Most of us are celebrating and honoring those first responders to Covid-19 and other major health and disaster issues especially in this month of Labor Day. We’ve taken them for granted in the past, but recently we have been putting them up front and center recognizing their tireless work in these, “the worst of times.” They represent some of the traits in people that are good about our country: bravery, resilience, compassion, dedication, and respect ...
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As I write this I have just returned from the grocery store with quite a few bags of food. I don’t have to think about what I can buy or how much, but there are those in our city and country who can’t even go to the grocery store let alone buy sufficient food for themselves or their families. In this rich country of plenty, no one should have to go hungry, but there are ...
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As we celebrate our freedom from the tyranny of being ruled by a country across the ocean, I would like to be able to celebrate freedom for all of us in this country: black, white, brown, Native Americans, Asian Americans, LGBTQ, immigrants, refugees, and all other people who call the US home. This is a huge country; there is room for all of us to live peacefully and together. I’m not sure why we aren’t ...
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I have been reading my poetry occasionally on a virtual open mic based in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is called Wednesday Night Poetry, WNP. For almost all its life, it has been live in person in a coffee shop in Hot Springs – until the pandemic struck. Because it is the longest running open mic in the country, Kai Coggin, the host, took it to Facebook to keep it going. We send videos of our ...
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Anna Jarvis created Mother’s Day in the US in 1907 when she celebrated her mother in a memorial service at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. She lobbied to make it a national holiday, and in 1914 Woodrow Wilson declared it a national holiday to be celebrated on the second Sunday in May. It originally was meant to be dedicated to peace, as Anna Jarvis was a peace activist, but it wasn’t long ...
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My magnolias are blooming in full! They started a couple of weeks ago during a very cold snap, and I told them I hoped they wouldn’t be disappointed. They carried on, however, and in what seemed to be only hours, they burst open to spring. The air is full of their fragrance, and fallen blossoms carpet the new grass coming up. I guess it was time after all. Every year I marvel at how quickly ...
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It’s been a year since the Covid-19 pandemic began. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to believe I’ve been wearing a mask, physical distancing and spending a lot of time at home alone for an entire year. One would think the year would have dragged, but for me it has raced on by, and here I am in March, 2021 already. There seems to be hope now, with two, and soon ...
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A friend of mine and I meet weekly at my house for breakfast, conversation and writing. We have been writing alpha poems for the past few weeks using the word “light.” An alpha poem, or acrostic, uses each letter of a word as the first letter in a line of poetry: Lingering in a spot of sun coming through my window, I ignore work that needs to be done. Instead I Give myself a moment ...
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Another year has ended and a new one is beginning. 2020 has been a very rough year in many ways, and I hope, as you probably do too, that 2021 will be an improvement. New vaccines have been developed to stop the COVID-19 virus, and essential healthcare workers are getting them first, as well as people living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. They will be available to the rest of us as ...
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Is it an oxymoron – quiet and celebration in the same phrase? Maybe not. Maybe it can be done. It is frightening to hear the updated coronavirus numbers every day. We are all tired of the restrictions, and many are ignoring them and doing what they want and going where they want anyway. I wonder why so many people are taking the risks that are spreading the virus, especially at this time of year when ...
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