I Have Been Provoked | Starfish, A Baseball Game, and Connections
It sailed high and quickly. Lifting off his bat. Lifting all in Fenway Park out of their seats. Magic. A shared pulse. Hopeful. It was the 12th inning. Game six. The World Series. Carlton Fisk’s hit was heading towards the Green Monster. Careening off the left field post, it...
I Have Been Provoked | 7.31, 10.21, and MBC
14 Years. Except for the year of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf in 2010 and Hurricane Ivan in 2004, we’ve been to Ft. Morgan, Alabama each and every year. We started going to this beach in 2003, the year of my bride, Maureen’s, mom and dad’s...
I Have Been Provoked | St. Peregrine, Peculiarities, and Time Loops
“I am stronger than lymphoma.” Those few simple words on a friend’s Facebook page over the holidays said it all. Just a few short weeks ago, that same friend and I were having lunch at Cured in San Antonio during the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. I had driven...
I Have Been Provoked | Putting the Gloves Back On
It is a cool and beautiful morning in Austin, Texas. I am sitting at my favorite coffee shop, Teo’s. As I drove into town with my youngest daughter, the light was crisp. It had the orange hues of the approaching fall. As the sun came up, you could see...
I Have Been Provoked | David Bowie’s Heroes & CLOUD
1983. September. Freshman year at Northwestern. Although I joined a residential college at Northwestern University, rather than a fraternity, I still remember heading to the rush parties. My dorm room was in the fraternity quad, so the music was going to keep me awake anyway… may as well dance…...
I Have Been Provoked | Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
“I have been provoked because I’ve watched cancer in the faces of too many people in too many waiting rooms at too many oncologists at too many cancer centers.” – Gary L. Thompson, 1/7/2015, I Have Been Provoked | Part One As I shared in my post this morning, The...
I Have Been Provoked | Part Two
I ended Part One of “I Have Been Provoked” with these words, “we have to rethink the fight with cancer.” I never expected to be in the middle of this fight. Heck, I never expected to hear the words, “you have cancer.” Even worse, those words were not spoken...
I Have Been Provoked | Part One
I am frequently asked “what do you do?” That is always a hard question for me to answer, because what I do is a function of who I am. To understand what I do is to understand what makes me tick. What drives me. Who I love. What makes...