully, we have developed a mutual respect over the years. Just beyond my backyard was the St. Dorothy Catholic Church and parochial school. I was not Catholic. My mother and grandmother hated Catholicism—not sure why. (My sister Diana recently told me that she attended […]
2020
To shave or not to shave
I have never liked shaving. During my teaching career, I went by the every-other-day rule—or tried to. Part of the reason I shaved is because Karen wanted me to. Much as I tried to sell her on the Harrison Ford stubble (I even purchased an Indiana Jones hat!), she never bought it. Another reason I […]
2020
Fate vs. Chance
It’s the age-old debate—so ancient we no longer think about it. Put it another way: God’s will vs. man’s choice. or predestination vs. free will. In my post-adolescent years, we’d debate about it into the night, and in my early Christian years, we’d search the Bible for pat answers to it. It never has been […]
2020
Ascia
As distant and estranged as I felt from my father growing up (hmm, Father’s Day essay?), so I seemed attached and connected to my mother. Not in a cloying, spend-lots-of-time-together way–in fact, I don’t remember ever spending much time with her. But somehow, my mother got me. There was one stretch, somewhere between grades five […]
2020
God is in control
It struck me like a lightning bolt as I was sitting on my back porch. We all know that He is concerned. We all know He will comfort us. We all know He loves us. But do we believe, even for a second, that He is in control? That right now He has a handle […]
2020
Keeping a vow
On July 2, 2019 I made a vow to God. The plan had always been that when I retired from teaching, I would concentrate on my writing. But I had been retired for five years and had hardly written anything (except my prayers). Had I deceived myself all this time about being a writer? I […]
2020
A movie that changed my life
Art does more than entertain. At its best, it elevates. And so, I ask, what is the most impactful movie that you ever saw…the one that changed your way of thinking, your perception of the world and your role in it. Several come to mind for me (2001: A Space Odyssey, Ben Hur, King of […]
2020
Spiritual dryness
“…all is vanity and striving after wind…” It has crept up on me the last week or so. I can recognize it, but I’m not very good at combating it. It’s a disturbing malaise—a vague uneasy feeling of lethargy. I still believe the same things—it’s just like it’s tacked up on a bulletin board rather than […]
2020
My old-fashioned
This one is more about pain relief than spiritual upliftment…which is okay in the time of Corona. I want to write about my favorite drink: the Old-fashioned. This is how I make mine: The glass is important. I like a utilitarian glass, something that sits on the counter solidly—nothing delicate or flutey (see photo), and […]
2020
Bond. James Bond. (My paean to reading)
As a retired English teacher, one of the most distressing observations I can make about American youth (then and now, I believe) is that they don’t want to read. Oh, there were flurries of hope: The Twilight series (if you call that hope) and Harry Potter, and…and…that’s about it. When I used to ask in […]
2020
What I endorse: the corona version
This is my third “endorse” post—I used endorsements as a writing exercise in my Creative Writing classes. You just tell the world about things you like. My first one was about everyday things, like raspberries and polar bears. My second post was the artistic version, featuring artists like Tim Duncan and Leonard Cohen. This one […]
2020
How are you doing?
