Events & news
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“Wild Geese”
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination.” — Mary Oliver Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese” touches a tender place in my soul, and I often share it with students in my writing workshops. As a child in Sunday school, I was terrified of disappointing the punitive, restrictive God portrayed in our leather-covered bibles. No matter how “good” I was, or how closely I followed the rules, I still felt judged and unworthy. Today, I follow my moral compass, but I don’t allow fear to constrict my life. As Mary Oliver reminds me, we were all created to shine our own light; to find our purpose in…
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Seasonal musings
I’m back — after a short break from the whirlwind of October. But I’m not complaining — because I love fall weather. My energy always runs higher when the leaves change colors and “fly” before carpeting parks and lawns everywhere. One of my October highlights was a leaf-peeping tour of northern Michigan, early in the month. After Doug and I returned, it was time to celebrate the spooky season. I managed to fit in everything from the Detroit Zoo Boo with our grandson to Witches Night Out at Leon & Lulu, where I won a costume prize for my Stevie Nicks outfit. (There’s a photo of me with my witchy…
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Funny Friday: On being disappointed
“He had the look of one who had drunk the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom.” ~P.G. Wodehouse I’m sure you’ve heard the old expression, “He wears his heart on his sleeve,” in reference to a person whose emotions are easy to read. Along those lines, today’s quip from P.G. Wodehouse has a wry twist. Have you ever met anyone who looks chronically disappointed?
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What will you tolerate?
“I have insecurities and flaws, of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.” ~Adele I was lucky to be raised by folks who believed in positive reinforcement. They encouraged my interests and were generous with praise and compliments. And while my mother wasn’t particularly religious, her interpretation of the Golden Rule still resonates: “Treat other people the way you want to be treated.” She and my dad walked their talk — and I learned from their example. As a kid, I soon learned that not everyone was given the same operating instructions. I had to develop a thicker skin — especially when I…
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Funny Friday: “Knowledge”
“Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, while others just gargle.” ~Robert Anthony While today’s Funny Friday quote is delivered with a sense of humor, it also strikes a serious chord for me. Lately, it seems, truth has become subjective. Too often, fiction and fact are tangled and stretched, or completely reimagined. How does this happen? It happens when we don’t take the time to research an issue or an event, believing instead what we want to believe, or whatever suits our personal vision or agenda. We simply gargle from the fountain of knowledge — if we even bother to sip from it. That’s just plain scary. And sorry,…
