Mixed Metaphors

Aug 28 2021

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Pod Squad 2.0

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin

Last weekend, on Friday, I spent time with friends, celebrating a birthday on a pontoon boat on Lake Mendota in Madison, WI on a hot, beautiful, late summer day. The next morning, I had brunch outdoors with three Pod Squad members (some of my quarantine bubble of friends and family), and continued the birthday celebration of one of our members. On Sunday, I setup and staffed the OutReach Magic Pride Festival outdoors at Olin Turville Park. We watched the entertainment program and speakers on a Jumbotron screen while people picnicked.

When the weekend was over, I realized I spent more time with people than I have in over 18 months, many who I didn’t know if they were vaccinated or not, including Pod Squad members, friends, and members of my LGBTQ+ community, unmasked outdoors. There was no guarantee during the latter event that everyone was vaccinated. Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, COVID-19 Booster, COVID-19 Journal Project, Dispatch from the Hideout, Facemasks, Family, Father, Flu Shot, Friends, Madison, Pandemic, Pandemic of the unvaccinated, Pod Squad 2.0, Politics, Quarantine Bubble, Socially Distance, Unvaccinated, Vaccinated

Aug 22 2021

Posts

New Habits Are Hard to Make

…and old habits hard to break!

“You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks is a common phrase that means it is challenging to teach a person something new, usually because that person has been doing things a certain way for so long that they’re too stubborn to learn how to do it differently.”

Yes, full disclosure, I’m an old dog, living the first year of my seventh decade. In dog years, I’m 10 going on 11. I’m also at the threshold of changing habits, again. It’s challenging; I’ve been doing some of the same things for so long — the task of undoing them and replacing with new behaviors — seems impossible. Continue reading →

Tagged 12-Step Recovery, AA, Accountability, Change, Exercise, Family, Food, Habits, Healthy Eating, Old Wives' Tales, Osteoarthritis, Physical Therapy, Relationships, Self-Care, Slogans

Jul 31 2021

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Two Steps Back

“It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.” — Vladimir Lenin

“Captain, May I take two steps forward?” — Childhood backyard game

Yesterday, I traveled to Racine, Wisconsin to visit my 91-year-old father who gratefully remains independent, vaccinated, and healthy as he continues to live alone. Since I live 100 miles away, I can’t just drop-in for a quick visit and check-in on him. Prior to the pandemic, we scheduled a weekly phone date every Sunday, and I’d visit him in-person at least once a month The COVID-19 pandemic changed all that. Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, COVID-19 Journal Project, Death, Delta Variant, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Father, Friends, Home, Masks, Pandemic, The Loud Family, The New Normal, Two Steps Back, Vaccination

Jul 18 2021

Posts

Summer of Soul Revisited

“Memories are not the key to the past, but to the future.” — Corrie ten Boom

Memories provide us perspective on understanding the present from the lens of the past. Memories are also a portal to the future as lived experiences and our history are revisited by new generations. Continue reading →

Tagged Activism, Antiwar Movement, Civil Rights, Dick Gregory, Flower Children, Friends, Hippies, Madison, Memories, Music, Politics, Racine, San Francisco, Sixties, Star Trek, Summer of Love, Summer of Soul, University of Wisconsin, WNOV, Woodstock

Jul 11 2021

Posts

Safety/Danger

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” ― Jane Addams

Today’s essay takes a look at safety/danger as gun violence, mass shootings, hate crimes, and domestic terrorism are on the rise. Add climate change, infrastructure neglect, ransomware cyber attacks, and the continued spread of new COVID-19 variants and our safety and security are threatened. Safety and security are two of our most basic human needs, part of the foundation of the physiological requirements as described by Herbert Maslow in his paper in 1943, A Theory of Human Motivation and illustrated in his Hierarchy of Needs. Continue reading →

Tagged Big Lie, Climate Change, COVID-19, Cyberattacks, Danger, Equality, Gun Violence, Home, Homelessness, Infrastructure, Insurrection, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Oppression, Record-Breaking Temps, Safety, Surfside Condos Collapse

May 31 2021

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: My Post-Pandemic Life

“As a writer, I like words, their origin and meanings. Memory: Something remembered from the past; a recollection. Memorial: Something designed to preserve the memory of a person, event, as a monument or a holiday.” — from Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! With a Little Help from My Friends

First, the Memorial Day Holiday is a time to acknowledge and honor the men and women who have served our country in war and peace, and more importantly to work for peace in the world. It’s also a time I remember loved ones, friends, and colleagues who have died.

