Category: religion
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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,…
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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…
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Status time…no more killing, no more bullying, no more selfishness
status time–just now read a post stating that record numbers of innocent dogs and cats are murdered (yes killing is killing — a catch-all/short-hand term) in shelters every day now. so, if they are dumped due to the economy –and not out of pure apathy and selfishness… well, for starters, do not be intimidated by…
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karma. i feel naughty…
wondering if god approves of throwing his name around rather loosely to advance in society and to please the right crowd and to become really popular and achieve monetary gain? i am betting not? good for God then! i wonder if anybody else notices the same ploy on facebook and in social-climbing life in general?…
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I believed in a god once…
why is a wonderful animal rescue television show broadcast at 3 a.m. — and absolute junk is broadcast during prime time…hey, if interested in “reality” tv, try www.animalrescuetv.com …this program is absolutely wonderful. the handsomest veterinarian I have ever seen stated that “there is no truer love in the world than that of an animal for a…
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So honored to be featured on the TV show Patty’s Page
Enjoy this interview of yours truly on lovely Patty Hunter’s Fort Wayne-based talk show Patty’s Page. View at this link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_zB… We candidly discuss the experiences of growing up in small-town Columbia City, the high and lows and the delights and frustrations of writing columns and books, my love of animals and movies and fun, the importance…
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Got (almond) milk? Books, movies, politics, culture, and AGRIganda
A photograph of my bed? Wow! A really firm mattress is possible! Thanks to delightful Sheryl Mandel for sending this … Well, Sheryl, I am on the 7th of my nine lives, and if I were to pull out a book to read from that bed, I’d be lopsided…as usual! So I just try to…
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Enough already. #Indiana, simmer down.
So religious freedom means freedom to discriminate and behave like jerks? And infringe upon the freedoms of everyone else? C.P. pastor protesting changes to ‘religious freedom’ law : Politics Enough already. Indiana, simmer down. Nobody is screwing with your church clubs. Party all you want. Network with like-minded souls. Massage each other’s shoulders. But watch…
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Remember trying to walk home from school?
A Yale professor, who spoke of teaching the -ISMS (racism, ageism, sexism), said that never did he have more dissension or hatefulness issuing from students than when he attempted to teach SPECIESISM. He believed the collective guilt of having already eaten meat for a lifetime and laughing at animals and never stopping to face the…
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Can we all be more like Jennifer Lawrence … and the Pope? Please?
Jennifer Lawrence: Kim Davis ‘makes me embarrassed to be from Kentucky’ Oh, Jennifer, I know the feeling. And good for you for speaking up! Likewise, I am embarrassed to hail from a state (Indiana) which sanctions the slaughter of deer in 14 state parks during the month of “Thanksgiving” to preserve some flowers. Annually. Nothing…
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BEAT ME DADDY– 13 TO THE BAR or PRAISE SLITHERS A ONE-WAY STREET THUS FAR
“Lord, why’s all of fickle LIFE this persistent scramble?” “It is written…in the constitution’s preamble!” “Heathens’ roll call lists females, Arabs, and freed up minds.” “Heritage, bigotry, isolation–all that blinds.” Forced conversation with a power so divine, supreme– Wilts, defeats, seldom ever fulfills. Much rather scream! Measured syllables, sans internal rhyme, squash free verse. As…
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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…
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Man-made religions may topple us yet
Recently, a few cynics asked why rational-thinking Muslims do not condemn militant Muslims. Answer? Perhaps for the exact same reason that “true-thinking” humanists who once practiced Christianity and sincerely believed in messages of tolerance, unconditional love and understanding have become nearly altogether silenced by “group-think” church devotees who practice exclusion, judgmental behavior and thuggish arrogance…
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In Over our Heads: Stop and Smell the Coffee
I’ll pray for you. You pray for me. Tea for two, and two for tea. I see the moon–the moon sees me. The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see. Even, Steven? Let’s position ourselves upon cruise control, by kneeling with palms pressed together while achieving an upward tilt to our…
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Climbing Jacob’s Letter — whoa there now!
