Category: disappointment
-
Remembering Susie
Obituary originally posted here. Photo slideshow: https://www.tributeslides.com/embed/CFSIFRAM/dem10727/11m61217470d60e0 Obituary May 14, 1946 ~ August 6, 2021 (age 75) Susie Elizabeth Duncan Sexton, 75, of Columbia City, IN, passed away unexpectedly Friday, August 6, 2021, at her home. Born on May 14, 1946, in Fort Wayne, she was the daughter of Roy and Edna (Lewis) Duncan, who, in her words,…
-
In a Sense…a Broad!
As I consider myself nothing nor nobody more than Peter Sellers in Being There or at my liveliest as Inspector Clousseau, it is difficult to make “Susie” sound interesting? I am proudest of being the Mother of Roy, whom I consider the person I would most wish to be. I grew up in a very…
-
i do not discuss harry potter or vampire sex…I DO discuss animal advocacy!
my modest little book, lamenting the state of the world and extolling my happy childhood which made me the liberal soul i am to this day here in the dull midwest, can be accessed at www.susieduncansexton.com …only an e-book and floating in the air. my little book is NOT a hit with 20 somethings because i do…
-
i cry every day…empathy is the only word i believe captures what seems to be missing
Following is a series of excerpts from a Facebook conversation I had last night with a wonderful friend and animal rights activist Trish Chambers: ___________________________ i cry every day…those who brag about never crying or wonder about crying? make me really wonder about their ability to feel and empathize…how sad NOT to cry. (and some…
-
rolling over and playing dead…is not wise
EVERY DAY IS THE SAME FOR ANIMALS…..i envy them that, except that every day more of them than not…considerably more…are ignored and abandoned and killed…please care second by second…be aware and help brighten a life or two or three. thanks for pausing to think of another lonely heart and doing something about it! no matter…
-
but think about how those very people treat human beings as well…
we need to include all living beings in our hearts and minds and give them room on our planet once they are born. parenthood isn’t just a human invention. life matters…and birth control matters as well. time to curb reproduction and make room for those already alive to continue living. a-men! ;D ♥!!!!!! i was…
-
when human nature gets in the way of animal/nature
every once in a while, in a facebook animal welfare/rights/rescue group, you come across someone more worried about their respective group’s “rules” than the big picture. these officious animal folks always make me put my tail between my legs, and i whimper and i go away forever. i was probably, in another life, one of…
-
why wait…when we know it matters to somebody?
we must do the best we are able while we live and do not wait for a rainbow bridge or resting in peace or heaven itself? then we can stop and be nice and help others NOW. why wait when we could be doing that type of stuff right this second when we know it…
-
thank you for the lives you save…and the hearts you calm
i am sad part of every day and have become a different person since learning to cherish all living beings… and to be as brave as i can for their rights to live…but i do cry daily…i used to look away…now i look at social media posts that a rugged cowboy would wince at and…
-
i wondered if i was alone in my thinking…
maybe i can stop crying on this monday in which so many orphans are on death row…how i deal with the sadness is i SHARE their photographs because i do not look away. they are facts of life and their lives matter. gotta wash my hair now…hoping more and more folks share these “kids” and…
-
i’ve got many scars from my attempts…
how and why do human beings become so nasty and evil? and kill without thought or remorse or empathy? the blowing-off-types who dismiss hearts that care and more importantly cause more murdering to happen with their swaggering attitudes…i simply avoid those loser jerk-wads these days… …waiting for murder and killing to not only be unfashionable…
-
Crying when it rains: animal duos…
my twosome kitties cannot be apart from each other for a second…i saved two dogs from execution over a dozen years ago…one of them died this summer and her pal could not get used to her absence for a solid month and he cried when it rained as if he was worried she was still…
-
all living beings matter…even those who are blocking progress…
in this 21st century, far too many humans are politicizing this issue of understanding our fabulous natural world which we should regard with reverence every second. stubborn types are ignoring all the warning signs to honor what we are fortunate enough to be experiencing for a nano-second…this is heaven in real time. so tired of…
-
on the yellow brick road now…
a writer’s lament… today i was alerted to the ponderings of a young housewife, someone whom I have never met so I do not know how to relay messages to her, someone writing about dead goldfish and detesting baby turtles? sometimes she makes me laugh, but “please don’t eat the daisies” ain’t me…I leave that…
-
no mincing words…
