October 12th, 2022 → 5:45 am
“My good will is great, though the gift is small.” — Pericles
I was recently honored as a Social Impact Author by Authority Magazine. It really touched me. All authors are motivated to write by some internal drive, the genesis of which varies per person, but for me one of the main drivers is to highlight and share diverse perspectives on the world. If, through storytelling, we can increase our understanding and awareness of alternative life experiences, how can this not help bind us together? How can it not help smooth the wrinkles, and mend the tears, in society’s common tapestry? But most importantly, Michelle Obama, if you’re reading this, lunch is on me!
Filed under: Literature/Theatre/Art & Other & Self/My Life
September 23rd, 2022 → 5:43 am
“She is not yet so oldBut she may learn.” — Merchant of Venice
I hope this is true of me today, of me in the past, and certainly of me in the future. In the latest chapter of Seeking Forgiveness that is out on the BFBF website this week, the main character confronts her own racism, and is “extremely embarrassed by it.” At least she is trying to learn. Acknowledging failures and making the effort to change them can be half the battle.
September 9th, 2022 → 6:59 am
“All’s well that ends well; still the fine’s the crown.Whate’er the course, the end is the renown.” — All’s Well That Ends Well
(Note: “the fine” here means “the ending” or the crowning achievement)
This quote is generally interpreted to mean that whatever happened in the course of an event, if the ending is good, all is good. Some interpret it in a Machiavellian way to mean the ends justify the means. I do not interpret it that way, at least not in this context. In the context of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, as it draws to a close on this cool fall day, I interpret it to mean that while the queen may have had some ups and downs, some periods where she shone and others where she did not, considering the long arc of her seventy years on the throne, she had a solid reign. Rest in peace and God bless you Elizabeth R.
July 29th, 2022 → 7:28 am
“The rain it raineth every day.” — King Lear
St. Louis has experienced record rains in recent days, breaking records over 100 years old. The flooding has been shocking. While my family and our home are alright, I have very close neighbors with washed out basements, washed out cars, ruined roofs. One person (in St. Louis alone) has died. I’ve long known climate change is upon us, of course, this just somehow makes it more real. More…directly on all our doorsteps.
Filed under: Other
July 14th, 2022 → 6:36 am
“The prize of all-too-precious you.” — Sonnet 23
In Chapter 7 of Seeking Forgiveness, out this week, a LEGO minifigure becomes the wordless bond between Miles and Rachel.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
June 25th, 2018 → 6:38 am
“Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form.” – King John
My son has left for summer camp (a 2-week overnight camp), and it is just so unnatural without him. His presence fills the house; his toys, his clothes, his smell… his laughter, his smiles, his questions… My son will return in two weeks, yet if his brief absence to this happy place is still so biting, I literally cannot imagine what the bereft parents at the U.S. border are going through right now.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
June 15th, 2018 → 6:06 am
Congratulations North America, for winning the bid to host the 2026 World Cup!
May 20th, 2018 → 5:45 am
“Eternity was in [their] lips and eyes,
Bliss in [their] brows’ bent; none [their] parts so poor
But was a race of heaven.” – Antony and Cleopatra
Yes, I watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle yesterday. As it happens, my son woke up early too and we watched it together – that was fun! God bless the new couple, and may they enjoy years of happiness together.
May 18th, 2018 → 5:45 am
“Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel.” – Hamlet
I made a new friend yesterday afternoon, and then met up with an old friend after work for coffee. A medium friend (what do you call someone who isn’t a new friend or an old friend, but a recent friend of 2-3 years??) I found out is leaving the United States at the end of summer and moving to the Netherlands; I don’t know when I’ll see her again. Friends come and friends go, they give pleasure and sadness, and if I could grasp some of them with hoops of steel, believe me, I would.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
May 1st, 2018 → 6:20 am
“Beauty, truth and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclosed, in cinders lie.” – Phoenix and Turtle
It broke my heart to read about the letter a woman wrote to her husband, just before she was put on the trains to Auschwitz. It is amazing the letter survived the Holocaust at all; it is even more astonishing how love, it seems, can shine through anything.