His truths are vile graffiti scrawled in charcoal on a wall, your belief in them, immobile—not budgeable at all. You spout online rhetoric not based on any fact, using a selfish tyrant to pattern how you act. I simply cannot… Read More ›
Writing
Fresh Prizes: For Marilyn and Garry | lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown
A happy 30th anniversary to both of us. Who imagined we’d last this long? Fresh Prizes Even though she thinks she knows him to the bone, another little detail comes forward to be shown. Like a little prize, presented for… Read More ›
TALKING OF THE PAST AND WONDERING WHO’S LISTENING
It would not be untrue to say the both Garry and I had interesting careers and that the work we did made a difference. Garry covered news which these days (and those day earlier days too) meant trials, murders, fatal… Read More ›
IF YOU WANT TO KEEP BLOGGING, AFFORDABLE PLATFORMS EXIST
I really don’t want to stop blogging. Even if I have to use a different computer — like the Mac rather than the PC — or get an iPad or something else. I need to write. It’s not merely what… Read More ›
WHEN A COMMENT TURNS INTO A POST – HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT HARRY POTTER?
To Melanie’s two part “Share My World” — How do I feel about Harry Potter? I’m grinding slowly towards the conclusion of our refinance. As of this morning, we have cleared all the hurdles. They needed this month’s mortgage payment… Read More ›
THE END OF THE REPUBLIC
Imperium, by Robert Harris Random House Sep 7, 2010 Fiction – 496 pages It’s déjà vu all over again as we travel back with author Robert Harris to Republican Rome just before it became Imperial Rome. In America, we complain of corruption. Lying… Read More ›
ADMIRATION IN THE AGE OF LIARS AND CORRUPTION
Fandango’s Dog Days of August #8 I’m afraid to admire anyone these days. Just when I think I’ve found someone really admirable, I discover that they’ve been abusing women, molesting children, or have a secret fascination with pederasty. So I think… Read More ›
PEACE TALKS – HARRY DRESDEN IS FINALLY BACK! – by JIM BUTCHER
I looked it up. I have waited six years for book sixteen in the Harry Dresden world to be published. I have waited patiently, then less patiently. A few months ago, there was a book by Jim Butcher called (tada!)… Read More ›
WHO ARE YOU NOW? DIDN’T YOU USED TO BE SOMEONE?
Fandango’s Provocative Question #80 From Fandango, a deep, philosophical question. We need some of those because everything else is about disease or the news. “I saw this question on a site that offers up a bunch of “deep, philosophical” questions and… Read More ›
READ OR WRITE? HOW ABOUT RIGHTING?
I never “decided” to write. When asked “what are you,” I never say I’m a wife, mother, grandmother — or even a woman. I automatically say “I’m a writer.” Being a writer is embedded in my concept of “self-hood,” if… Read More ›
LIVING IN REAL-TIME
When I was little, I had imaginary playmates. I talked to them. They followed me around. I was never bored because I had friends who really understood me. After I started school, my shadow friends left, never to return. Instead,… Read More ›
A MOUNTAINSIDE SUMMER BY EMILY DICKINSON
New England has a pretty big collection of native poets, of which Emily Dickenson was one. This poem so reminded me of this valley, with its hill and valleys and the mist over of the river. A good poem for… Read More ›
IF YOU DON’T READ, YOU PROBABLY CAN’T WRITE – Marilyn Armstrong
Blogging Insights # 34 – Reading QUESTION Do you think that reading is an important prerequisite for writing well? If so, what kind of reading material inspires or affects your writing? I never took a writing course. .I never wanted… Read More ›
NAMES CAN NEVER HURT YOU – GARRY ARMSTRONG
A while back, Marilyn wrote a piece using the word chutzpah. This is a word I’ve always badly mangled when I try to say it. It’s just a word, what the heck? That was my take for many years until… Read More ›
THREE IN THE MORNING AND THE PAGE NUMBERS WON’T WORK – MARILYN ARMSTRONG
I was up until very late last night because Garry got a new computer. Setting it up was easy because these days, everything is automated. And he didn’t have a lot of documents or photographs to move. They are all… Read More ›
GIVING UP, NOT IN – Marilyn Armstrong
I almost quit any number of times. I didn’t smoke a lot. Less than a pack a day and eventually I got it down to five or six a day and sometimes less. The problem with cigarettes is that one… Read More ›
THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT: A LOVE STORY – EDWARD LEAR
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear I The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five-pound note. The Owl looked up to… Read More ›
APRIL REALLY WAS THE CRUELEST MONTH: THE WASTE LAND, BY T.S. ELLIOT
I tell people I don’t like poetry. That’s not exactly true. I do like poetry. I like funny poems, I like poems that remind me of things that were important but have faded in memory. I don’t like my own… Read More ›
HOISTED ON A WHAT? Marilyn Armstrong
Last night I said to Garry “Aha! He is hoisted upon his own petard!” And Nat Helms wrote a piece about Trump hoisted on his own petard. But really, how many of us have the slightest idea what a petard… Read More ›
FANDANGO’S PROVOCATIVE QUESTION VIA BLOGGING INSIGHTS #26 – Marilyn Armstrong
Blogging Insights — What’s Next? Here are the original questions: BLOGGING INSIGHTS -QUESTIONS: What suggestions / tipsdo you have for improving/upgrading this series?Do you have any questions that you would like me to feature? If you are new to the Blogging… Read More ›
FOR INSOMNIACS AND OWNERS OF BARKING DOGS – Marilyn Armstrong
Come Sleep, O Sleep … Come, Sleep! O Sleep, the certain knot of peace, The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe, The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release, The indifferent judge between the high and low; With shield of… Read More ›
AN ARRAY OF PAST FLOWERS – Marilyn Armstrong
FOTD – April 23 – Past Flowers It’s another grey, cold day. I’m not yearning for flowers as a dedicated gardener. I just long for color. It has been gray and often very dark gray almost all the time since… Read More ›
HOLLYWOOD AND MORAL CHARACTER – Marilyn Armstrong
How stupid are we? This post in its various permutations has gotten nearly 5,000 hits. Not recently, but in the first few years of posting. For several years, whenever I got more than 1000 hits in about half an hour,… Read More ›