there is no resting in peace…there is the horror of being slain…a living being’s last moments on earth consisting of being frightened and terrified and then killed…accept that fact and we can change the system, the killing system…do not mythologize…do not accept profiteering via slaughter of any living being. please empathize…please. in response to this…
-
…thanks for letting me vent
interesting to watch how the media, also dependent on kissing the fannies of the rich, have been instructed to play up “mental illness” rather than pointing to the NRA which is seeing to it that they remain the chief lobby of all time…so this current holocaust will end up not being blamed on guns and…
-
the centre cannot hold…
i have always loved the poem below…well, since college days…speaks to me…very quotable…sort of puzzling…full of promise…yet very frightening. i agonize over its meaning…but yeats created a beauty with this verse!!! Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The…
-
work like hell to stop the madness with no apologies
i am bleeding inside from the horror inflicted on all sentient beings, the casual slaughter…when we stop that then we stop murdering each other. thanks to those of you with generous and gracious hearts! …animals face terror and uncertainty and human beings with no brains (but streaks of mean-ness) every nano-second of every day. HOW…
-
and that kind of attitude is not deserving of a heavenly situation
now, here’s the deal from the blue blue sky…arghhh. when we accept the finality of death, then we work to treasure our lives and the lives of others! no meeting in heaven when it is more convenient…no assuming we are so damned good that we’ll all have more time to visit when we graduate and…
-
we are angels with stomach aches who cry a lot
I am upset allllll of the time…but it is the right kind of turmoil we feel. we are angels with stomach aches who cry a lot, but we are doing what needs to be done. I could just put a hex on all of the bad people if I was so equipped. too many monsters…
-
brains washed and dried and starched and ironed: Indiana ag gag
lots of us in Indiana are concerned about these sweet beings and sick and tired of their victimization for insane profits in this state — generated by collusion with CHINA! the ag-gag bill has been revisited and the republican legislators are not happy with those who oppose it and who are testifying presently…the senators are behaving quite rudely and…
-
realize your worth and ask for it
“They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find…and it’s themselves.” ~ Rod Serling, genius! one picture worth a thousand words…we humans overpopulate to proportions way beyond that of rabbits…but we clear out animals and sentient beings of all varieties whom we judge to be in our way or who inconvenience us or whom we…
-
but I am happy to help change the picture
enjoy this video … Thank you for making a world of difference for animals in 2014 I’m not in the mood for facebook vanity these days. too much sadness in the world to read about cakes and interior decorating and trips and me, me, me… oh, how this post from rabbi otis by way of good…
-
and pineapple is an appropriate welcoming sign
awww, what the hell? two statuses at once! it is very difficult to type while wearing mittens! (that was the first!) and the second is that I finally made US some SUNSHINE PASTA SALAD, a recipe from 35 years ago…the last time I whipped that dish up was when I fulfilled my middle sister’s yearning…
-
Flexibility of an open mind: Finding stuff!
A tease/announcement: looking diligently for something for three full days…found it…and am now at peace for a short time. As near as I ever get to being Sherlock Holmes, I finally figure out where something got lost and re-locate the misplaced thingie! Via my secret formula! Works every time that secret formula does! What is…
-
It is just amazing to observe and very frustrating.
Query: Who can explain small towns to me? Kat Kelly-Heinzelman: “They are places where everyone knows everyone and what you’re doing, even when it is supposed to be a secret. LOL. How is that for an explanation?” Laura Reed: “Inbox me with what you would like to know … Do you live in the same…
-
Try to remember exactly WHO made us this week’s national laughing stock (2015)
I love protesting to restore love and compassion. We ain’t called the “hurryin’ hoosiers” for no reason. Doing damage control for our beloved state that used to be sweet and is gonna return to that kindness, after a few misguided careerist politicos get voted outta office (even some who have been near and dear and are now…
-
The lemming mentality
I love this. Fits my present mood to the max. Oh, yeah…oh, yeah… CliffsNotes were named for a fellow named CLIFF. Did you know that? He could speed read textbooks and write down what they were about for his college friends…that is the truth! However, the lemmings who follow each other off cliffs caught my…
-
plural noun: sycophants
syc·o·phant /ˈsikəˌfant,ˈsikəfənt/ Noun … Plural noun: sycophants A person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage. Synonyms: yes-man, bootlicker, brown-noser, toady, lickspittle, flatterer, flunky, lackey, spaniel, doormat, stooge, cringer, suck, suck-up “I thought you wanted a competent assistant, not a nodding sycophant.” I am having fun identifying sicko-phants, and adding them…
-
Sad I am? Ha!