To Dear Jacob from Dear Susie: (neither of us shooting the messenger I hope.) Your beautiful name filled with Biblical allusions running the gamut from purchase of brother Esau’s birthright to synonymy with ” Israel “? Well, be advised that “Susie” Is Hebrew-originated also. Thus, our Judeo-names, selected by our parents, place us squarely upon…
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Diminishing Fervor
Jesus of Nazareth –one of the original free thinkers. People, particularly Americans, seem to have forgotten that important fact. Christ, the rebel and iconoclast, questioned authority and practiced inclusion of all while embracing those most marginalized. Christianity’s currently documented loss of momentum, as well as dwindling church membership, potentially may reverse if historical, geographical, literary,…
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Have we evolved not a whit?
While spring cleaning as well as monitoring this wacky presidential campaign, that proverbial “truth is stranger than fiction” adage surfaces in my thought processes. It has been disconcerting enduring the narrow-mindedness and mean-spiritedness of other extreme camps of thought for seven years now. Actually, religiosity has no place in politics outside of swearing in via…
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Letter well-timed
In response to Neil Stanton’s impressive letter of March 20: Thank you for restoration of compassion to the Christian faith via your moving, intelligent, sometimes jolting reminder of the original tenets of that discipline. Your was well-timed; I hope such logic resonates with thinking people already in tune with the sanctity of life and subsequently…
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Marriage dinosaur?
Didn’t the Apostle Paul, a bachelor, originate the universal concept of the sanctity of marriage for, quite simply, economic purposes and crowd control? That’s what anchor and commentator Peter Jennings reported several years ago, when he explained, via a bold telecast, the human need for a Messiah and hyped St. Paul ‘s role as the…
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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…
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GRANDMOTHER CLAUSES–INSIGHTFUL OR INCITEFUL?
Try though I may, I cannot resist responding to this week’s political news-hot-flashes! These latest revelations surely should strike us voters as unfortunately routine occurrences. Yes–thinking that our government is long overdue to fall into the capable hands of weary post-menopausal ladies wearing pantsuits and who entertain no romantic designs whatsoever upon their youthful male…
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I WONDER
Once upon a time, small town newspaper editor Hester Adams published my positive yet refreshingly anticipatory teen-aged poem extolling the virtues of Christmas circa 1960. Annually, somewhat tediously, Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL, in myriad formats, reminds us to set aside bitterness and past injustices while reaching out to our fellow-men. Perry Como crooned, perkily…
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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…
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… 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…
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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…
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“THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS” — Navigating in a Sea of Zombies
“Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better.” “The technology available for film-making now is incredible, but I am a big believer that it’s all in the story.” “It’s an honor putting art above politics. Politics can be seductive in terms of things reductive to the soul.” ~ Robert Redford Linked…
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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…
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UPTON SINCLAIR, LET’S RAKE MUCK ONE FINAL TIME – To Restore Biodiversity
Thankfully, an increasingly dwindling number of Homo sapiens seem to be revealing these days that they remain unfathomably ignorant, foolishly stubborn and downright awful about an appropriately changing world. Well, hoo-ray for diminishing stats and fewer and fewer dim bulbs! Vacuous apathetic dead-heads and sniggering bullies certainly sense that they are on the losing end…
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Marriage of Minds
“In the midst of friends, home, and kind parents, she was alone.” ~ William Makepeace Thackeray Abigail Adams served as the noteworthily supportive, possibly nagging partner whom John sorely needed in order to excel as THE quirky, feisty, successful John Adams and to lead America to greatness. She purportedly advised him to fly by the…
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“…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…
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At Home with Scofield, Remington, Victor Mature & Jack Benny
Chapter Two. Please be advised that if readers wish to clip out my monthly columns and then staple them all together one day, a pattern may be detected and possibly even a theme. I commence now where I departed, nearly in mid-sentence, on July 29, 2010. Travel at your own risk. Cliff-hanger formats tend to…
Misunderstood Gargoyles and Overrated Angels 