Awareness Week 2020, Day 2

I've designated this first week of June 2020 as Awareness Week in light of the struggles America is currently experiencing. To help expand folks' consciousness, I'm sharing a song a day from an album every concerned, patriotic American needs to hear and be moved by. Tennessean Will Hoge is a talented, soulful singer-songwriter. In 2012, …

Thoughts on 2 Books #10

Holy crap, y'all!  I just browsed through my Goodreads "My Books" section and realized I've posted thoughts on 17 books there without also sharing them here.  17!  Shameful!  I deserve a kick in the pants for such a lapse. I was already planning to squeeze in a couple of posts this week, but this delightful …

A Seismic Shift

Via Teresa Grabs' Page & Line Challenge #1 I've been hankerin' to take up Teresa's challenge ever since I saw it last week, but y'all know how it is.  Busy, busy, TORNADO, busy...  Turns out the delay was fortuitous, though, 'cause not only has my story idea had time to percolate & resonate with my particular …

Quality Quotes #9

"To believe that our beliefs are permanent truths which encompass reality is a sad arrogance. To let go of that belief is to find safety." --Ursula K. LeGuin, gloss on chapter 2 of her interpretation of the Tao Te Ching Last week, I complained publicly about the sad state of the truth in modern society.  …

Slaying Goliath

Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools by Diane Ravitch.  I rated it 4 stars, “really liked it”, on Goodreads and shelved it there as American, educational, history, nonfiction, public institutions, scholarly, and social issues.  You can click the linked title to read the synopsis. It's been …

Provocative Answers #1

--Via Fandango's Provocative Question for 2/26/20 Fandango asks, “What is something you long believed to be true but now realize is not true?” In recent years, I've let go of two long-held beliefs. Letting go of the first, my belief in a god or gods after a years-long, diligent, sincere personal quest, was liberating and …

A Bit (More) About Me #11

--Via Melanie B. Cee's Share Your World for 2/24/20 Q: What do you think of best friends of the opposite sex?  Or to put it another way “Can men and women ever be platonic friends?  Doesn’t sex always get in the way?” A: Yes, men and women can be platonic friends.  I know many people, …

Quality Quotes #8

"Truly, life is the misery we endure between disappointments." Joe Abercrombie, uttered by Superior of the Inquisition Sand dan Glokta in Last Argument of Kings (The First Law trilogy #3). My office remains piled with this week's accumulated detritus, but I've made sufficient progress this morning to justify a brief blogging break.  I've been annoyed …

Remember the Inmates

Hello fellow Bloggers! I hope y’all’re doing well and prospering wherever you may be. Many of us are looking forward to the upcoming holidays with eagerness and joy in our hearts.  I humbly request that, at some point this week, you take a moment to spare a thought (or a prayer, if you’re a believer) …

The Obvious Word #1

Hey y'all!  I hope you're doing well and prospering on this fantastic Monday! I'm grateful to the ever-eloquent Fandango today for giving me licence to try something new & different, a kind of mash-up of two types of periodic posts.  The first type is my A Writer's Reliquary, which I update whenever I encounter a …