I do not LIKE “green eggs and ham” nor… computers…nor LinkedIn…nor pop-ups…nor naysayers…nor politics…nor some pundits…nor that OTHER party. Dr. Seuss, I miss you. Kurt Vonnegut, I miss you, too! And so it goes. Thinking of you both and trying to see the humor in this confused and confusing messed up world! Sad I am?…
-
How about you?
I do not fit into a demographic, and I wish the demographic-ists would stop pigeonholing all of us all the time. ‘Deed i do – how ’bout you? Hey, my dad could have bought the house next door for four grand back in the Forties. IF HE HAD, my husband could live there and so could my…
-
Do they know it’s Christmas time at all? 2016.
But say a prayer to pray for the other ones.At Christmas time, it’s hard but while you’re having fun,There’s a world outside your window, and it’s a world of dread and fearWhere a kiss of love can kill you, and there’s death in every tear,And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes…
-
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” My world. As I see it.
I saw my motion light go on a couple of months ago and wondered if I needed to save a cat? I prowled around on the porch and came face to face with a huge opossum climbing into a pillowed porch chair. I left him/her alone! I go nowhere ever? Ah, well! Facebook is my…
-
Keyboard songs.
I would like my life back I think? Only got a used computer about 12 years ago…one from my brother-in-law when my privacy-minded older sister passed away. Not sure she would have approved of little sis playing with even one of her devices. And then my son bought me two more over the years. And I thought…
-
ELEGY Written on a Dell Computer In a Farm County Kitchen
“He was little…that one fact endeared him to me,”I once wrote in an essay for English–Room 3.A kindergartener I’d felt empathy for,Forlorn, unkempt, unnoticed, possibly quite poor,Tore my junior high heart in two–I’d learned to CARE!His classmates, the tax-paid teacher seemed quite unfair.From that day forward, countless outcasts I nurtured.Spoke up and out– for strays! The auctioned!…
-
May the merry, merry option continue! UNCLE!
“Not Ready to Make Nice” – Dixie Chicks Forgive, sounds goodForget, I’m not sure I couldThey say time heals everythingBut I’m still waiting I’m through with doubtThere’s nothing left for me to figure outI’ve paid a priceAnd I’ll keep paying it I’m not ready to make niceI’m not ready to back downI’m still mad as hell…
-
Status Update: Animals should rule! Signed: Chuck Darwin!
STATUS UPDATE: the pharmaceutical “industry”, the medical “industry”, the agricultural “industry”, the drug “culture”, the war “culture”, the entertainment “industry”…all terrible bastardizations of perfectly good words once…”industry” and “culture”. Industrial Revolution? Remember that one? Maybe an alright concept with reservations. Culture wars, a new entry…kinda sucks! Wherein does the word “politics” land? In the mud…
-
Whatever a feudel fiefdom might be.
It is said that great leaders are born, not made. The saying is true to this degree, that no man can persuade people to do what he wants them to do, unless he genuinely likes people, and believes that what he wants them to do is to their own advantage. – Bruce Fairchild Barton A…
-
Thoughts on … The Story About a Jeep, a Boat and a Helicopter
Knowing I am not totally alone, I guess, I think often of my parents and what they would think and what they would do in the cirumstances I and everybody else seem to be enmeshed in and I need them so. Then I recall this story which they adored, and I found it via facebook,…
-
“What have you got to cry about?” Do correct inconsistency. Stay brave.
