Category: writing
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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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Secrets of an Old Typewriter Press Release – Picked Up by Talk of the Town
Press release for Secrets of an Old Typewriter picked up by Talk of the Town! Here is the link… Columbia City’s Susie Duncan Sexton, a Talk of the Town columnist and new author of “Secrets of an Old Typewriter: Stories from a Smart and Sassy Small Town Girl,” recounts with humor, verve and insight decades…
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Zuzanna Orzel, artist who created the cover for “Secrets of an Old Typewriter”
Meet the talented artist who created the book cover for “Secrets of an Old Typewriter”! Here is her profile… Zuzanna Orzel is from Poland & writes on her blog: “Greetings from Poland! I am happy to announce that today already appeared the book ‘Secrets of an Old Typewriter’ by Susie Duncan Sexton, whose cover is ….…
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First Review!
From Myrna Bailey: “Susie, I just finished reading your book [‘Secrets of an Old Typewriter’] and it was delightful. I loved reading about all the Columbia City people, most of whom I know. Ralph was pleased that you mentioned his name in it :). Looking forward to your next one. Love, Myrna” Thanks, Myrna!! My…
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This review thrills me so!
Thanks so much!! New three star review for Secrets of an Old Typewriter: “It was an enjoyable read! Something to curl up on the front porch and enjoy a crisp fall morning with. Not overly complicated, but engrossing enough to keep me captivated page after page. Would recommend to friends!”—Melissa McIntyre, librarian at New Mexico…
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New Video for Secrets of an Old Typewriter
NEW VIDEO: From a cherry red Pilot Typewriter to a monthly newspaper column and blog to an internationally sold eBook, Susie Duncan Sexton reveals all the secrets about growing up and living in a small town, marriage, motherhood, animals, politics and so much more in her collection of essays SECRETS OF AN OLD TYPEWRITER: STORIES…
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Wow! Do I love this! New review from Amazon.com
“A 50’s view of today’s world” – October 6, 2011 By Martin L. Davis II This review is from: Secrets of an Old Typewriter: Stories from a Smart and Sassy Small Town Girl (Kindle Edition) A child of the 1940’s and ’50’s, Sexton aptly describes her autobiographical stories as ‘sassy.’ She visits various topics as…
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New Review of “Secrets of an Old Typewriter”
Review from J.A. Hernandez on Amazon.com: “Poetic, energetic. Sentimental, temperamental. Those stories I could relate to were easy reading and enjoyable. Some I just didn’t get and a few weren’t in line with my political bent. All things considered, it is a fun read and I would recommend this book to some of my friends.”…
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Donald O’Donovan Reviews Secrets of an Old Typewriter
Donald O’Donovan, author of the novels Night Train, Tarantula Woman, & the upcoming Highway, reviews Secrets of an Old Typewriter. Spectacular review! Can be found at the book’s page on Amazon.com here… Here is the full text of the review: Ride on the float in the homecoming parade. Be the homecoming queen. Order a chocolate shake…
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Sharing a Fabulous Blog Entry from Facebook Pal Norman Buckley
My note to Norman: “oh, so glad i read this…wondering how in the world i chatted with youabout animals a few minutes ago and employed the word ‘surreal’ withouthaving first read this beauty. ‘the irrational juxtaposition of images’ maybe more rational than we think? but ‘irrational’ a tad more fun than‘rational’ probably…at my most rational…
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no fiction allowed cuz “truth is stranger…!”
