About

My name is Richard Jones. I live and write in the Pacific Northwest. I am an official Old Person, and have spent all of my life (from the teen years onward) being upset and worried about the state of the world and the many people doing incalculable harm. Much of that time has been spent being generally baffled by the prospect of doing something to help change things in a meaningful way.

I concluded many years ago that, a) the humans of the world do not change their minds about things unless their hearts change first, and b) the primary way that hearts change is through stories.

Stories come in a myriad of forms. They are spoken, written, read, sung, heard, acted, seen or somehow observed, and intuited, just for starters. Meeting a person (or an animal, an insect, a plant, or a stone, for that matter) and making the effort to listen, or in any other fashion perceive them, is to be introduced in some way to their story. I can’t count the number of times I have met someone or something, spent even a small bit of time perceiving them, and suddenly realized that my initial impression (often negative) was quite mistaken, usually through bias or ignorance. I have been educated simply by being exposed to a tiny part of their story.

I’ve come to believe that if there is such a thing as having a job in this life, mine is to seek and tell stories that encourage spirits (starting with my own) to grow in strength, understanding, and generosity, to let go of needless fear, and to think with their best effort while feeling for the whole world. Every one and everything in the world comes with many, many stories, and more of them than we can imagine are rich, fascinating, and have something to teach us.

I hope you enjoy the stories I make, as well as all the others you encounter in this remarkable, mad and maddening time.