“She persisted. Became intimidated. For that shyness she is ashamed and only that. Do correct inconsistency. Stay brave.” ~ S. “Disrespect is worse than hate.” ~ Congressman James Clyburn “Let nothing dent your dignity!” ~ Mom of John Lewis Geesh…I got yelled at for crying today? Nothing new, but what’s up with that? “What have…
-
Emancipation Proclamation
Something to behold–odd “white male rage”?In this more enlightened day and age?Poised on such a precarious stageStartled, our threatened environmentSighs while veering toward retirement!Time “tick tocks”, imploring improvement.Evolution! Welcome its movement.Peace on Earth… ~ Susie Sexton (the poet in me trying a POEM, thus a POET TRY so my soul relaxes and feels happy?) P.S.…
-
ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN….
Knee-jerk loyalty to either political party lurks far behind me now. Seriously considering the possibility of returning to that sensible life-style of the Native American Indian pre-dating this continent’s getting messed up beyond redemption–stolen from those who subsisted/coexisted peaceably compatible with the planet. “Simplicity is an acquired taste,” wrote author Katharine Fullerton Gerould. “Mankind, left…
-
Sticks and Stones…AND Words…Can Hurt!
Arthur Schopenhauer opined that the three stages of TRUTH seem to be “Ridicule”, then “Violent Opposition” and finally “Acceptance”. To arrive at that conclusion involves quite a lot of living with and among other human beings. And although truth cannot be hurried, occasionally it falls upon one’s noggin like an apple bopping Isaac Newton into sensible, reasoning logic. Well,…
-
Waiting to Exhale
Home-town hypocrisy, within my Hoosier state, daily reaches ever higher levels so severe as to be indigestible. Folks impersonate soldiers renamed oxymoronic “prayer warriors”. When refraining from pretentious extolling of mysterious galaxies of heavens or hells as well as of famed halls of gods or goddesses, consider yourself outside the loop or sphere of influence. An individual thinker is either misunderstood or downright condemned. Third world, primitive…
-
TRILOGY of POETRY
“Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre but they are more deadly in the long run.” (–Mark Twain) Non-Contest “Parenting” qualifies as a word to dislike– Artificial, “all aboard”, domineering clap-trap! Accidental, “out-of-the-nowhere” little tike? Aye! Free entrance “into-here” toward growth with no map. Momentary Links–Between Generations “…Record that (we) are born.” You be…
-
Let’s have no more crocodile tears, please
Tally up how many times television correspondents uttered, “Now, for this next segment you may wish to leave the room” in one viewing day recently. Teasing us. When is news coverage informative, enlightening — and at what juncture do reporters and viewers or readers become nosy buzzards circling around grisly, gory “racetracks,” secretly hoping to…
-
Rabbit Holes, Brick Walls, Spelling Bees, and Dagwood’s Light Bulbs!
Our country suffers from growth pangs; all the jabber-jawing we muster, though, cannot alter the survival and inevitability of the fittest policies. We shall endure and move forward to where we are meant to be; civilization evolves fluidly. Let’s relax and enjoy the ride; we need only be kind to one another as we progress.…
-
Of Sound Bites & Sentence Fragments
Communication cries out, “Resuscitation, please!” And why have (those remaining) journalists as well as essayists begun to “affect” sentence fragments? (But such a phenomenon may annoy only this reader?) All literature seems a casualty of word-wars and kindles by now. Which leads me to reveal my grief regarding the demise of possibly the only viable…
-
A Poem to the Editor
Politicians, one and all, Listen to this wake-up call: Legislators overstep contracts with voters! Morality corrects itself, pompous doters! Substances smoked, driving while drunk, couplings gone wild. NON-ISSUES hammered–yet comparatively mild. Wars rage! Education stalls! Economies fail! Newspapers fold, postal systems teeter, banks bail. Avoid harsh judgment of the masses’ “behavior”. Tend to your knitting. …
-
Corruption, Scandal & Paybacks … business as usual
Brylcreem! “A little dab’ll do ya!” Illinois ‘ Governor Milorad Blagojevich, replicating the JFK coiffure to maximum effect while behaving as the antithesis of Alabama ‘s former Governor George Wallace, presents himself as one refreshing politician. Like it or not, dis-allowing Roland Burris admittance to the U. S. Senate Chambers conjures images of innocent school…
-
Humbug or hallelujah?
