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Bruce Mulkey

Goodreads Author

Born

in Fort Worth, Texas, The United States

Website

http://brucemulkey.com

Twitter

@brucemulkey

Genre

Nonfiction, Memoir, Health, Mind & Body

Influences

Studs Terkel, Hunter Thompson, Tom Robbins, Douglas Adams, Don Miguel ...more

Member Since

February 2015

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/brucemulkey

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In an earlier incarnation, I was a hyper-masculine, self-indulgent, beer-swilling rebel (without much of a cause). Having miraculously survived that era, I am now an open-minded, relentlessly inquisitive, politically progressive essayist and author. I live with my wife Shonnie Lavender and our daughter Gracelyn (largely outside the dominant cultural paradigm) in the eclectic little city of Asheville, North Carolina.

I have contributed to The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, OpEd News, SelfGrowth.com, The Good Men Project, and The ManKind Project. From 2000 through 2004, I served as an editorial columnist at the Asheville Citizen-Times. My op-eds and essays have also appeared at such online sites as MichaelMoore.com, Common Dreams News C In an earlier incarnation, I was a hyper-masculine, self-indulgent, beer-swilling rebel (without much of a cause). Having miraculously survived that era, I am now an open-minded, relentlessly inquisitive, politically progressive essayist and author. I live with my wife Shonnie Lavender and our daughter Gracelyn (largely outside the dominant cultural paradigm) in the eclectic little city of Asheville, North Carolina.

I have contributed to The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, OpEd News, SelfGrowth.com, The Good Men Project, and The ManKind Project. From 2000 through 2004, I served as an editorial columnist at the Asheville Citizen-Times. My op-eds and essays have also appeared at such online sites as MichaelMoore.com, Common Dreams News Center, Intervention Magazine, Information Clearing House, Truthout, BuzzFlash.com, and Smirking Chimp.

I’ve dealt with topics ranging from racism (and my ongoing recovery from it), my brief encounter with Norman Mailer (“Are you still stabbing your wife?”), opposition to the Iraq War (“A few illogical arguments for the elimination of Saddam Hussein” published before the war began), Al Gore (not the stuffed shirt you might imagine) and the perils of climate change, my seventieth birthday (It’s not that I mind growing old; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.), spanking (and its unintended consequences), why I gave up my last handgun (after my wife asked me the simple question: “What are you afraid of, Bruce?”), trail running in the southern Appalachians, and fatherhood at sixty-seven.

I have appeared on two PBS shows—Bill Moyer’s Now (my fifteen seconds of fame) and Simple Living and in The Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (among others). In addition, my wife Shonnie and I did an interview for NPR’s Story Corp in 2009, and I recently pitched the first episode of my podcast to This American Life. I also served as a presenter for the Climate Project, Al Gore’s initial effort to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis (where I had the opportunity to experience Al in his element).

In 2008, at the age of sixty-five, I was hired as an Obama field organizer in Ohio (even though my boss and our entire staff were in their twenties). After that, I served as campaign manager for several progressive political campaigns including two congressional races (four wins, one loss). During the 1990s, I wrote for Holt, Rinehart and Winston’s high school textbook division (my first real writing gig). I am now writing a memoir with the working title Daddy Do-Over: Fathering Two Daughters Born 42 Years Apart.

I currently spend much of my time writing, playing handball, trail running with my wife Shonnie, joining my family in rousing games of Scrabble, and doing my best to keep up with my high-spirited and fiercely independent ten-year-old daughter on the meandering footpaths of the southern Appalachians. ...more

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Bruce Mulkey’s books

Average rating: 3.8 · 5 ratings · 1 review · 5 distinct works

	I Do! I Do! The Marriage Vow Workbook by Shonnie Lavender (Goodreads Author), Bruce Mulkey (Goodreads Author) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Walking Our Talk: Taking radical responsibility for our lives and our world 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Happiness Now! 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peaceful Patriots: Taking a stand for peace in an era of endless war 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peaceful Patriots: Taking a stand for peace in an era of endless war 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Bruce Mulkey's Blog

Dealing with anxiety

Arthur Brooks—Harvard professor and behavioral scientist—defines anxiety as a chronic, low-grade fear response that protected our hunter-gatherer ancestors but now often misfires in modern life. He offers strategies to reframe one’s anxiety.

Regard your anxiety as “unfocused fear.”
Endeavor to clarify and name your anxiety so that it is not a vague fear lingering in the background of your thoughts.
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Published on February 04, 2026 11:27

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Bruce is Currently Reading

Bruce Mulkey rated a book it was amazing

mBraining: Using your multiple brains to do cool stuff

by Grant soosalu

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Apr 11, 2024 09:15AM

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Bruce Mulkey wrote a new blog post Dealing with anxiety Arthur Brooks—Harvard professor and behavioral scientist—defines anxiety as a chronic, low-grade fear response that protected our hunter-gatherer ance Read more of this blog post »
Feb 05, 2026 03:02AM · like
Bruce Mulkey rated a book it was amazing Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Reveals the strength of fascism in the 1930s and 1940s and its relationship to our nation's current slide toward authoritarianism. ...more
Apr 11, 2024 09:32AM · like · see review
Bruce Mulkey rated a book it was amazing The Sky Club by Terry Roberts (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Highly engaging read, especially since it's set in the part of the world where I live. ...more
Apr 11, 2024 09:20AM · like · see review
Bruce Mulkey rated a book really liked it The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1) by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
What if?
Apr 11, 2024 09:17AM · like · see review
Bruce Mulkey rated a book it was amazing mBraining: Using your multiple brains to do cool stuff by Grant soosalu	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 11, 2024 09:15AM · like
Bruce Mulkey finished reading American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World but Failed Its People by Jared Yates Sexton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 11, 2024 09:15AM · like
Bruce Mulkey finished reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 11, 2024 09:15AM · like
Bruce Mulkey rated a book it was amazing Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 11, 2024 09:14AM · like
Bruce Mulkey rated a book really liked it Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 11, 2024 09:14AM · like
Bruce Mulkey rated a book it was amazing American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World but Failed Its People by Jared Yates Sexton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 11, 2024 09:14AM · like

More of Bruce's books…

Bruce’s Quotes

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time

tags: deadlines, humor, humour, work, writing

32143 likes

“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer”
― Douglas Adams

tags: attributed-no-source, humor, misattributed-douglas-adams, wit

11372 likes

“The Four Agreements
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Always do your best. ”
― don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

tags: advice

1240 likes

“Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.”
― Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

tags: art

520 likes

“The Divine was expansive, but religion was reductive. Religion attempted to reduce the Divine to a knowable quantity with which mortals might efficiently deal, to pigeonhole it once and for all so that we never had to reevaluate it. With hammers of cant and spikes of dogma, we crucified and crucified again, trying to nail to our stationary altars the migratory light of the world.”
― Tom Robbins, Skinny Legs and All

51 likes

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Bruce Mulkey’s Followers (11)

Bruce Mulkey

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