Point Made

 All Saints Cathedral Used Book sale took in over $27,000.00. The proceeds will go to fight hunger in the area. I'm so proud of my compadres in this venture. We handled a record number of books by performing a record number of volunteer person-hours. Oriental Theater I attended one of the welcome to the renovated Oriental Theater programs. While some of the work, including a badly needed renovated balcony, is still in progress. The repaired walls,  new seating,  carpeting, and LED lighting are obvious improvements. In addition, the projection room, new bathrooms, the lady's room on the main floor, the concession stand, and the sound engineering will make things better for everyone. Hats off to the board and staff at Milwaukee Film. Well done. Hazah! Diversity in Fim As part f the reintroduction of the theater space. Milwaukee film is promoting their annual Cultures and Community Film Festival. Beginning with an appearance by actress vocalist and film star Michelle William...

 ...they pull me back in.." Paraphrasing Sonny from the Godfather series. He was lamenting his need to run the family business. His family is a branch of the American Mafia. Our plight is the COVID pandemic. Three weeks ago, I sadly predicted the increased danger of COVID cases spiking as Milwaukee fans jammed into the "Deer District" and millions of other people went on vacation. Many, if not a more significant percentage, of these folks, were vaccinated. Yet cases of Covid increased across the county. Mainly because of the Delta Variant's more remarkable ability to infect and spread. This coupled with many adults refusing to vaccinate and Delta's attacks on young adults and children. I am deeply concerned about sending kids back to school. In particular, in cases where parents claim their children's rights not to use safe practices like social distancing and masks. In addition, the fact that some teachers are refusing to be vaccinated doubly concerns their ...

 How passionately we love to disagree. I read a quote from an article from  The Atlantic . Paraphrasing the quote, a nurse from a COVID burdened hospital said that unvaccinated patients were going to their death, maintaining that the pandemic was hoax. That's like St Joan of Arc saying that the fire isn't what distressed her; it was the lack of a view from the direction she was facing. BooK Sale: I'm going to post early this week. I want to give everyone a chance to enhance their library of books, DVDs, and Music CDs for what amounts to give away prizes at the All Saints Cathedral Hunger Book Sale. We're located at the corner of Juneau and Marshall. We'll be open from 11:00am until 6:00pm, until Tuesday of this next week. Clearance prices start on Sunday. If you're are into fiction we've got like-new hardcover copies of recently published well-known authors for five dollars and less.  They are going fast, but there's a delightful collection of children...

 My goodness, it was hot. Fortunately, the dew points were only in the uncomfortable range for part of the five days of 90 degree plus temperatures. The high humidity sticky feeling is the reason the atmosphere sucks the energy out of us. I got mildly dehydrated for one of the days. I was feeling lethargic and slightly nauseated. It was only after drinking a lot of water and taking a rather long nap that I began to recover. It was a typical attack. The saying is, "if you are feeling bad and thirsty, it's too late your already dehydrated." If you can afford the co-pay, an easy way to get better fast is to go to the ER and have a saline drip. A cheaper way is to consume some Gatorade-type drink. It contains electrolytes that take care of business rather quickly.  I worked as a volunteer at the Western Open in Chicago. The tournament took place in July and was notorious for the hot weather. We were advised to drink a large bottle of Gatorade before we got to the event. On to...

 Like many of us older people, I'm self encouraged to make arrangements for "that day." I'm saving enough money to prepay for my cremation. I have a list of small items I'd like to pass on to specific people, mostly grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And I'm arranging for my other stuff to be taking out of wherever I live and disposed of. What I want to pass on is my creative work. Some of my photography is from what I call the wet film age. What's left is in some amazingly heavy albums. My digital photography work and collection of family photography taken by other family members and me is on the cloud. A lot of my writing is parked out in the ether, such as my stories, plays, and blogs also, but there are some things in my logbooks and notebooks that I've kept. I have no idea how many pieces I will have published, but the files will be on the cloud. Then there are my sketches and my vain attempt to watercolor paint. That is all going to New Mexi...

 To do or not to do is the question. I have some strange options on my desk. My daily tasks are easily scheduled. I peruse my email, look through Instagram and Facebook, and read Urban Milwaukee, the Guardian, and BBC. I work on whatever sketch is on the top of the pad. This is not the greatest scan of one of my most recent pieces. It does not pick up the detailed shading.  I call this  Girl with a Hijab. Most of my models are screenshots from Instagram or movies I watch. Then I work on my latest creative writing effort,  a screenplay entitled  Two Many Wives.  I've submitted a one-hour pilot to Taleflix for evaluation and possible production. I' have completed the first season of the one-hour pilot and ten half-hour episodes, and I'm working on the second season.  My friend Gail and other more professional writers would ask, why keep writing until you get the green light? As the title indicates, this is about a much more Modern Family.  So think ...

 I'm volunteering at one of my neighborhood churches for their annual used book sale. The proceeds from this effort a directed to feed the hungry. My job is to sort books into some rather broad categories.  We separate fiction from nonfiction in two piles, hardcover and softcover.  There is a special designation for Religious/Philosophy/Self Hel p, Children's , Blank, and the junk drawer of book sorting, Poetry, Plays, and Music . (This category includes mostly picture books of almost any subject, travel books that describe destinations of interest, not hotels and restaurant guides, and humor books There is a category that is custom sorted by a specialist called Reference. This pile contains dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar, and quotations. We sorters have the discretion to discard books into a recycle box. Books are deemed unsaleable because they are damaged, old, out of date, or foreign language. Frequently discarded books in good condition are computer or compute...