Mixed Metaphors

Mar 05 2016

Posts

On the Move Again!

“The first step in getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” — Unknown

It’s that time of year in Madison, Wisconsin when U-Hauls and Two Men and a Truck will soon clog the streets. Popup curbside flea markets appear overnight as university students dump their second-hand furniture and poorly-assembled IKEA desks and bookcases rather than move them. It’s so commonplace that when student leases expire on August 15^th, we’ve dubbed it “Hippie Christmas.” Continue reading →

Tagged Aging in Place, Cohousing, Home, Letting Go, Madison, Moving, New Beginnings, Packing, Racine, Third Act, Third Place, Unpacking, UW Madison, UW Parkside, Wisconsin

Feb 13 2016

5 Comments

Posts

Gool: What Is It, Where Is It, How to Create It

Sometimes a subject for an essay is a found gem discovered in a friend’s Facebook post. Thank you Mark, friend and fellow writer, for posing this question, Gool: What Is It, Where Is It, How to Create It. Here’s Mark’s (minimally-edited) Facebook post:

“Remember when we were kids in elementary school at recess time playing tag? We had gool…that one place we could go to where we couldn’t be touched and made “It.” You remember that too? Here’s my question…now that we’re adults, where the *#%@ is gool? Because the last few months, I feel like I’ve been in a game of tag and I’m running…trying not to be made “It.” And I’m out of breath…could someone point me in the right direction, please?” Continue reading →

Tagged "It", Children's Games, Gool, Safe, Tag, Tag You're It!

Jan 31 2016

4 Comments

Posts

The Loud Family Loses a Loved One

We Say Goodbye to Our Matriarch

First, a little background: In 1973 American TV audiences were introduced to a groundbreaking 12-part documentary series on PBS entitled An American Family featuring the Louds, an upper middle class family in Santa Barbara, California. This was considered the first reality TV series. Keeping with its irreverent tradition of satirizing American culture, Saturday Night Live in season four, episode six, created its own Loud family, starring Jane Curtin as Mrs. Loud, Bill Murray as Mr. Loud and their daughters, Gilda Radner and guest host, Carrie Fisher with supporting characters played by John Belushi, Dan Ayckroyd and Garrett Morris. Continue reading →

Tagged Brother, Death, Ethel Mae Lenzke, Family, Father, Friends, Funeral, Grandmother, Grieving, Home, Loss, Love, Matriarch, Mother, Racine, Sisters, Stories, The Loud Family, Wife

Jan 10 2016

Posts

A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2015

First, as a filmgoer I want to begin by acknowledging that 2015 was an excellent year for movies. Blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens both entertained the filmgoing audiences and made money for the studios. Dramas and biopics told stories about people and events that shaped politics and culture, including Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in Love and Mercy, Steve Jobs in both documentary and narrative films about his life, the Cold War in Bridge of Spies, and the Blacklist of screenwriters accused of being Communists in 1950s Hollywood in Trumbo. The mortgage banking and financial crisis of Wall Street was portrayed in The Big Short, and one of the best films of the year, Spotlight, revealed the pervasive abuse of vulnerable children by Catholic priests in Boston and beyond by the investigative reporters of the Boston Globe. Continue reading →

Tagged Cinephile, Ethel Lenzke, Filmgoer's Guide to the Best Films, Films, LGBTQ, Movies, Roger Ebert, The Bechdel Test, Wisconsin Film Festival

Dec 26 2015

4 Comments

Posts

Full Moon on Christmas Day: Part II

Christmas Present and Christmas Future

“Your life will be a great and continuous unfolding. You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.” — Cheryl Strayed

This is Part II of a personal essay on the holidays. The subject of Part I was pre-holiday musings and reminiscing about childhood Christmas celebrations past. I’m grateful to my parents for their gifts to me, most importantly their love, nurturing, and support and for the delight I experienced on Christmas morning as a child when I saw the decorated tree and gift-wrapped presents.

