Point Made

If you spend anytime online, you’ve encountered attempts to engage you in an activity that can  result in loss of your identity, money, or reputation.  For example, there’s the plea from a desperate individual who needs a short-term loan from you to meet their immediate dilemma. It might be a blatant request with a now or never deadline. It might be someone building a relationship with you for a down-the-line scam. These people are often very sophisticated with their approach. They will tailor their presentation to the type of people they want to approach. Therefore, a fellow my age gets requests on social media to like, follow and chat with young women. The typical approach is to cast themselves as either a single woman or a single mom who is lonely and seeking companionship. The pictures they post feature them seductively clothed and posed.  Now let me make a point here. They are clothed, but everything they wear, from tights to a bikini, is about one and one-half sizes...

 I self-published a book along with some friends in the mid-nineties. It was a collection of fiction, slice of life articles, and poetry. The experience was eye-opening for different reasons. The most disappointing result was we didn't sell very many of them. Also, the editing job we did was not flawless. And then the one I never saw coming. It was people's reaction to what I wrote. More than one person approached me and told me what they got from my fiction. Upon hearing their comments, I thought they had my work confused with something else they were reading. I learned that many of us interrupt stories in ways compatible with our experiences and beliefs. Such factors are going to color how the reader digest the story. When I published my novel, 26 Women, I clarified that my protagonist was not my alter ego, as some of my pre-readers suggested. I stated in the preface that his experiences were not autobiographical.  I learned a writer can use this tendency of readers to writ...

 ...leg.  I'm feeling a dull discomfort in my left leg. At times, it feels like a hamstring strain. It can crawl around the leg to emanate from above my knee or settle near the hip joint. The hip pain concerned me as the self-diagnosis of hip replacement haunted me in the ten days I waited for my appointment with the orthopedic doctor. My new orthopedic doctor showed me why it's happening. Leaving all the details in the file, the pain results from the repair to my patella tendon. The cadaver material they use is stretching with use, and it will not retract. He explained that I could have surgery to tighten up the tendon, but I'd end up with the same problem in a couple of years. So given the surgery, rehabilitation, and the short benefit period, He didn't recommend it, and I agree. So I'm more or less stuck with using anti-inflammatories to control the discomfort. It took me a couple of days to figure out that ibuprofen was raising hell with my stomach, and the Tyle...

 I usually lock the door to my room. When I'm sitting at my desk, my back is to the door. I often wear a headset because I listen to music, a podcast, a soccer game, etc., while I'm sketching or painting. So it wasn't surprising she slipped in, but how did she get through the locked door? If the truth is told, Forsynthia got into my digs before I closed and locked the door.  In my mind, she bound up on the bed and looked over my shoulder like a teacher assessing a student's work. Before you think I've lost my mind, I must tell you Forsynthia is a ghost. She lives in the nether waiting for mother nature to send her back in another form. For her sake, I hope it's a woman who keeps much of the knowledge she acquired as a cat. Forsynthia is the former Crown Princess of the House of Holthaus - Jordan in the Kingdom of Sammamish, WA. What is strange is I didn't have a close relationship with her. First, I didn't visit the family that many times. And second, Fo...

 Shameless Plugs for impressive performances. As part of The Rep's outreach program, they partnered with The Zeidler Group to facilitate after-performance conversations about their play. This is the 5th year of this practice, and they are doing it with Antonio's Song . The play is a 90-minute coming-of-age tale about a mixed-race boy maturing into a young father with a five-year-old son. The performance is impressive. We can't visually watch him mature, but his actions, dialects, and speech carry us through his story. It is the story of a man living in the Bronx where the blacks don't like the Puerto Ricans, and the Puerto Ricans don't like the blacks. Antonio's father is Puerto Rican, and his mother is black. His friends of both races fight for survival on the streets where violence is the capital that guarantees your survival. Through several experiences, Antonio discovers a never could be dreamed-of adulthood, a wife he loves, and a child he cherishes. He als...

There's little doubt that many people dream of being a strong and successful leader. However, if there's anything movie drama about such people shows us, be careful what you wish for. If Game Of Thrones, Knightfall, The Witcher, Vikings, and Medici is based the playbook on becoming a leader, then many people have to die either by your direction or your hand for you to acquire your throne. Spiritualism and a belief in magic deter the motivation of many pretenders. But a belief in God and fate allows others to be more motivated. The nordic hordes, believing that their lives are fated and will go to Valhalla if they die honorably in battle, are vicious and rarely respect their enemies unless they are skillful fighters. The Chrisitan fighters are content that their place in the afterlife is guaranteed if they die for Christ while fighting the infidels. Infidel is a loose term that can be applied to anyone trying to overthrow their King. The same zealotry can be found amongst the M...

 Actual winter weather has arrived at the City by the Inland Sea. Throughout November and December, Milwaukee flirted with seasonal temperatures and zero snowfall. We are now experiencing zero windchill and occasional snow showers. For me, this means concern for where did I store my gloves and balaclava. I also have to break out the scarves that actually work to keep me warm instead of being an accessory that makes me look more European. (Oh yeah, I do that.) Many of us have this love-hate relationship with snow. We're depressed when we don't have a white Christmas. We complain when we have to shovel or blow it. It's 'pretty' when it first falls and ugly as it ages in piles of gray decay. We have a roller-coaster temperature experience along with the snow, with high temperatures below freezing and lows in the single digits. Then, as mentioned above, you add wind that ranges from 10 mph and occasional gusts of more than 35 mph, and you're talking about possible s...