Time to shout “humbug” or “hallelujah”? How do the years fly by so quickly, calendar pages flipping as if channeling special effects in some forties-era black and white movie? “Rudolph” Astaire, Burl “Frosty” Ives, Grinch Jim Carrey, beleaguered banker James Stewart, and Bad Santa Billy Bob Thornton re-running all across our television sets, which will…
-
Here is another modest proposal
Believe it or not, some do-gooders wish to outlaw cigarettes but hold forth that since our newly elected president smokes, such a prohibition will never occur. Let’s prioritize other possible illegalities. Outlaw booze (again), adultery, giving birth to too many children, control-freakism, obsession with money, mental cruelty, schoolyard bullying, big-brother complexes, slaughter of meat-producing animals,…
-
The battle between Age-ism & Sexy-ism
Emergency room visits plant one face to face with this rat race called life. Monstrous, miserable scuttling through that messy maze proceeds with a vengeance. Patients fork over an immediate $1,000, purchasing the most minimal care and concern coupled with instructions to languish at home while, for instance, nursing two broken limbs for three full…
-
Susie, In a Sense…a Broad!
As I consider myself nothing nor nobody more than Peter Sellers in Being There or at my liveliest as Inspector Clousseau, it is difficult to make “Susie” sound interesting? I am proudest of being the Mother of Roy, whom I consider the person I would most wish to be. I grew up in a very…
-
State of the Union
Life forces fluctuate, ever surprising. Harness weather? Impossible downsizing. Prevent animosities? Only through prayer. Differing philosophies normal, not rare. Pretentiously uninformed profess: “We’ve CHOICE !”??????? (Analyze lectures preached by dictator’s voice.) Freedom’s assured within independent mind. Forced group-think consistently topples mankind.
-
REVEALING FACEBOOK STATUS POSTINGS GREET 2010: A Short Collection of the Best, Myself Among Others
Why do “bleeding hearts” suggest driving poor lost souls to counseling…when we are all DRIVEN to counseling every day by–each other? Ba rum pum! What a news day: Mark McGwire=steroids (big shock?), Sarah Palin=Fox News commentator (“fair and balanced”?), Simon Cowell=leaving American Idol (“pitchy” singers relieved?) Didn’t ever think I’d see a news day in…
-
THE GAME OF LIFE? NO CONTEST! My Attempt at CATharsis — Meow! =^..^=
“Gentlemen, start your engines!” Seriously, if I qualified as a gentleman, I would refuse to start my engine. Not unlike Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, Katharine Hepburn, or Sacheen Littlefeather, with regard to races and/or contests and/or competitions, I am a non-believer. Fighting others to win laurels is an unattractive, pointless endeavor and significant maybe only…
-
… A Life in MEMES
I now think in memes. Computer life has completely overtaken my brain in our new Orwellian culture. What’s a meme you ask? According to Wikipedia (does anyone own … or edit … REAL encyclopedias anymore?!?): “A meme (/ m iː m / MEEM) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within…
-
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON, MOVE OVER!
An Op-Ed Rhyming Essay and Collection of Scattered Random Thoughts, Questions, & Current Events for Our Time “A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her.” ~ David Brinkley Tweeting a bloggy podcast thingie now, and my muted show follows for all the…
-
INTUITION AND INSTINCTS AND BUMBLE BEES! OH, MY!
“What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep!” ~ current Supreme Court nominee As I lounged sleepily on a lawn chair three summer seasons past, I devoured a ROLLING STONE article about this blondish fellow named Donald Trump, a guy presently stacked in my musty basement, he being featured on umpteen PEOPLE Magazine covers highlighting zippy, scandal-hinting essays…
-
RACHEL AND THE STRANGER — a “Current Events” Poem, plus a Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, Too (the Past in Prose!)
