Mixed Metaphors

Jun 20 2020

Posts

The New Abnormal

Normal – conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.

Abnormal – deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying.

As I write it’s the Summer Solstice. Here in Madison, Wisconsin, my home, it’s traditionally been celebrated, pagan-style, with bonfires and festivities marking the longest day of the year at Olbrich Park on Lake Monona. near my home.

“In northern European countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, Midsummer is a festive celebration. When the summer days are at their longest, and in the north, it is the time of the Midnight Sun, festivals generally celebrate the summer and the fertility of the Earth.” Continue reading →

Tagged Activism, Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, DACA, Defund the Police, George Floyd, Greenwood District, Junteenth, Pandemic, Photo-Op, Power to the People, Presidential Polls, Protests, Racism, Summer Solstice, Supreme Court, The New Abnormal, Trump, Tulsa Rally, William Barr

May 23 2020

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Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: What Was, What Will Be

“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood…back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time…” — Thomas Wolfe

On the Friday before the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, I reminisced about holidays past. Years ago, a group of friends nicknamed, ‘The Orphans,’ would plan an annual camping trip to Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek in Door County, Wisconsin. We dubbed these one of the ‘The Orphan Holidays.’ From a vignette from my memoir in the works, Perfectly Flawed. Continue reading →

Tagged Coronavirus, COVID-19, Death, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Holidays, Home, Loss, Pandemic, Physical Isolation, Relationships, Skin Hunger, Social Distancing, The Road Ahead, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Historical Society Journal Project

May 11 2020

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Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Skin Hunger

“Touch is the first language we speak.” — Stephen Gaskin

“Touch has a memory.” — John Keats

As I continue to chronicle my COVID-19 journey in this seventh in a series of dispatches from the hideout, I’m faced with identifying my fundamental needs as I socially distance. I’m reminded by op-ed pieces that more precisely — we’re physically distancing — that we can still reach out and interact with each other virtually — or at a safe distance of six feet in small groups of people.

Though I’ve started to work at my new job at an LGBTQ+ community center, it remains closed to the public which it serves. A small group of staff, including part-time advocates like myself, provide services and plan for an uncertain future, aka, the new normal. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work and to collaborate with others again, especially since I’ve spent, for the most part, the past almost 10 weeks, physically alone. Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Home, Pandemic, Quaranteaming, Quarantine, Safer-at-Home, Shelter-in-Place, Single, Skin Hunger, Social Distancing, Spring Fever, Touch, Wisconsin

Apr 29 2020

2 Comments

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Back to Life

“It’s back to normal, but it’s a different normal. It’s not the same as it was before, but people are getting back to work. Life goes on. ― Eric Young

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ― Maya Angelou

On May 1^st it’s back to life, a return to some degree of normal, however, it will certainly be different, a new normal. I return to work and begin a new job as an LGBTQ+ AODA Advocate. I’m grateful. Continue reading →

Tagged Back to Life, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Death, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Home, Memoir, Pandemic, Personal Narratives, Safer-at-Home, Shelter-in-Place, The New Normal

Apr 22 2020

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Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Stirred Crazy

For this next installment of Dispatch from the Hideout, I originally planned on writing about how I became stir crazy as I sheltered-in-place and stayed-at-home alone. Instead, following Trump’s LIBERATE Tweets which fueled demonstrations by his supporters in a number of states, I’ve changed the focus to an opinion piece, Stirred Crazy.

Stir Crazy

One benefit from the pandemic experience is I’ve learned that I’m able to thrive on my own, while still desiring social, physical, emotional, and spiritual connection with others, including loved ones and a larger community. Continue reading →

Tagged Coronavirus, COVID-19, Demonstrations, Dispatch from the Hideout, Governor Tony Evers, LIBERATE, Pandemic, Politics, Protests, Rallies, Shelter-in-Place, Stay-at-Home, Stir Crazy, Stirred Crazy, Trump, Wisconsin

Apr 12 2020

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Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Home Alone Easter Holiday

Like most holidays I celebrated as a child, Easter was a hybrid of religious traditions, the social culture from the generation in which I grew up, and our own ethnic and family rituals, which we repeated in some fashion every year.

