Lysistrata | Mixed Metaphors

May 12 2024

Posts

The Third Place Project

In Search of a Home Away from Home & Work

“Your third place should come with a sense of ease and offer respite from the world without removing you from it altogether.” — Emily McGowan

As I write, tomorrow is Monday and I return to work. I’m grateful. In my 7^th decade, I’m living an engaging, meaningful, and satisfying balanced life. I work half-time, Mondays-Thursdays, doing work that is a passion rather than a vocation. Work provides an opportunity to give back to my community at the same time it supports me financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Work is my ‘second place.’ Continue reading →

Tagged Ancora Maple Bluff, Apple Island, Chocolaterian, First Place, Hotel Washington, Lakeside St. Coffeehouse, Linden Cohousing, Lysistrata, Northstreet, Ray Oldenburg, Second Place, Sundance 608, The Great Good Place, Third Place

Oct 17 2021

Posts

Funny, Not Funny!

“When an idea first strikes you as funny, then you quickly realize its seriousness, and the funniness disappears, leaving you only with the feeling of how not funny it really is.” — Urban Dictionary

The past week there’s been a spotlight on Dave Chappelle’s new stand-up comedy performance, The Closer, streaming on Netflix. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I paid close attention to the early reviews and scathing criticism of his transphobic and misogynist material. At the suggestion of a friend whose humor I appreciate — which is often politically incorrect yet delivers a thought-provoking message — I decided to watch Chappelle’s The Closer. Continue reading →

Tagged AA, Apple Island, Artistic Freedom, Big Dyke, Cancel Culture, Comedy, Dave Chapelle, Freedom of Speech, Funny...Not Funny!, GALVAnize Pride, Improv, Lesbian, LGBTQ, Lysistrata, Madison, Misogyny, Netflix, Spoken Word Monologues, The Closer, Transphobia

Dec 31 2019

Posts

Memories Are Made of This: Grief & Gratitude

“Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.” — Oscar Wilde

“Sometimes it only takes one song to bring back a thousand memories.” — Unknown

It’s in fact a song that inspired the title of this essay and reminiscence. I don’t consider it a favorite in my playlist, however, the title captures the spirit of this blog post. It was a popular song about nostalgia. It’s been performed by country western singers like Jim Reeves, The Everly Brothers, and Johnny Cash, and covered by crooners like Dean Martin and Bing Crosby. Full disclosure, for me, it’s the title that captures the essence of the song’s meaning. Our lived experiences create our memories. Continue reading →

Tagged ERA, Family, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Intentions, Looking Backward, Looking Forward, Lysistrata, Megan Campbell, Memoir, Memories, New Decade, New Year, Nostalgia, NYE, Relationships, Reminiscence, Romantic Friendships

Dec 15 2019

Posts

Confessions of a Blogger: Conversations with Myself

“My blog musings are conversations with myself to which you’re invited to listen.” — Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!

I’ve lived alone now for almost a dozen years. It changes a person, or in the very least, it changed me. As someone with a history of codependency, I’ve been other or outward-oriented. In the past, I often looked outside of myself to gauge how I was feeling or what I was thinking. Gratefully, recovery and therapy put the focus back on me. Now I ask, “What am I feeling? What are my thoughts?”

The tradeoff is at home — and sometimes in my office at work or in public — I talk to myself out loud. When I first started living alone and talking aloud, I worried about this behavior. I soon reminded myself of a couple of characteristics that I possess, I’m an auditory person, and for the most part, socially extroverted, though the longer I’ve lived alone, the more introverted I’ve become. I now consider myself an ambivert. Continue reading →

Tagged Activism, Blogging, Family, Friends, Journaling, Journalism, Journey, Legacy, Lysistrata, Memoir, Personal Narratives, Politics, Publishing, Recovery, Reminiscence, Stories, Talking to Myself, Writing

Jun 30 2019

2 Comments

Posts

Random Topics III

Sober Bars, Emotional Labor, and Salad Frosting

“So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.” — Sidney Poitier

“Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.” — Eric Hoffer

From the introduction of the first in the series of Random Topics:

“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.”

“I’m often left to choose from the mundane or subjects that pique my curiosity. When this happens, the only common theme is the randomness of my choices. Today, I offer three random topics with absolutely no connection or relation to each other at least that I’m aware of at the outset of this essay. Perhaps as I write, I may discover the subtle relationships that bind them together. Life is like that.” Continue reading →

Tagged AA, Al-Anon, Coffeehouses, Connecting the Dots, Division of Labor, Emotional Labor, Gay Bars, Hotel Washington, LGBTQ Bars, Low & No-ABV Cocktails, Lysistrata, Mocktails, Random Topics, Recovery, Salad Frosting, Sober Bars, Sober Curious, Stonewall In

Oct 27 2017

1 Comment

Posts

Remembering Jane

Jane Rowe 3/25/1932 -10/19/2017

Jane was many things to many people. To me, she was a friend, the mother of a friend, Michele, the spouse or partner of friends, Carol, Bea, and Elthea, a mentor, a member of a fellowship we shared, and my first sponsor in that fellowship. Together with other women we founded a peer support recovery center WISH (Women in Support and Healing) which continued to sponsor meetings after the doors closed. I had the privilege of recording Jane’s oral history interview for the University of Wisconsin – Madison Libraries Oral History Program, LGBT Community, 1960s-Present. Continue reading →

Tagged A Room of One's Own, AA Sponsor, Alcoholics Anonymous, Community Elder, Feminism, Jane Rowe, Lizzards, Lysistrata, Madison, Mentor, Morgan's, Oral History Interview, Reminiscence, School Librarian, Social Justice, Spirituality, UW Library, Wisconsin, WISH House, Women's Community, Women's Softball

Mixed Metaphors

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

Tag Archives: Lysistrata

The Third Place Project

Funny, Not Funny!

Memories Are Made of This: Grief & Gratitude

Confessions of a Blogger: Conversations with Myself

Random Topics III