Joshua D. Cooke

As the new year began, I decided that I was going to step away from social media.  I removed the Facebook app from my phone, and instead added a journaling app, determined to spend more time writing in my journal over the next year than engaging with social media posts.  I felt like it was important for me to make better use of my time, and also felt strongly that in the last couple of years significant investment in social media is not good for my spirit.  I am certainly aware of its virtues, and I have made the decision over the last couple of months that I would "check in" every once in awhile, but that my own posts would be significantly limited.  I have to say, this decision has done me much good.  I have spent less time with my phone; I have been more focused on my work; I have found more productivity in my weekends; I have given even more attention to my family; I have written in my journal regularly; I have found myself being spiritually fed on a more r...

This past weekend was a long weekend.  There has been a lot of uncertainty and nervousness.  My nerves have been frayed and my stomach has been in knots.  I haven't slept, and the anticipation on the 4th of July admittedly overtook much of my holiday.  I haven't been on a twitter feed like that EVER.  All of this anxiety and worry over a basketball player, a man I have never met and probably never will.  All of this sweat and even tears over someone playing a game for a job, and quite honestly, changing his job because he has a right too.  Some call me unreasonable.  Some say insane.  I have to quit whining and get a life.  It's not worth fretting over or being upset about.  It is irrational.  In some ways, people are right, it is unreasonable. I need to move on.  Another truth is important as well though, and that truth will explain why Gordon Hayward's decision to go to Boston is so impactful to me. I love the Utah...

The following is the tribute I gave to my Grandma Elia at her memorial service on February 1, 2017, including the poem I wrote in her memory. I love my Grandma Elia.  She will always have a special place in my heart and my memories of her are truly joyful.  Grandma came into my life as a young boy.  I spent a lot of time with Grandpa Paul and Grandma Elia.  We had a lot of wonderful weekends together.  Grandma made a choice very early in my relationship with her, and that is that she was my grandma and I was her grandson.  She did that same for my brothers and sister.  You would never know in any way that we were not related by blood, except she was very clearly Mexican and we were very clearly white!  It was the one difference she was always sure to highlight.  She encouraged me to find a nice Mexican girl who spoke Spanish.  She ended up more than okay with my white blonde-haired choice too. Grandma had a quick wit and a wi...

As I embarked on the beginnings of my career as a mental health and substance abuse counselor I had a pretty good idea about what I wanted to do and who I wanted to help.  The long and short of it is that it didn't matter to me who my clients were as long as they were adults.  No teenagers, and no children.  I would leave that population to someone else.  After hearing some of the experiences of my graduate school cohort members and co-workers during my internship site, I felt like my choice to work with only adults was reinforced. Alas, opportunity knocked, and I had to answer the call.  I was given the opportunity to run the adolescent program at my work site, and I jumped at the chance.  I admit that my intentions were slightly selfish.  Graduation was only months away, and I needed to have some beginnings of a way to support my family.  At the same time, I dove into the position with plenty of ideas and grand intentions to make big changes....

When I started this blog nearly two years ago, my initial purpose was to create a space where I could both share my thoughts and also provide readers with some understanding about the direction I had decided to take with my writing projects.  I will be the first to admit that I have not been at all consistent in posting, and there has been much that has changed in my life in terms of priorities and circumstances since I began this blog. I haven't been particularly consistent with my writing projects either, which made it difficult for me to make any firm commitments there. The reality is, I have not allowed myself the time or the space to be consistent, and as such my entries have been rather bare. Then there is the question of boundaries. How much do I really want to share? What do I want out there forever? Once I post it, it's not going away. What do I keep to myself and what do I want to share with others? Who do I even want reading these posts in the first place?  How is...

Let's get something straight right away.  When I was around two years old or so, it was discovered I had a hearing impairment.  I was fitted with hearing aids and have dealt with the implications of this fact my entire life.  For all we know, my hearing impairment is simply a result of a premature birth and the all-out efforts to keep me alive.  The way I see it, when one looks at pictures of myself looking nothing short of a crazy science experiment at birth, I consider myself quite blessed to have come out of it all with nothing a few scars and a hearing impairment to show for it. Now, in many ways growing up with a hearing impairment was not easy.  First of all, I was and still am extremely stubborn when it comes to wearing my hearing aids.  It's not like those things fit in your ear like a glove on your hand.  They are uncomfortable and annoying.  They rub against the inside of you ear at times and makes them itchy and sore.  There were...

I was recently reminded that I have been remiss in writing in this blog over the past couple of months.  Between that reminder and yet another reminder of the realities of life, it's important for me to put some things down here and I hope that I can once again grab the attention of my readers.  Forgive my absensce. This post is not an easy one for me to write.  I have had a lot of thoughts over the past couple of days, and I really don't know how they are going to come together.  I do know this though.  It is fully my intention to write this post both as a tribute and as a reminder.  I write this post from my perspective and my perspective only.  I am not going to sit here and pretend to understand all the facts and circumstances, and at the same time I am not going to skirt around the truth either as I see it.  I am an individual who has become extremely familiar with hindsight, and I wouldn't be surprised if much of what I write here ...