Nov 01 2015
Posts

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 →

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Oct 18 2015
1 Comment
Posts

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 →

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Oct 05 2015
2 Comments
Posts

Random Topics

Historical Smoking, Coffee Naps, and Blog Writing & Babysitting

As a blogger, I mine my daily life for topics to write about. I set out to find something timely and meaningful, something that my readers can relate to, a universal message or lesson to discover in my lived experience. Another option is to choose a subject from the news of the day to comment on, however sometimes current events are tragically overwhelming, as in the gun violence and murders this week at a community college in Oregon, or the suicide of loved LGBTQ activist-youth who lost his battle with depression right here in Madison. In these cases I need time to sit with my feelings and formulate my thoughts before putting fingers to keyboard. Continue reading →

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Sep 20 2015
1 Comment
Posts

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
3 Comments
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
2 Comments
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
3 Comments
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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