Introspection is usually a healthy activity—even moreso in the time of Corona. Covid-19 has affected our lives in many different ways, but we do share one commonality: all of our lives have been greatly affected. Every one of us can say: I’ve never been through anything like this before. And it affects everything about us—our […]
2020
The right to vote
This is totally non-partisan. I want every single person who reads this to vote. I want every single person who reads this to encourage every single person they know to vote. My goal is for this election to be the year that more people voted than ever before. I want every single state to make […]
2020
My Coronavirus Questions
I don’t count the number of quarantine days, but I know it has been a lot. These are the things I wonder about: –This is a plague of biblical proportions. What is God’s point of view? –When does personal safety become obsessive? –Is this the Darwinian concept of “thinning the herd”? –Should Trump be given a pass for […]
2020
My Bucket List
Lots of people have bucket lists. Some are quite obsessive about checking the items off. My approach is more casual. This bucket list is probably about ten years old. I used to do a Bucket List assignment in my Advanced Creative Writing class, so, of course, I had to do mine. I came across it […]
2020
Love in the Time of Corona
To my former students (and anyone interested): Do you remember the questionnaires, surveys, quizzes, etc. we used to take in Creative Writing as learning activities (amusements, if you prefer)? My contribution to the quarantine is resurrecting/updating one as a possible individual or group activity. Only rules are the answers need to come from your heads, […]
2020
Loving God (the first part of the sum of the commandments)
It is stated clearly in Matthew 22:37…love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself. I’m using the Bible, but I want to take the broader perspective. If we recognize we have a Creator (no one has exactly the same perspective on that), […]
2020
Zooming with the Texas Malmgrens
It was such a pleasant evening…hanging out with my wife and my three kids and their spouses, having drinks. I had a cab and Karen a blush…Beth was having white wine…Nate and Annalisa went with margaritas…Zack and Kallie, Texas Whiskey. We talked about everything: our circumstances, our families, good entertainment, politics (Malmgrens always talk politics), […]
2020
Going out the door…
We are all going through it, more or less ( more, I pray). We’ve all got the same instructions. The heroes are the ones who have to go out there—answering the call of duty. They go out because they put the needs of others above their own well-being. We have to pray for them. The […]
2020
COVID-19: is there a positive side?
Please do not think I am making light of tragedy—this is a human catastrophe. Our world is suffering. If I know my Bible, this is not an uncommon historical occurrence. It is how we respond as a nation that determines the direction this country is going in. So how do we turn the corona virus […]
2020
My back porch
I love springtime. Since my boyhood, it has been my favorite. I like the other ones too, but, ah, springtime! I love it in the air, and in the blossoms, and on my golf course, and on the calendar (yahoo, spring break!), and at my barbecue grill, and in the behavior of the ducks and […]
2020
DM’s greatest hits — vol. II
All of the following are quotes from previous blog posts: So maybe I have to change the text of the lesson: what I meant to get across in my classroom is that life is meant to be good. That is the intention. Contrast the hurricane and the volcano with the morning dew and the evening sunset, […]
2020
In praise of family
We buried Aunt Faith yesterday. She was the last living direct relative of Karen and her three sisters. She was a fine lady who affected positively many people’s lives. I didn’t realize how much until I heard two of the nieces eulogize her at the funeral. That got me thinking about family. In praise of […]
2020
Global Consciousness (What the world needs now…)
It’s time to wake up. If you think that God cares more about the fate of America than He does the suffering children in Syria (or the children on the border), you have lost touch with your Creator. If you think certain people matter more than others, you have lost touch with your Creator. If […]
2020
Malmgrenisms
Okay, that is an egocentric post title, and not really accurate. These are things I said over and over in the classroom (and on the tennis courts), and I said them in order to achieve a certain effect. It wasn’t always noble, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly affectionate. Malmgrenisms is a misnomer—most of […]
2020
Slow Train Coming
I want to tell you about a miracle that happened to me. Well, it didn’t really happen to me, but boy was it a miracle! When I first believed in Jesus in 1975, I was full of zeal and enthusiasm. So I began to pray for Bob Dylan—I loved him in my hippie days, and […]
2020
Fear, Part Two
I wrote about fear in an earlier post (I will be brave…a meditation on fear, Aug. 25, 2019)), but I want to address it again. I have learned that walking with God does not mean that your fears will disappear. Walking with God will determine how you handle your fears when they arise. That applies […]
2020
Musings to my Lord on a Sunday evening…
–I think I get how infinite You are better than how personal You are…I want both. Come to think of it, I barely grasp how infinite You are. –My greatest fear is that I will let You down. –The only remedy for that fear is faith in You. –I used to worry that I would be the rocky […]