“Donald Trump should build his wall out of Hillary Clinton’s emails since no one ever can seem to get over them!” (borrowed from cute and witty Chicago friend Barb’s Facebook page where she can be seen hugging her dear friend Rahm Emanuel!) Been penning a “nostalgia” column for nearly a decade! Thought I’d recycle a fun previous backyard escapade— The…
-
TRANSITIONS–“Through the Decades”
Quite like a restless King Tut, I yearned to avoid a rut. Wide-eyed, toured a marketplace so Victorian Everything everywhere, yet no DeLorean! Repurposed bricks, mortar — transformed from Presbyterian church– Its irony hurled me into conflicted “museum” lurch. Realizing tombs, spires, stained glass, pyramids and kitty cats Cannot be “taken with you” unto the great hereafter–(RATS!)…
-
A FEW APOLOGIES, SOME “SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDERS”, AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
We got married in…a… December Colder than we care to remember! (Apologies to Nancy Sinatra and Lee Greenwood and Johnny Cash and June Carter!) First, a brief backstory highlighting a “Happy 45th Anniversary to Don Sexton” — BTW –whom I married on December 28th, 1968. My mom hexed me with a spell that my own…
-
PET PEEVISHNESS…PLUS THE REDEEMING GLORIES OF THE CAT IN THE BOX
“I’d be a terrible superhero. I’d see the signal calling in the sky from home and be like, ‘I literally just sat down.’ ” Credit: darling fellow blogger Beth Kennedy! People who bore us all with their pet peeves? THOSE very dopes are MY pet peeves. Granted that life overflows with inconveniences, annoying humans, political shenanigans,…
-
TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION – AN ODD ODYSSEY
(As always, click on the hyperlinked words for an audiovisual surprise!) “The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” ~ Andy Rooney NOT EVERYONE APPROVES OF A STYLE OF WRITING REFERRED TO AS POETRY, BUT “LISTEN MY CHILDREN AND YE SHALL HEAR” — PRE WINTER — A SUMMERTIME REVERIE. TREACHEROUS ROADTRIPS TRAVERSING…
-
THE SECRET OF CHANGE…
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” ~ Abraham Lincoln And so the story goes: as a toddler, I left the party in the living room as I stumbled past all of the clinking cocktail glasses, above my determined gaze, and…
-
Disillusionment -Writer’s Block, Christmas 2014
Brothers Duncan(evsky) not posing in southern Russia but in Duncan, South Carolina the town in which these displaced Scotsmen all were born – Bill, Esso Gas Station owner; Linder, WW II veteran; Roy, Wrangler Jeans Manufacturer; Mac Clifford Duncan, WWII Army Air Corps Veteran (CBI, China, Burma, India) and a member of 10th ABCD and…
-
Farewell to meat cleavers!
“Those who describe animals as not having any thoughts or feelings come closer to that description than the animals they are trying to describe.” ~ Edward Alberola I am reincarnated! Originally, I existed as a “Do(e), a deer…a female deer” living a frightened life of skittishness and mind-numbing shyness. Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II placed me…
-
REUNION REVELATIONS
“It’s a shallow life that doesn’t give a person a few scars.” ~ Garrison Keillor Dental floss, Vicks Vaporub applied to both flaky ears, Q-tips, copious facial creams, and tweezers rise rapidly to the top of the list of personal beauty products when tempus fugit(s)! Comfortable yet quasi-tailored clothing — which covers every square inch…
-
JONI, I HARDLY KNEW YE…Confessions of a Dormant Hippie!
www.youtube.com is my second home…my escape from the madness of life…a retrieval of song lyrics that inform while simultaneously lightening my soul. Interest is revived in continuing to endure the pitfalls of life. Hoosier author Kurt Vonnegut swore that music all by itself proves the existence of heaven. Despite such photographic YouTube video-clipped time-warped evidence as…
-
COMPETITIONS, CONTESTS, PIPSQUEAKS & POPPYCOCK
“Great poem, let’s publish it! Sue…Imagine your poem featured on a page by itself within a beautiful coffee-table edition! You are a semi-finalist for a major prize!” Prices for leather-bound editions ranged from $49.95 to $194.00 depending upon how many enhancements such as photographs, bios, and vanity-illustrations might be added? “Society of World Poetry”…
-
“LET IT NEVER BE FORGOT…” *
My “rite of passage” from age 12 to nearly seventy Boasts inclusion of a collection labeled “Kennedy”… Magazines: LIFE, LOOK, NEWSWEEK, TIME, SATURDAY EVENING POST… My mammoth old trunk filled with ghost after valorous ghost! Bookshelves lined with biographies of Profiles in Courage Starting with Honey Fitz — a patriotic entourage! Dawning upon me a…
-
A Love Story…starring Jack and Zelda
“Some people don’t understand why we help animals in need. We don’t understand why they wonder.” – Lucky Dog Rescue Blog “Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be?” Well, now… that assignment is easy as pie! Most folks who rrrreally know and understand me realize that I…
-
WEST WARD STORY: BRAVE HEARTS & BULLIES READY TO RUMBLE
Born and raised in Indianapolis, author Kurt Vonnegut attended Shortridge High School, a setting which contributed to his wit whilst only marginally damaging and corrupting his sprightly soul. My favorite of his novels announces Kurt’s intent via its one word title, “Slapstick” — which provided my most beloved quote in all of literature and which…
-
We Only Own One TV, and My Husband Hid Gloria Steinem’s HBO Documentary from Me on Super-Bowl Sunday
“In a world full of people who couldn’t care less, be someone who couldn’t care more.” ~ Author Unknown Here I sit. Here I have sat always. In the center of farmville. In the center of gothic religious-ville. In the center of adultery-ville. In the center of hunting … for easy casual red-neck rough sex. …
-
FILING FOLDERS FULL OF…FRIENDS!