I wrote a book loaded with observations and several itemized challenged beliefs which I hold dear despite all odds. The result? A story of a life, from “once upon a time…to happily ever after”…a few genuine scars earned along the way. Starring family, classmates, friends, historical figures, rites of passage, heartaches, holiday festivities, animals, politicians,…
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HERstory… 2011
Please share my new E-book this holiday season with those folks who may remember a gentler, happy time when fun and laughter prevailed…if you’re young, HISTORY (HERstory) can be a wild and informative trip and if you’re a tad nearer my age, memories are meant to be shared and compared and chuckled over! P.S. The…
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Authors’ Open Mic: “Marriage of Minds”
Authors’ Open Mic is a series of readings by Open Books authors. In this episode listen to Susie Duncan Sexton read “Marriage of Minds” from her memoir Secrets of an Old Typewriter: Stories from a Smart and Sassy Small Town Girl here…
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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…
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Review of The Highway by Donald O’Donovan
Highway by Donald O’Donovan My rating: 5 of 5 stars THE HIGHWAY by Donald O’Donovan Living in a dying town with few restaurants, we frequent an establishment which originated some 30 years back, propelled by an Amish-inspired bill of fare and once the haunt of the after-church crowd such as the well-dressed elderly and the tackily-garbed over-populated tribes…
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“Secrets of an Old Typewriter” by Susie Duncan Sexton featured in the November ’11 issue of “Ball State Alumnus” magazine
View the piece here… “Secrets of an Old Typewriter” by Susie Duncan Sexton as featured in the November ’11 issue of “Ball State Alumnus” magazine. The complete issue can be found at this link… The note reads, “Susan E. (Duncan) Sexton, ’68, Columbia City, Ind., authored ‘Secrets of an Old Typewriter: Stories from a Smart and Sassy…
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The dogs of angel Gabriele
I wrote the below in response to this article: “Geneseo doesn’t welcome 10 rescued dogs” which can be found here. And thanks to Naida Austin who encouraged me: “If anyone can write convincingly and persuasively, Susie, it’s YOU!” Here is the note I sent to zoning@henrycty.com … Please allow this dear soul to live happily with…
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From Bob and from David…
Neat comment and neat review! From Bob Wannberg: “I am not a skilled writer but have the message, love conquers all. Kindness draws kindness, those who have a beautiful heart draw the same; we have a deep love for animals because they show us how humans should be; love and innocence…..we speak for them because…
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Marching to my own drummer…
”If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away.” ~ Henry David Thoreau i have always loved this quote and thoreau as well. such fun when a doc once told my mom that…
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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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My birthday wish… 2012
On this day, my birthday, I offer this wish… THINKING is how i categorize what i write here. our hearts are totally involved as are our minds, and therefore we can make a vast difference. what a combination… the brain combined with the heart can eventually educate and reverse these tragedies. hope in action. we…
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Put others first…all the way from bustling ants to elephants and all the sentient beings in between
amazing how we can do more than we ever dreamed possible…push our bodies, minds, hearts, resources to the limit and beyond. how? put others first…all the way from bustling ants to elephants and all the sentient beings in between. caring and helping to educate and to save lives whether directly or indirectly cannot be topped…
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heaven?
“getting into heaven” is the goal?…rather than contributing to a heavenly atmosphere in real time…the only potential heaven available…”believe and ye shall be forgiven” no matter what crap gets pulled. my ventures into heaven?…we know when we are there because we never want to leave and time both stands still yet goes by way too…
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Orphans in the storm…
dear precious orphans in the storm, i have posted your stories and photographs until my fingertips are raw. hopefully, many others will join this cause and share also. NOKILLNATION in 2012!!!!! a wonderful possibility…and somehow we may inch a bit closer to forgiveness for having foolishly ended sweet lives too numerous to even begin to…
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of all the -isms….