Easter Holidays Past

Note: Includes excerpts from Poop Eggs & Lamb Cakes

Today is the Easter Holiday and Passover. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, my family had many traditions which we repeated every year, some with glee, and others with complaints. On Easter Saturday, we’d color eggs, which the Easter Bunny would hide that night. Mom boiled two or three dozen as our family grew. She’d cover the kitchen table with newspaper and the kids would crowd around it with our crayons, the white wax marker to write our names, a spoon in hand ready to dip the eggs in the assembly line of Easter egg dye in her Corelle coffee cups. Continue reading →

Tagged Dispatch from the Hideout, Easter, Easter Brunch, Family, Family Traditions, Fathers, Friends, Holidays, Home, Home Alone, Lamb Cake, Memoir, Mother, Movies, Pandemic, Poop Eggs, Racine, Seasons, Shelter-in-Place, Spring, Stories

Apr 06 2020

2 Comments

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Home Alone Edition

“There’s a difference between solitude and loneliness.” — Maggie Smith

“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is richness of self.” ― May Sarton

This past week I hit the wall to use a metaphor. The difference between solitude and loneliness became viscerally clear. I consider myself someone who enjoys my own company and solitude, who goes to great lengths to protect it, and over the years has learned to be both independent and resilient, two skills critical to survive the pandemic. Continue reading →

Tagged 12-Steps, AA, Alone, COVID-19, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Home Alone, Loneliness, Pandemic, Recovery, Shelter-in-Place, Sobriety, Social Distancing, Solitude, Stay-at-Home, Tools to Survive the Pandemic

Mar 21 2020

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Pandemic Edition

“If you lived here, you’d be home by now.” — Firesign Theater

Yes, I’m home, homebound, socially distancing, not quite in a lockdown, not totally self-quarantining. I’m staying in, doing my civic duty to protect our community and to keep myself healthy. Do I get a Girl Scout Badge for that?

I’ve been socially distancing to some degree since February 28^th when I was laid-off from my job which was eliminated due to a company reorganization. In the interim, I’ve conducted a job search, applied and received Unemployment Compensation, registered at the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Job Center, and gratefully, interviewed for a couple of positions before the community spread of COVID-19 changed everything. I also had a few dates with friends for coffee and/or brunch. I delivered birthday cards to my niece Gemma and nephew Quinn. With their mother, my sister, Tami, we visited outside, 6-feet apart, and I elbow-bumped my brother-in-law, Ron. All that has now ended too. Continue reading →

Tagged 12-Step Recovery, AA, AA during an Outbreak, Ambivert, COVID-19, Dispatch from the Hideout, Films, Home, Lockdown, Pandemic, Quarantine, Social Distancing, Social Media, Staycation, Wisconsin Film Festival, Work, Zoom

Mar 01 2020

1 Comment

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Social Distancing

Definition of Social Distancing (Medical) – “Protecting the public health by separating communities so that people who are stricken with a contagious illness cannot pass it on to others who are not. It includes, e.g., having children stay out of school when they are ill; closing workplaces, postponing meetings, and avoiding large social or religious gatherings or sporting events. It is designed to stop the spread of epidemics or pandemics but is not as strict a limitation on social interaction as quarantine.” — Source: The Medical Dictionary – thefreedictionary.com

Definition of Social Distancing (Psychological) – “…describes the distance between different groups in society, such as social class, race/ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Different groups mix less than members of the same group. It is the measure of nearness or intimacy that an individual or group feels towards another individual or group in a social network or the level of trust one group has for another and the extent of perceived likeness of beliefs.” — Source: Wikipedia

This is the fifth in a series of Dispatches from the Hideout which I began writing three years ago. This is the first installment of my COVID-19 dispatches written during the pandemic. Continue reading →

Tagged Affective Distancing, Aging, Baby Boomer, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Dispatch from the Hideout, Forced Retirement, Interactive Distancing, Laid-Off, Normative Distancing, Pandemic, Partisan Politics, Social Distancing, Terminated, The graying of America, Unemployed

Feb 14 2020

1 Comment

Posts

Hungover: A Madison Story Slam Baptism

“True stories from the heart of Madison, WI. Host Adam Rostad brings storytellers together to tell true stories based on a theme, from real people.” — From the Madison Story Slam website.

This is the second in a series on local story slams. The first installment was First Person Production’s, Sarah White’s, audience-member takeaway of a recent Moth StorySLAM, which she shared on her blog, True Stories Well Told. Click on the link following my story.

Continue reading →

Tagged Blackout, Drunkalogue, Madison Story Slam, Moth StorySlam, Recovering Alcoholic, Sarah White, Spoken Word Monologues, Stand-Up Comedy, Story Slams, Storytelling, True Stories Well Told

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