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All the World is Birthday Cake
You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. Bob Hope Last week I had another one of those birthday things. It wasn’t one that ends in zero, so it didn’t have the gravitas of a big transition. Still, I am of the belief that even these lesser-milestone birthdays are special… Continue reading
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The North Shore Simple Life
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight Joseph Brackett I am a Cancer and us Cancers find great comfort in the familiar. I… Continue reading
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Through Another’s Eyes
There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago. J. Robert Oppenheimer After hearing my youngest daughter-in-law rave about it, I bought the game Do You Really Know Your Family. The game is comprised of… Continue reading
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Reframing Aging
My position has always been that the way people age and the signs that we show of aging is nature’s way of tattooing. It’s natural scarification, and the life you lead gives you the symbols and the emblems of your life, the road map you followed. Frances McDormand As I wrote about in my article… Continue reading
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No Kings
The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance. Thomas Paine Very early Saturday morning, a misguided MAGA follower assassinated a Minnesota state legislator and her husband and severely wound another legislator and his wife. Both legislators were Democrats. After a gunfight from which the killer escaped, the police found a… Continue reading
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A Spoonful of Laughter
Holding onto anger and resentment harms you, whereas forgiveness brings joy. Twelve-step groups consist of diverse individuals and are not religious; they promote personal interpretations of a higher power. Laughter plays a crucial role in recovery, enabling individuals to view addiction differently, foster connection, and heal their egos, ultimately transforming their lives. Continue reading
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My Big Year
Some sweet dayI’ll make her mine, pretty flamingoThen every guy will envy me‘Cause paradise is where I’ll be Mark Barkan Linda and I recently watched the 2011 movie The Big Year. Despite the star power of Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, it was a box office flop. It cost around $41 million to… Continue reading
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The Man With the Bag / The ICE Man Cometh
Eating chocolate cake in a bag. John Lennon I have an interesting background. Mom and Dad were born in the coal-mining area of Pennsylvania. Dad’s parents emigrated from Poland and Mom’s grandparents came from Poland (grandfather) and Czechoslovakia (grandmother). I was born and raised in Arizona and became an amalgamation of the American Southwest, Eastern… Continue reading
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The Unselfish Vegetarian
People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times. Isaac Bashevis Singer I was listening to The Splendid Table… Continue reading
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Mom
It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful? Mahatma Gandhi My mother, Bernadine Mary Hazinski Prokop, passed away this past Friday at 4:40 a.m. Arizona Time. She was 98 years old. There is much that I would like to say about Mom, but it’s too early in… Continue reading
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Variations on a Theme
Hapy, the ancient god of the Nile, depicted at Dendera with Cleopatra, is typically shown with breasts – symbolism that demonstrated how the life-giving gifts of Egypt’s river artery come only when the power of both female and male was combined. Bettany Hughes Variation One I can still recall a reoccurring dream I had around… Continue reading
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Still Marching After All These Years
I think there’s a weapon of cynicism to say, ‘Protest doesn’t work. Organizing doesn’t work. Y’all are a bunch of hippies. You know, it doesn’t do anything,’ because, frankly, it’s said out of fear, because it is a potent force for political change. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez I have been to a lot of rallies over the… Continue reading
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Somebody Somewhere
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. Lao Tzu I have always been a stumbler. I create lofty plans regarding where I want to be and what I need to do to get there only to see my journey become a series of accidents, pitfalls, switchbacks, and wrong… Continue reading
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How Old Am I
If I had to choose just one dayTo last my whole life throughIt would surely be that SundayThe day that I met you George David Weiss “How old am I?” She looked up from her book. “What?” “I said, how old am I?” “Don’t be silly. You know how old you are.” “I want you… Continue reading
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This I Shout Loudest: Scenes From the Resistance
Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight. Bob Marley In Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell sang, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.” Although she was singing about the environment, she could have just as easily written the song about our American… Continue reading
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A Day of Visibility
All of us are put in boxes by our family, by our religion, by our society, our moment in history, even our own bodies. Some people have the courage to break free. Geena Rocero I have said and done far too many unkind and thoughtless things in my life. Some are long forgotten, but there… Continue reading
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Pollyanna, Radical Feminist
Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it. Chuck Palahniuk I have secret pleasure. I adore 1950s and 1960s live-action Disney movies. I suspect that much of that has to do with my childhood. I have very powerful memories of piling into… Continue reading
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Entirely Ready
I have to be composed; I have to be poised. I have to remember what my first piano teacher told me: ‘You do not touch that piano until you are ready and until they are ready to listen to you. Nina Simone It has been a few months since I wrote A Fearless and Moral… Continue reading
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The Art of No
Letting go helps us to to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress. Melody Beattie In 1964, as an 8th… Continue reading
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Teenage Crash and Burn
When I was a teenager, I was an ultra late bloomer, and my mom would say it was a blessing because it means you never have to wonder if guys are only interested in you because you’ve got boobs. Anna Kendrick I recently came upon the following: A survey conducted by the Survey Center on… Continue reading
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Can You Hear Me Now 