what is interesting is that a professor whose lectures appear on facebook said that of all the ‘-isms’, species-ism is the hottest issue…that the volatility associated with this topic is nearly insurmountable. this is 2012, however, and if we begin to live harmoniously and not desperately, the sensible status of no more brutality and barbarism…
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The two most important days in your life…
These comments are grand – thank you so!! From Edward Levine: “Susie, this is a great group…..In order for any group to be great it has to have a leader who is loved, admired, and looked up to…….That would be you…….Any animal lover, compassionate person, or just a good person in general is inspired by…
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Midwestern Author Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of eBook with Global Print Run
Coverage of the paperback release of Secrets from the Columbia City Post and Mail newspaper. [View the scanned version here]… Midwestern Author Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of eBook with Global Print Run Columbia City, Indiana – When Hoosier writer Susie Duncan Sexton inherited an old IBM computer from her late, beloved sister Sarah, she had no idea just a few years later…
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i am quite overbooked…
Thoughts from a cold Saturday morning in November… just watched four people seeming to speak greek about marketing books. did not understand one word except for an author who seemed to lament the e-book rage and he was very young, too. he fears that humans will not accidentally discover those magical books they never would…
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animals have sensitized my soul…
Thoughts from a cold Sunday evening in November… i truly identify with animals…always have…and have not always been there 100 per cent of the time for all of them who crossed my path. a failure i am so sad about. animals have sensitized my soul and they are so tickled for one ounce of devotion.…
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my photograph is NOT something i like seeing everyday…
i used to feature homeless dogs and cats and all animals all the time via my profile pics on facebook…gotta get back to that…my photograph is NOT something i like seeing everyday…and besides i am not a jailed orphan, yet. i do have a home and warmth and food and security sorta? i want all…
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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…
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appreciated and inspiring… (2012)
Thanks, everyone, for your help on December’s charity drive to benefit Symphony Animal Foundation! The friendship and encouragement were so appreciated and inspiring. Open Books will tally the copies of Secrets of an Old Typewriter sold from December 6th through the 9th and send a gift in memory of the late, Los Angeles-based poet Scott Wannberg (www.open-bks.com).…
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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…
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Glo Magazine reviews Secrets of an Old Typewriter
Check out Glo Magazine’s review of Secrets of an Old Typewriter at this link (page 24) – click here. Review by Davina Black: “Local author alert! Susie Duncan Sexton of Columbia City writes about animal rights and being raised as a Hoosier, among other things. Her sweet stories refer to some of our favorite Indiana hotspots and her…
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“ROBERT FULGHUM WITH A KNIFE IN HER BOOT”
i love David Rat. you can read his original post by clicking here. what a thrill! check out this review of Secrets of an Old Typewriter by talented author and musician David Rat… “ROBERT FULGHUM WITH A KNIFE IN HER BOOT” My fix in all things art is CONTRAST..dark and light, sun and moon, life and death..I search for…
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Wow! “Where Writers Write”…
What an honor! I am the latest author featured on Where Writers Write… Here’s a quote: “I still live in the tiny, cute house in the tiny, occasionally cute town where I grew up. I upgraded to a computer from a Royal Typewriter a few years ago, and that computer sits in our back room that…
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So honored to be featured in Our USA Magazine!
Check out my essay in Our USA Magazine, summer edition! Page 64! Click here to read! Here is an excerpt: Although occasionally a handful of folks insist that I should “keep ’em coming” referring to columns I offer monthly, mostly I try to read “something” positive into blank stares I encounter while out and about mixing it up…
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Culture and food and sports and heritage…oh my! (2013)
Enjoy this video from the recent Allen County Public Library Authors Fair featuring yours truly as well as Mark Carboni, Blake Sebring, and Ralph Garcia – the panel topic is non-fiction writing from these authors who specialize in culture, food, sports, and heritage respectively. Great fun! Watch at this link: http://afw.pegcentral.com/player.php?… And read about the event…
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a gentle and necessary war (2013)
I KNOW the true joy of Facebook is our finding each other and speaking up for proper treatment of all who live. Using our voices to say and to write what must happen YESTERDAY… we have to make up for all the damage and the hurt and destruction. much work to be done. through words…
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golly! I am dead serious.
In response to this New Yorker article – click here – on pig-farming in my home state (and China?!?)…just down the road from where we live … this article is beautifully written…i read it loud to some folks tonight…I believe this intelligent writer thinks that these people here in Indiana are not only greedy but also quite nuts and…
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who we are as we sit and gaze at the screen.
