If anyone with a social media presence wants to see their blog stats tank, here’s my advice: Quit Facebook. Even though my blog is my gift to me, a place where I write what I want to in order to loosen myself up to write better and more freely and not about how many … Continue reading ‘Honoring Miss Pietsch’ or how a composer helped me get my house in order, featuring 1886 wallpaper
In 2007, I was on national television and in the New York Times for being one of the first “old” people on Facebook. On April 10th, I posted this on my Facebook feed: “I was going to just leave quietly, but it feels disrespectful to so many of you who I care about. I joined … Continue reading Hitting the ‘delete’ button on Facebook: a Dispatch from the quiet zone
Mom died on February 25th. Her funeral was in Utica, New York; yesterday was her memorial service. This is the eulogy I wrote and read yesterday. Eulogy II The first Tuesday after Mom’s funeral, I woke up and, because it has been part of my waking-up ritual for what seems like forever (even though it … Continue reading Death: the most unlikely of happy endings or ‘Bossiest Eulogy Ever’
“It is coercion of the strongest kind, because it appears in the guise of a self-evident necessity and is thus not even recognized as a coercive force.” Ludwik Fleck, “Genesis & Development of a Scientific Fact” I started 2017 with a post about making this a “no bullshit” year. Seing it out with a … Continue reading ‘No Bullshit’ 2017 is almost over: Time to ring in #racistinrecovery 2018
Usually I slam out a blog post in a Word file and then transfer it over here to the wordpress template and tinker. Then, after I publish it I find more typos and things to tweak. This morning, though, I am going to slam down something spontaneous as John Gorka sings "St. Caffeine" and drink … Continue reading A little flow from the stream of consciousness, with music
Al Franken announced his resignation from the Senate Thursday in the wake of a bunch of disclosures from women that he was handy and not in a good way. That was shortly after the Republican party publicly endorsed Roy Moore, the Senate candidate who was reportedly banned from the Gadsen Mall for creeping on (to … Continue reading Shit-pile theory of life explains mysterious difference between Democratic and Republican *sex offenders
On this day, less than 24 hours after President Trump's reckless decision to toss a lit match into a dry forest, metaphorically speaking, I am so grateful for my Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom Sisters. Because of them, I am able to continue hoping that we can somehow surmount all the crazy and horrible that's drowning … Continue reading Insanity dressed up as ‘Peace:’ a random Jewish person’s take on Jerusalem
It’s been busy around here. Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror. Before that though, my faithful seven-year-old computer went kerflooey. Never mind that I had writing deadlines. Thankfully, I have an understanding editor. And over at the library, we are moving to reduced-service status for the next year or so while we get a new … Continue reading Real Apologies Matter: A brief stroll through Sexual Predator Apology Land
This morning, Sweetheart came in and sat at the at the edge of the bed. “There’s coffee downstairs. And it happened after we went to bed last night, but there’s fresh hell,” he said. I sat up. More quickly than I usually do first thing in the morning. “Fifty people were killed and more … Continue reading NRA helps ‘lone wolf’ Las Vegas shooter kill, injure hundreds at concert: how is this ‘not terrorism?’
Before I was a librarian (by which I mean from the time I was about 3), I read a lot. As a baby journalist in the early 1990s, I started reviewing books and discovered the fun and wonder of sometimes getting paid to read. Which didn't stop me from continuing to do it for free. … Continue reading Recent reading adventures: A “Some-ary”
the sentence factory 