Author Archives: Linda Lenzke

Sep 20 2015
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Pick a Metaphor: Life-Planning

  1. The Three Boxes of Life
  2. Whack-a-Mole
  3. Juggling: When All the Balls Are in the Air

As readers of my blog already know, I like to mix metaphors. Today I introduce the first installment of another Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! series entitled, Pick a Metaphor.  In this series I will choose a topic and look at it based on a number of metaphors. What I have found in my own life is that sometimes the metaphor I select to describe an issue I’m facing sets the tone of how I will think and feel about it.  Continue reading →

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Sep 06 2015
Posts

The Pleasures (and Lessons) of a Staycation

“A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.”— Urban Dictionary

“You don’t have to go far to travel.” — Me

It’s that time of year again when September arrives and I extend the Labor Day holiday by taking my annual Staycation. While students return to school after their families unpack from vacation and pack those back-to-school backpacks full of brand new school supplies, I take a break from my day-to-day work routines and make my “to-do only if I want to lists.”   Continue reading →

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Aug 22 2015
Posts

The Perfect Timing of Dismaland

Art as Anarchy & Political Commentary

Yesterday while reading Matt Taibbi’s essay, “Inside the GOP Clown Car” in Rolling Stone commenting on the Republican candidates campaigning in Iowa, the opening paragraph captured my attention. “On the campaign trail in Iowa, Donald Trump’s antics have forced the other candidates to get crazy or go home. The thing is, when you actually think about it, it’s not funny. Given what’s at stake, it’s more like the opposite, like the first sign of the collapse of the United States as a global superpower. Twenty years from now, when we’re all living like prehistory hominids and hunting rats with sticks, we’ll probably look back at this moment as the beginning of the end.” Continue reading →

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Aug 10 2015
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Posts

Hello, I’m Linda, Ambivert

Ambivert — one whose personality type is intermediate between extrovert and introvert.

As I write, today is the Madison, Wisconsin OutReach Pride Parade. I’ve marched in our community’s LGBTQ pride marches sponsored by different organizations many times over the years. I’ve volunteered on the planning committees, emceed the kick-off rally, introduced featured speakers such as U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin, now a Senator from Wisconsin, and produced and emceed post-march entertainment.

While I have my “let’s-start-the-day cups of coffee,” I’m flooded with ambivalent thoughts and feelings about whether I want to march today, or not. I’m fighting some resistance and over the years I’ve learned to pay attention to what I resist. When I do, I usually discover new insights of who I am and how I am in the world.  Continue reading →

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Jul 30 2015
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Posts

Seeing Red in a Blue State

Seeing Red — a state of irritation or annoyance, the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed.

Blue State —refers to the states whose residents predominantly vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate.

Seeing red does not quite express the visceral, emotional response I have to living in Wisconsin under Scott Walker, our absentee Governor and now Republican Presidential candidate. Seething red is probably more accurate; however, by itself it does not encompass the cornucopia of feelings I have and the behavior it inspires including: shame, disgust, incredulity, rebellion, defiance, and galvanizing a call to action. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, calls him “the most divisive Wisconsin politician in living memory”

Seeing Red

Continue reading →

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Jul 07 2015
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Posts

Conversation w/My Next Wife

“Marriage responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there. It offers the hope of companionship and understanding and assurance that while both still live there will be someone to care for the other.” — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

Oh crap! I’m really in trouble now. Not only am I an older woman, I’m an older lesbian woman, and can now add to that list: older, lesbian, single, and now unmarried, woman. How did that happen? Yes, that’s a rhetorical question and I know the answer. Continue reading →

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Jun 21 2015
Posts

Conversations w/My Next Girlfriend: Episode 9

Note: This is the ninth episode in a series of imaginary conversations with my next girlfriend.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Dear Next Girlfriend,

It’s a cloudy, grey, overcast day — the eve of the Summer Solstice. Showers moved through the area earlier as thunder rumbled and tumbled in the distance. The sun is trying to find its way through the clouds overhead, outside the window where I write. The weather matches my mood as I hope to find the partly sunny outlook or the glass half full way of thinking before the longest day of the year arrives. I’m reflective. I know I’m mixing metaphors — it’s what I do. Continue reading →

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Jun 06 2015
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Posts

The Tale of Two Quilts

“What goes around comes around.” — The basic definition of how karma, the law of cause and effect, works.

“And in the end, the love you make is equal to the love you take.” — Lyrics from the Beatles song, The End, composed by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney. It was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles from the album, Abbey Road.

This is a tale of two quilts, two long-term relationships, two sisters and two lessons about karma.   Continue reading →

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May 23 2015
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Posts

Get Your Skates On!

“I want anyone who has ever said or felt that women are weak in any way to strap on a pair of skates and play two minutes of roller derby with them.”  — Emily Mills, “Hammer Abby,” Quad Squad, Mad Rollin’ Dolls

As a writer, I’m sometimes invited to participate in a collaborative project or respond to a writing prompt. The day before Mother’s Day, I had the pleasure of joining three writers for what was described as a “writing attack.” Each of us was to interpret the call-to-action in our own way. The assignment was for the blog, True Stories Well Told, managed by my reminiscence-writing coach and mentor, Sarah White, for her summer series, Season of Sports. Continue reading →

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May 20 2015
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Posts

What’s Up with Ketchup & Mustard?

“A household name is like ketchup. Everybody wants ketchup. Ketchup doesn’t hurt anybody.” — Louis C. K.

“Mustard’s no good without roast beef.” — Chico Marx

When my partnership of 15 years ended, 12 of which we lived together, I began asking myself a lot of questions. The obvious ones of course — what went wrong,  could I have saved the relationship, why didn’t I see this coming, did I become too complacent, did I take her for granted, did we simply lose interest in each other? Continue reading →

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