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
Mixed Metaphors
Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.
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
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
Waxing Sentimental
Nostalgia: (n.) a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.
Tomorrow, Monday, November 30th 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
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
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
Living the Mole Life
“…we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold into the dark with you.” ― Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
Last night was Halloween, also known as Hallow’s Eve or Samhain, the Celtic festival that bridges fall and winter, when people light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts and the darkness. On State Street here in Madison, Wisconsin it was Freakfest. Before we went to bed, we turned our clocks back an hour; it was the last day of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and though we gained an extra hour of sleep, we begin living the mole life again. Continue reading
Great Escapes: Coloring Inside the Lines
This past summer, adult coloring books were 6 of the top 20 bestsellers on Amazon, which inarguably makes it an emerging trend. From Huffpost, clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis and Souris Hong, author of bestselling adult coloring book Outside the Lines, “There is a long history of people coloring for mental health reasons,” Michaelis says. “Carl Jung used to try to get his patients to color in mandalas at the turn of the last century, as a way of getting people to focus and to allow the subconscious to let go. Now we know it has a lot of other stress-busting qualities as well.” Continue reading