This year it’s also a return to some version of our pre-pandemic lives — a new normal — a post- pandemic life for those of us who’ve been fully vaccinated. Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, COVID-19 Journal, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Fathers, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Home, Loss, Love, Memorial Day, Memories, Mother, My Pandemic Year, My Post-Pandemic Life, Pod Squad, Post-Pandemic, Pre-Pandemic, Racine, Vaccination

May 02 2021

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Exit Strategy

“In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.” — Dave Hollis

As I write, it’s the day after May Day, this year the first Saturday in May, the traditional running of The Kentucky Derby. Attendance was, according to the Courier-Journal, “51,838 — a far cry from the usual 150,000-plus fans the race draws in a normal year, but one of the largest crowds at any event since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.” Many people who attended did not wear their required face masks, except around their neck, though they dressed up for the occasion donning their derby hats and costumes while sipping mint juleps and placing their bets. Continue reading →

Tagged 2021 Kentucky Derby, 2021 Wisconsin Film Festival, Back to Life, COVID-19, COVID-19 Journal Project, Dispatch from the Hideout, Exit Strategy, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Home, Madison, Next Steps, Pod Squad, Post-Pandemic, Racine, Relationships, The New Normal, The Road Forward

Apr 29 2021

Posts

Life Is Good. I’m Grateful. Thanks, H.P.!

For my Door County LGBTQ+ writer’s group, Write On, the prompt this month was ‘Thank You.’ At first, it didn’t seem inspiring, until I realized that thank you and gratitude are cut from the same whole cloth. As a person in recovery from substances and behaviors that no longer serve me, gratitude is an acknowledgement of the commitment and work that was required of me, and a thank you for the support I received from others, including a belief in a power greater than myself. Continue reading →

Tagged 12-Step Recovery, AA, Alcoholism, Blogging, Gratitude, Journaling, Journals, Memories, Personal Narratives, Recovery, Relationships, Sobriety, Thank You, Therapy, Write On, Writing Prompts

Apr 25 2021

Posts

Within these Walls: Moving Stories

Stories of Home

For my blog, Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! I’ve written numerous reminiscences and essays — over a dozen — about moving and home, and sadly, homelessness too. I probably have a book, or at least a collection of stories.

This fall during the pandemic, I wrote and submitted two stories in response to the theme, Within these Walls: Stories of Home for Forward Theater Co.’s (FTC) sixth Monologue Festival. I’ve submitted to five of the six monologue festivals, links to the monologues at the end of this story. For one of my submissions, I received my favorite rejection letter as a writer for the Someone’s Gotta Do It! Monologue Festival, for my submission Maria from the Sewing Room (and Gloria from the Lay-Up Department), which wasn’t selected, but made the semifinals out of 300 submissions. Continue reading →

Tagged Family, Forward Theater Co, Friends, Holding On, Home, Homelessness, Letting Go, Madison, Material Life, Memoir, Memories, Moving, Moving Stories, Personal Narratives, Racine, Reminiscences, Spoken Word Monologues, Wisconsin

Apr 25 2021

Posts

Within these Walls: Oral History

Stories of Home

As a writer, I write for different reasons. I journal to maintain a record of my life, to examine my life, reflect on the past, and look ahead to the future. As a reminiscence writer, I capture the stories of my lived experience and those of my family, friends, and loved ones. As an activist-essayist, I comment on the culture and politics of current events in hopes of galvanizing change.

I sometimes submit my work for consideration for the stage, screen, or publication. For me, those are the most challenging experiences as a writer. In addition to telling a story, I let go of control of whether it’s performed, viewed, or read by the target audience. I make myself vulnerable to the readers, producers, publishers and selection committees. My ego is in play. Continue reading →

Tagged Family, Fathers, Forward Theater Co, Home, Memoir, Mother, Oral History, Personal Narratives, Racine, Spoken Word Monologues, Stories, Wisconsin

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