Seriously, where oh where are Ralph Bailey, Gordon and Brian Anspach, Evelyn Stemen, Phil Leininger, Nancy Schwartz, Mary Ann Poffenberger Briggs, Bob Kellogg, Dr. Jules Heritier, Steve Jones and Lucy Langohr Grant? For a while they enjoyed spending some time paper-clipped together in a grouping which facilitated my awareness of their location. Eventually these people…
-
“NOVEL” Ideas Lead to Royal(-ty) Pain
Only fleetingly ever entertaining the idea to author the “great American novel”, which ranked up there with achieving fame as a prima ballerina or opening an exotic animal sanctuary or climbing Mt. Everest, I now find that I pathetically look forward to unremarkable royalty stipends quarterly. No one is more surprised than I. Let’s remember,…
-
HEY, Y’ALL! NO SUCH ANIMAL AS A “CIVIL” WAR…
Allow me to explain myself. I am located at the conclusion of a lengthy direct line of lineage piled up with (Carolina) Southern Dixiecrats and talcum-powdered ladies. I’ve lived my life as the lone Damned Yankee seeking to cauterize subtle family dissensions and outrageous stereotypical mind-sets, as in “enough is enough!” I admit that I judge…
-
Variations on Bell Jar
Requisite TELL (it like it is) JAR (At long last sharpening the blade…for spearing and shish kebabbing ping-pong balls.) For fully six years, driven composition Of essays, letters, couplets and some quatrains! I fade away—become an apparition Recording persuasive nostalgic refrains. Audiences both applaud…yet criticize: “Radical nut” from a “faraway planet!” “Keep ‘em coming. Through…
-
Personal Theories, Houses, Dirty Words, Childbirth, Misjudged Gargoyles, Overrated Angels
Poets Sandburg and Frost never leave my side; Carl is fun and positive and bans all adjectives, while Robert is melancholy and depressed. Whitman sings himself and celebrates himself. Dickinson must have been male…her profundity gives her true gender away – depth disguised inside terse lacy language. Truman Capote, however, reveled in his femininity so…
-
Second Thoughts
Thomas Wolfe discovered that he could never “go home again” to his mother’s Asheville boarding house in North Carolina after becoming famous for candid record-keeping of his youthful experiences within that Southern community. James Dean and his LIFE photographer got denied access to the Fairmount Junior-Senior prom, held at Jimmy’s former high school, for a…
-
Never Been Kissed?
May’s celebrations run the springtime gamut from Mothers’ Day Through my birth-date to culminate in soldier’s wreaths on display. Lilies of the valley bloom, bowing down soon to peonies, As June debuts officially to kick off summer’s soft breeze. Memories of angst, somewhere within this frolicking time frame, Produce reflections of society’s once forced dating…
-
“…Summer of our discontent made glorious…” by a Father and his Daughter.
Defamation of Character? Not my idea of a fun summer! I descended from a long line of “characters” who could circle the globe 85 times and then extend all the way to heaven and back 16 more times. We know whom we are. We like whom we are. We are whom we are. Flood-gates burst…
-
Look Homeward Angle
Ruth Stanley and I have been friends for 24 years. I met her for the first time when I substituted in the Home Economics Department area at the high school where I incompetently supervised a study hall situation. All these years later, an opportunity to write a newspaper column presents itself. Having written voraciously for…
Misunderstood Gargoyles and Overrated Angels 