I got my copy of my son Roy Sexton’s Reel Roy Reviews today and I not only LOVE IT…I ABSOLUTELY KNOW THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME…and I am not biased…I am candid as can be. Ask anybody! Why do I love and enthusiastically recommend this exquisite, easily digested book of clever and meaningful words…
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if we truly care about children…
I’ve loved animals since forever but just recently have gotten quite conscientious. I have gone where angels fear to tread and gotten some definite scars, so believe me when I say that support and encouragement mean everything to people who share this adoration and respect for all creatures great and small! This business can get…
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somebody somewhere is laughing all the way to the bank
talented Ann Arbor blogger and teacher beth kennedy wrote this haiku (or “hai-sue”) in honor of my birthday: susie smart sassydon’t mess with dueling divacut you with her pen thanks, wonderful and fun and caring beth … I don’t plan to disappoint … here goes … gee, so charities combating hunger are now in cahoots with the…
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A share is a prayer
Thanks to Deb Patterson and Senior Life for running this piece by yours truly dedicated to Northeast Indiana 1950s classic kids’ TV icons “Carol and Corkie” – you can read the original piece at this link and enjoy the scanned copy here … https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/5801756-homeward-angle-one-from-the-heart–to-carol-corkie-wherever-they-ma a share is a prayer…a kind baby step in a world…
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THINK, FEEL, EMPATHIZE! Misguided fundraisers, kind words, and bad movies
h*ll, no, we won’t go…to “fundraisers” or festivals specializing in hog roasts, port-a-pit chicken, barbecue ribs, fried pigeons, etc. huh-uh. whatever happened to car washes and rummage sales? especially when raising money to support other animal ventures? must not butcher certain unfortunate animals to raise revenue for other animals…or for any reason whatsoever. how ghoulish…
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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…
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I’m a little like the lion in the wizard of oz
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” ― Vincent van Gogh the word “timidity” popped into my head because I have gotten too brave for my own good…and I love the feeling…so I found a bunch of quotes from brave people whom I have always been impressed with. I’m a…
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that is my medicine
when my heart breaks I pet one of my adopted, rescued furry kids and I feel a bit better…or I share these orphans on facebook hoping others share…or adopt… that is my medicine…to try to make a dent in this world of animals … they all need to be acknowledged. I counted up all of…
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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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The Image of Magazine – Novella Series, featuring yours truly!
Check out this feature on yours truly as part of San Diego’s The Image Of Magazine‘s “Novella Series” – thanks to editor Tommy Jennings! What an honor! Read here: http://www.imagecompaniesenterprises…. Quote: “Always an observer of events and human traits, Susie Duncan Sexton offers without apology her thoughts and observations as they are and once were, and fitting…
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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…
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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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From Kat Kelly-Heinzelman: Families That We Make
To my friend/family Kat Kelly-Heinzelman: Tears welling in my eyes, a smile on my face at the same time? What a poignant and revelatory essay, Kat! Read “Families That We Make” here: https://lighthousekat.wordpress.com/2… Your paragraphs about Roy and me moved me beyond words at a time I sorely needed a kind nod my way…I love people…
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4-H Values NOT reflected in pig-wrestling – Whitley County, Indiana (from 2015)
Proud of my husband Don for this letter to the editor, regarding the upcoming pig wrestling (!) event at our local 4-H Fair this summer. So ashamed that such a cruel activity involving children and animals is occurring in this town where I grew up and still live. Unreal. This just in! Someone has started…
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when we start only hearing the sounds of our own voices…the animals lose again
”Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work.”~ Carl Sandburg To be sure, it is fabulous to attempt to be a voice for other species who do not speak the rather strange language of our human species … However, when we start only hearing the sounds…
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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…
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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…
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Writer’s lament: I have completely lost track of the life I once led.
