Why I Marched in 2017 and will continue to do so...

Please read this excellent article that captures how I feel... especially in response to those who don't seem to "get it"... regardless of their gender. It begins: 

"Say thank you. Say thank you to the women who gave you a voice. Say thank you to the women who were arrested and imprisoned and beaten and gassed for you to have a voice. Say thank you to the women who refused to back down, to the women who fought tirelessly to give you a voice. Say thank you to the women who put their lives on hold, who –lucky for you — did not have “better things to do” than to march and protest and rally for your voice. So you don’t feel like a “second class citizen.” So you get to feel “equal.”"


--"You are Not Equal. I'm Sorry." by Dina Leygerman

Oh yeah. And a little bit of it is about this dumbass.

Wordless Wednesday -- the cheater's edition in which I take a picture of words and of my grandma's cookie tin which I love tremendously.

Happy Mini Donut Day!

Errr... I mean, 4th of July. Sometimes I forget the reason behind the season and just start to celebrate deep fried festival foods --mini-donuts, stuff on sticks, Indian tacos, and beer gardens.

I just got back from a quick trip around the downtown food fest -- oops, there I go again. The inflatable kid bouncy things were deflating and making way for lawn chairs and families getting an early jump on prime fireworks watching spots. What the heck? Is someone REALLY going to stake their claim four hours early? Oh well. Not everyone can watch the fireworks from his/her bedroom window.

My mom, my uncle, and I strolled the town square listening to live music and watching kids get caricatured and folks get henna tattooed. Everyone and his dog was out on the town --literally--there were a lot of dogs to be seen. I thought about taking pictures just to show the diversity of pooch, but I was afraid of appearing strange, so I took pics of food instead!

On a more serious note, many folks get patriotic on Independence Day --they don the "team colors" and wave the flag, singing songs of praise for one's country. It all smacks of a giant pep rally. I see nothing wrong with that except that too quickly it's all forgotten. Like a Christian who makes it to church for the holiday services a few times a year, too many of us are fair weather-Americans. Patriotic, duty-bound citizens when it serves us, when it's popular. Too many of us curse the government, the economy, in one moment and do nothing to change the things we can with all our other moments. A Chinese proverb says, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." Don't just celebrate our freedoms with bottle rockets and cold beer--honor your country's independence with your votes and by getting involved in your communities.

What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility ... a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. --Adlai Stevenson

The true test of the American ideal is whether we're able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. --Barack Obama

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair. --H.L. Mencken

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. -- Mark Twain

Happy Fourth of July!

The Importance of Oscar Wilde

"This wallpaper is dreadful, one of us will have to go." Those are rumored to be Oscar Wilde's last words. Even to the end he was a man of wit. Here are a few other words of wit and wisdom from one of the greats.

• "I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
• "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
• "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
• "Be Yourself; everyone else is already taken."
• "Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."
• "You can never be overdressed or overeducated."
• "I am not young enough to know everything."
• "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing."
• "A good friend will always stab you in the front."
• "I never travel without my diary. One must always have something sensational to read on the train."
• "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
• "I can resist anything, except temptation."
• "Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future."
• "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."
• "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best."
• "A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."
• "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."
• "There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing."
• "Misfortunes one can endure--they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults--ah!--there is the sting of life."

I get a kick out of Wilde's plays, in particular. In summer school, we read The Importance of Being Earnest --a punny play full of misunderstanding, deception, absurdity, and laughter. Oh, and love. In typical comedic form, it all ends well. There are many free downloads or online versions of the play available. You must check it out.

The 2002 film with Rupert Everett and Colin Firth is most excellent, as well. While it does stray some from the order of events in the play, the director does a fine job of capturing the spirit of Wilde even adding some nice, tattooed touches. :) Read it, watch it--preferably in that order--you won't be disappointed.

Introducing...

I now have a Tumblr presence.

The format there allows me to post art or pics and links to crafts I'm admiring, with minimal explanation. If you've liked my "links" posts in the past you might enjoy some of the posts on This and That because those new items that strike my fancy keep ending up there.

Not Quite What I Was Planning

I'd first heard this book mentioned on someone's blog. I found a copy at the library awhile back and have finally had some time to explore the book. Can you describe your life in six words? That's what the editors of storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers in 2006. The book is a collection of those 6 word bios (some by famous people, some not). Here are some favorites (and the page numbers I found them on):

"Soul'd out so I could prophet." --Gotham Chopra (Deepak's son p 15)

"Watching quietly from every door frame." --Nicole Resseguie (1)

"Nobody cared, then they did. Why?" -- Chuck Klosterman (2)

"I asked. They answered. I wrote." --Sebastian Junger (3)

"I still make coffee for two." --Zak Nelson (7)

"Wolf! She cried. No one listened." --May Lee (6)

"Wasted time regretted so life reinvented." --Vicky Oppus (9)

"Followed white rabbit. Became black sheep." --Gabrielle Maconi (13)

"Strange name. Transparent shame. Instant fame." --Bumble Ward (16)

"I am still trying in every regard." --Lionel Shriver (16)

"Likes everything too much to choose." --Rachel Lindenthal (18)

"Wanted world. Got world plus lupus." --Liz Futrell (22)

"Barrister, barista, what's the diff, Mom?" --Abigail Moorhouse (27)

"Anything's possible with an extension cord." --Billy SIRR (28)

"Found love. Married someone else." --Bjorn Stromberg (30)

"Fight. like. hell. for. the. living." --Susie Bright (33)

"Blogging is easy. Writing is hard." --Jennifer Shreve (35)

"Macular degeneration. Didn't see that coming." --Ian Gould (36)

"Tow truck drivers are my psychiatrists." --Joanne McNeil (36)

"Lived in the moment until moment sucked." Janine Goss (39)

"Afraid of everything. Did it anyway." --Ayse Erginer (42)

"Montana Jew--drives Toyota; holsters pen." --Michael Finkel (44)

"Discovered moral code via Judy Blume." --Beth Greivel (59)

"My first concert: Zappa. Explains everything. --Janet Tashjian (71)

"Little bit Lucy, tempered by Ethel." --Tami Maus (107)

"Revenge is living well, without you." --Joyce Carol Oates (128)

"Lived like no tomorrow. Tomorrow came." --C.C. Keiser (139)

"The freaks, they always find me." --Ginger Lime (158)

"Palindromic novels fall apart halfway through." --Chuck Clark (164)

"Just a rockin' readin' knittin' kitten." --Emmeline Friedman (212)

Celebrate Your Inner-Thief.

Good Advice.

My calendar quote for September.

I Do Love Fireworks.

What the Mantra Ray Told Me....

Time to Purge.

I've decided this week is clean-out-my-closets week.
My goal. To organize, categorize, minimize.
Good bye "just in case clothing."
Good bye "good deal garments."
Good bye "ill-fitting possibilities."

Hmmmm.........

"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."

--Gore Vidal