I am 67 years and 26 days old today–January 15, 2016.  I have tens of thousands of words saved in my computer and on print pages.  I started writing seriously for myself when I retired from teaching over ten years ago.  Some of my first publications included an iWeb blog and personal pieces like “Houses I Have Lived In.”

I have written something about every book I have read and every movie that I have viewed since I retired.  I have put up hundreds of slide shows on dmforrest.smugmug.com.

On October 21, 2016 my high school friend Nathan H. Powell died.  I helped carry his body to his grave.  At his funeral I saw a slide show that took a stab at summing up his life and listened to three sermons about who Nath was.

What will people remember about me when I die?  How could they look into who I was?  If I died tonight, they could visit dmforrest.smugmug.com to see photos that I have taken.  That would give a person a notion of who I was or help remind someone who was curious about me about me as a person.  The thousands of letters and compositions that I have written would be a problem for anyone who did not have access to my computer or personal documents.

I do not plan to have a formal funeral.  My thought is that this blog would survive for a while so that an interested person could look into my head a bit.  My father Harold Buster Forrest died at 39 and remains a stranger to me.  I do not have his writing.  The same is true for my mother Leona Pearl Irvin Forrest. Leona did leave photo albums and pottery, a tradition that Nita has continued.  I may be wrong but I think that one day my children and friends may be curious enough to want to see who I was in writing.

Whoever I am is more embodied in writing than in any other form.  For this reason and because I have a need to express to myself who I am in words I plan to put some compositions on this blog.  I come closest to being the person I am through words and when I outside in nature.

My physical self is fading.  Who am I?  I want to keep a record.

1. What I Plan to Do with danielforrest.org (January 15, 2016)
2. Why I Do Not Like Christmas (2015)
3. Christmas 2016: 25 People (December 25, 2016)
4. The Election of Donald Trump (December 26, 2016)
5. Offices I Have Known (January 7, 2017)
6. Pit Bull Encounter (January 7, 2017)
7. My New Solid Rubber Ball (January 9, 2017)
8. My Guilt (January 14, 2017)
9. Tent Camping in 47 States (January 19, 2017)
10. What Happens When a Person Can Think Reflectively (February 11, 2017)
11. The Seesaw (April 5, 2017)
12. The Unexpected Eagle (April 23, 2017)
13. Unsolicited Advice for My Grandchildren (April 25, 2017)
14. Fiftieth High School Reunion: Memories and the Haphazard Recreation of My Youth (June 21, 2017)
15. Three Heroes (August 6, 2017)
16. Why I Love The New York Times (August 8, 2017)
17. News, Community, Peggy Fern’s Funeral, and Poldark (November 12, 2017)
18. Two Wishes (December 10, 2017)
19. My Trash Twin (January 12, 2018)
20. President Trump and the Resurrection of Racial Division (January 19, 2018)
21. Three Terms That Irk Me (January 21, 2018)
22. Trump’s New America (February 7, 2018)
23. Face of the Dam (February 10, 2018)
24. Yards of My Youth (January 4, 2019)
25. Advance Obituary (February 17, 2019)
26. Seeing Myself Via Time Stamp (February 23, 2019)
27. The Octopus and the Tent (December 2, 2019)