My delightful new friend Aaron C. Wade – a talented photographer, designer, and filmmaker (check out his work here and his movie Possessive here) just asked me this intriguing question via Facebook (love my Facebook pals!). My reply follows… Aaron: “Though I haven’t yet gotten far into your book, I’ve wondered if you ever encountered the situation where an…
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“What might have been…” THE HIGHWAY by Donald O’Donovan
Living in a dying town with few restaurants, we frequent an establishment which originated some 30 years back, propelled by an Amish-inspired bill of fare and once the haunt of the after-church crowd such as the well-dressed elderly and the tackily-garbed over-populated tribes of rural families. Then the truck-stop just across the road from this…
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Susie Sexton rhymes yet again!
“People” news so enticing But animals the icing! Sorry to say they need us To help them reap their justice. Congrats, humans so happy! ADOPT A PET THOUGH…AND MAKE ITSNAPPY!!! (please, oh please?) ♥!!! P.S. i do not eat green eggs and ham, and i do not care who is jennifer aniston’s new boyfriend, damn!…
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Writer Types, Stereotypes, Daguerreotypes, and Archetypes
Feeble-minded knaves label writer types, Forcing free spirits their genres to declare. Novelist? Poet? Playwright? Stereotypes! Squeezing into one round hole a peg so square. Participles! Fear not. Feel free to dangle. Infinitives ought (surely) be…split in two. Preposition proposition? Not to mangle Grammar RULES! Still go wherever you want to! My mom’s at her…
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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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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,…
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FOLDING NEWSPAPERS–Pulp Fiction OR Reality?
Why are newspapers reducing the voice of the people to American Idol status, with SIMON Legree types comfortably yet precariously poised at the top kowtowing to whichever side provides the most revenue while encouraging on-lookers via sophomoric surveys to hoist thumbs up or down? BTW, don’t forget to pre-pay for your obituary. Our currently raw wound of a…
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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…
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A SLAVE TO INVENTION…OR CONVENTION?
“C’mon, Mom! Join me as we explore 21st century.”I jumped on that horse to become trendy and adventure-y.Still own no ice-maker, never travel, and drive an old car,But e-mail, texting, face-booking hitch my wagon to a star. Friends at home and abroad and alternative life-styles fill days.Cultures outside our own glitter and differ and show…
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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.…
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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…
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Listen to the Mockingbird
The Story About a Jeep, a Boat and a Helicopter: https://www.michaelhartzell.com/blog/the-story-about-a-jeep-a-boat-and-a-helicopter “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and variations thereof, we learn early. ‘Tis amazing how frequently this sentiment reflects the truth, occasionally leading us to believe, somewhat snidely, that there may be no accounting for taste. Until marketers proceed to perfect their…
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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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Angels Among Us
Returned from a divine lesson in human resiliency, a lesson which occurred at our truly friendly and fun RICHARD’S RESTAURANT–neither a planned seminar nor a church service, simply diners and staff chatting, most listening intently. An upbeat couple, routinely spreading cheer on a daily basis, shared their experiences combating an unwelcome challenge from a fleeting,…
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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…
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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…
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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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A life richly lived and appropriately, effusively celebrated – Ball State University honors Susie Duncan Sexton
From Roy: “I couldn’t be prouder of my mom Susie Duncan Sexton. This article is from The Ball State University Honors College alumni magazine. The author Olivia Power captured my mom’s spirit and soul. This is a beauty, and Olivia wove all of the threads of my mom’s life – her writing, her books, her advocacy,…
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Henrik Ibsen: An Enemy of the People (Ball State University Senior Honors Thesis)
today, i realized that my honors thesis still exists, and i have copied it and made a notebook. that experience has informed me to this very moment and is the hugest reason of all i was fortunate to have been an honors student which made me the activist and individual i am today at age…
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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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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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Subject: a need so impossible?
