Chances are, within the last week or so, you’ve heard of Americans Elect (americanselect.org).  Probably the most well-known promoter of this new political movement is Thomas Friedman in his column in the New York Times, entitled Make Way for the Radical Center, published/… Read full post »

I'm a right-handed Lefty.  If that doesn't make sense, switch to the political side of your brain.  You get it, now, right?  I'm also a sometime activist, so I'm registered with a lot of progessive groups that favor action along with rhetoric.  That means I get a lot of emails ask… Read full post »

Not being a Christian, noticing who was left is a curiously revelatory exercise for me.

The Pope remains, as does the entire hierarchy of the Catholic Church,  including former priests and nuns.  I don't suppose this surprises anyone, except, maybe, the Pope, himself.

Every politician and b… Read full post »

Think of what we'll miss, just those of us who live, tonight, in the U.S.A.:

1.  The Midwest will be stopped in its tracks from turning into a totalitarian-society-within-a-democratic-country.
2. Come to think of it, we won't have to endure yet another phony presidential election.  What a relief
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You have to live in Arizona to appreciate the Arizona mentality.  Further, you have to develop a sense of humor, a huge one.  I do.  I do.  And, I have.  Forget about SB 1070, the immigration bill that garnered nationwide fame by legally codifying racial profiling and continu… Read full post »

My parents gave birth to four daughters and raised all of us to be distinctly ourselves, so there was never a lack of conflict.  Personal, political, emotional, intellectual, physical, you name it, within any particular day at least a few spirited arguments would arise among two or more of us gi… Read full post »

     This morning, as a result of my immediately previous post having been noticed by someone who works with BBC, I was contacted by BBC's program "World, Have Your Say", a daily global talk show, and asked to participate in today's discussion, "Has the Chile mine rescue been a wa… Read full post »

     Catching up on the news on MSNBC this morning, I heard Chris Jansing declare, while introducing another segment in the continuing saga of the rescue of the Chilean miners, "...some are calling it a miracle..."

      Does the contraption above [image cou… Read full post »

     Take a listen to some what Colin Powell, after describing himself as a "moderate Republican", said on "Meet the Press" this Sunday morning regarding U.S. immigration policy.  Did you hear what I heard? "...we have m
…

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     The first graduation speech, below, I wrote for and delivered at a friend's graduation at a different school than the one at which I was supposed to be graduating.  Don't ask how we managed it.  It was 1969.  It was Guam.  It was possible.  I d… Read full post »

Meat, the media and me. Not a pretty picture. Sometimes I think I'd be better off if I walked away from civilization and was forced to live off the land. Meat, I console myself, would be harder to come by, thus, I'd probably eat less of it…

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 LifeinTexas, This One's For You (and, It Seems, Me)

I like contrarians. Whether they're reasoned or rasty, somewhere in their reaction I can always find something I missed, something that piques my curiosity and starts me off on another, usually fruitful, search.

LifeinTexas performed that fun… Read full post »

I was raised on Guam (recently renamed Guahan, which I will use from this point on to refer to the island, except to be true to citings) during the 1960’s through the early 1970’s.  The man who drove the bus on which I rode to school in the early 1960’s was…

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    Tuesday of this week I received a blanket email from a very long time friend:

My New Year's Resolution for 2010 is to divest myself of all my toxic friends. I consider you a toxic friend. I will no longer be contacting you. Please make no further attempts… Read full post »

To President Obama and the 220 Congress People who voted to pass H.R. 3962:

     If H.R. 3962 or any similar legislation is signed into law instead of universal single payer health care, may you and all members of your families, immediate and extended, be obligated to recei… Read full post »

"I've fallen in love with chainsaws!"

Those were the words I used to describe to a friend the exhilarating day I spent yesterday, courtesy of my nephew, using a chainsaw to size a couple of dead down trees on my property into firewood.

Yesterday wasn't my first chainsaw… Read full post »

     It's been awhile.  I can't excuse my absence, but I can explain.  Recovering from my mother's death has been a harder, more circuitous road than I expected.  I seemed to have imagined that when she died I'd pick up where I left off but, as many of us know, life… Read full post »

     The first time I had a professional perm I was in my early thirties and had never visited a beauty salon. I was the only person in the salon, besides the operator, when I arrived. He was distracted, on the phone, scribbling in his appointment book. He/…

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     Some years ago, when upset with city, state or federal government and feeling powerless to do anything, I'd entertain a meticulous fantasy in which, prior to a scheduled, all-inclusive government event, I'd infiltrate the building used for council or legislative meetings, pla… Read full post »

     My mother hated to cook, so my sisters and I became accomplished cooks. One Sunday my sister Robin decided to include in her menu homemade Thousand Island dressing.

     It looked delicious. We dressed our salads eagerly.

   &nbs… Read full post »

     Today I met and spoke with the author of the longest selling (12 years), most popular how-to book on life organization.  The book covers all types of organization from outer space to inner space.  She, a few others and I were discussing her book from a writer's pers… Read full post »

     Just a few minutes ago I answered my phone.  The number on my caller ID indicated that the call was coming from my state capital's newspaper.  I recently cancelled my subscription in favor of the local paper.  I figured they were calling to settle my account.… Read full post »

     That's right, "Yikes!"  It's what the "Host" in the Caregivers segment of HBOs The Alzheimer's Project said when Chuck, a care recipient with Early Onset Alzheimer's, reported that 12 out of 14 of his maternal grandparents' children died of Alzheimer's, including… Read full post »

    Forgive this shameless riposte/repost, but on May 7, 2009, I wrote a post that is a great fit for the Open Call subject "How you can build your blogging audience" and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to respond with it.  Unfortunately, since I'd already published it, this is… Read full post »

     When I first heard about The Alzheimer's Project through the preliminary ads hawking it on HBO, I was so alarmed I immediately contacted a friend who is responsible for the website The Tangled Neuron, which has been the source of and guide for almost all my dementia i… Read full post »