Part II is also recognition that things change; we experience loss in our life as we age. Loved ones leave us, others die, and some traditions are more difficult to sustain. People move across country, move on from childhood to adulthood, and sometimes family members and loved ones create chasms too difficult to bridge. Continue reading →

Tagged AA, Christmas, Family, Family Traditions, Fathers, Films, Friends, Full Cold Moon, Full Moon, Holidays, Home, Matriarch, Memoir, Mothers, Movies, Relationships, Stories, Third Place

Dec 22 2015

1 Comment

Posts

Full Moon on Christmas Day: Part I

Pre-Holiday Musings & Memories of Christmas Past

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” — Laura Ingalls Wilder

“The bright moon glows amongst pines.” — Wang Wei

Christmas approaches and for those who celebrate this Christian holiday — or families like mine of Northern European heritage who practice a more Americanized consumer tradition —we are being treated to a Full Cold Moon on Christmas Day. The Full Cold Moon is also called the Long Night Moon by some Native American tribes because it’s near the Winter Solstice. Continue reading →

Tagged Childhood Memories, Christmas, Christmas Tree, Family, Family Traditions, Fifties, Full Cold Moon, Full Moon, Gifts, Holidays, Home, Ornaments, Racine, Santa, Sixties, Tinsel, Winter Solstice

Dec 12 2015

8 Comments

Posts

Conversations w/My Next Girlfriend: Episode 10

The Final Episode: This is the last in a series of imaginary conversations with my next girlfriend.

Dear Next Girlfriend,

It’s time. It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. I’ve been having lots of one-way conversations in my head with my ex-girlfriend and you — my next girlfriend. I’ve been living in the past, or imagining the future. As I said, it’s time. It’s time to be in the moment, in the here and now, and accept, yes, fully accept, that I’m single and I’m okay — all that TM (Transactional Analysis) self-help, self-talk from the bestselling self-help book I’m Okay, You’re Okay from 1969 that in 1972 made the New York Times Best Seller List. Next girlfriend, it’s not exactly like we’re breaking up — we never got together! Continue reading →

Tagged Dating, Divorce, Lesbian, Love, Marriage, Open Marriage, Recovery, Relationships, Serial Monogamy, Third Act, Transactional Analysis

Nov 29 2015

Posts

Waxing Sentimental

Nostalgia: (n.) a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

Tomorrow, Monday, November 30^th is Cyber Monday. It’s the online equivalent of Black Friday, the Monday following Thanksgiving when people return to work and shop online and take advantage of deep discounts and promotions. In late November 2005, The New York Times reported: “The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked.” Continue reading →

Tagged Baby Boomers, Bookstores, Brick & Mortar, Cyber Monday, E-Commerce, Films, Madison, Movies, Music, Nostalgia, Online Retailers, Racine, Record Stores, Seventies, Sixties, Third Place, Tower Records, Video Stores

Nov 21 2015

2 Comments

Posts

The Little Black Dress

Full disclosure: My little black dress is actually pretty big.

It’s been years since I bought or wore a dress. In fact, I can’t even remember when I last did. I’ve worn skirts, mostly in professional settings, and I’ve managed over the years to dress appropriately for both professional and personal occasions in pants or suits. Continue reading →

Tagged 1970s, Consciousness-Raising, Dresses, Fashion, Feminism, Femme, Funerals, Little Black Dress, Second Wave Feminisim

Nov 15 2015

3 Comments

Posts

The Power of Circles

“I get by with a little help from my friends.” — Lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Last weekend I attended a recovery enrichment workshop at Edgewood College presented by Fred Holmquist of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Dan Anderson Renewal Center. The experience was a powerful reminder of the role recovery circles have played in my life. Over the years I’ve sat in many circles in outpatient treatment, aftercare, 12-step meetings, and retreats. Yet this is simply one sphere of my life where circles of friends and peers have empowered me. Continue reading →

Tagged 12-Steps, AA, Activism, Anti-War Movement, Campfires, Civil Rights, Consciousness-Raising, Death, Family, Feminism, Friends, Lesbian, Power of Circles, Recovery, Second Wave of Feminism

Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.