sometimes lives can intersect. often hearts and minds connect. (not to be too circumspect) internet travels spark fun. street corner chats once were done. communication begun! either format much the same. human to human the game. face to face? laughter the aim! therapeutic screen to screen. type language to those unseen. instructive but never mean.…
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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…
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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…
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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!)…
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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…
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“THE YEARS TEACH MUCH THE DAYS NEVER KNOW.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Edgar Allan Poe has nothing on me. My severe depression I could maybe downgrade to but a “funk”; however just as the lead singer with Heavy Metal “Iron Maiden” recently penned a new book from the depths of despair forgoing the hunt and peck system and instead scrawling upon yellow legal pads, I likewise someday…
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STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS TRAPEZOIDAL HAIKU RIFF/RAP
(Impressions of the Season) “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to … let it rain.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Never forget that old adage — April showers bring May flowers!) Spring & Wing Ages & Stages Trampolines & Magazines Nestlings cuddle & Raindrops puddle Bicycles whizzing & Lemonade fizzing (Limericks? Sonnets? …
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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,…
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CHRISTMAS GIFT! CHRISTMAS GIFT!*
(*title borrowed from a chapter of a “Miss Minerva & William Green Hill” a dear old Southland book my mother once read aloud to me–seems like only yesterday…) Sat straight up in bed…me, the eternal free-lancing archivist…and woke up my slumbering cat friends…hobbled downstairs garbed neither in kerchief nor stocking cap but definitely clad in…
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DISILLUSIONMENT – PIPE DREAMS, PUPPET MASTERS & POPPYCOCK!
“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die: whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness.“ ~ Gilda Radner “If a man does not keep pace with his own companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer. Let him step…
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GUILTY PLEASURES During This Presidential Election Year of Living Dangerously
Fortuitously this past Sunday evening, I received an email parable from a shirttail relative, a beautiful lady who played championship bridge internationally and who is the mother of a talented musician and was once married to a Sexton and taught ballroom dancing…I love Bev whom I have not seen in several decades. She sends me…
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GOODBYE, GOODBYE, MISTER MASSEY!
“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” ~ Abraham Lincoln “Whoopsy daisy!” ~ Bill the Butcher “Strange things are happening!” ~ Red Buttons Attempting to pound out yet another nostalgia column–even when the future…
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WAIT! PRIOR TO TOSSING ME INTO A WEATHERED HATBOX…READ ME FIRST?
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” ~ Henry David Thoreau “Cousin, we should earnestly, nobly meet the highest expectations of our illegitimate great great great great grandfather President…
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“A horse is a horse, of course, of course, And no one can talk to a horse of course?” (A Journey from Competitiveness to Graciousness…and At Long Last, Love!)
“I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human for God’s sake.” ~ J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (Editor’s note: Pardon J. D.’s French!) Time to admit the truth. Choosing authorship as a pastime or a passion or a means of making a living is fraught with frustrations such as:…
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SINGING (and sighing) OUT LOUD!
“She is a successful woman…who has a zest for life and a feeling of kinship with all living things…” ~ from Lou Porterfield’s 1956 Scrapbook Uh-huh! To say the least, I wonder why I ever entertained the idea to write out loud…to record my innermost thoughts, to devise plots and characters, to reveal truths, to…
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“The Times They are A-Changin’” — We Can Only Hope!
I love where humans are coming from when intelligence and compassion combine. Intelligence=compassion…the only way to roll! The absolute only way to roll! There are not two sides to animal abuse and an accompanying apathetic approach to such…there is only one…and that is to pursue the correct path throughout our lives. Admittedly, it took me…
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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…
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RUB A DUB DUB…Pitfalls of a Nostalgic Mind-Set
Now, this may not be pretty, but the telling of it is a necessity. Set nowhere at all in California like some Raymond Chandler detective novel to be revived via an atmospheric beach-front film noir hard-boiled crime drama, this piece is happening in Columbia City, the Land-of-a-Very-Few-Choice-Lakes. I am not the first sort of writer…
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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…
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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…
Misunderstood Gargoyles and Overrated Angels 