The Tiger that roared

okay, that was yesterday.

Today, it's mewing and scratching his head.

What happened?

A Lesson in Love

Good morning, Gwendolyn. Welcome to class. I understand you are seeking to learn about love.

Yes.

Well, first lesson. Love doesn't care about appearance or status.

Oh, that I know.

Really? It doesn't appear that you do, or perhaps you don't act on your knowledge.

I'm not sure what you mean.

The other day you made a post about former classmates of yours.

Oh, yeah, the guys I saw at the 20th reunion.

You said one had gained waight and lost hair and that the other had been a "geek."

Uh huh.

Did you have a chance to speak to them?

Yes I did.

And were they the same as you remembered them?

Yeah.

The essence of them hadn't changed.

No.

You've worked with the dying and you noted that the bodies of the deceased that you've attended to don't bear much resemblence to the person you knew.

Yeah. It's like what makes a person alive is his or her soul, essence, personality.

So what a person looks like doesn't matter?

No. . . oh, I see what you're getting at.

Yes, I think you do. Love sees with eyes from the heart. Gaining weight or losing hair or having a profession that society values is not what makes a person. Loving someone isn't based on these things.

Okay.

Remember too that words have power. You of all people know that. Before you say something, make it meet three things. Was it necessary?

Well, not to make excuses, but I needed to say it to make a point.

Second thing, is it true?

Okay, what I said was true. You have to give me that.

FIne, I'll give you that. But the final criteria your words must meet: are they kind?

(gulp)

Were they kind, Gwendolyn?

No. Sorry.

That's okay. You have to swim upstream in this society that places so much emphasis on looks, money, status.

Am I going to have to sit in the corner and wear that pointy hat that says 'dunce?'

No. Learning sometimes involves pain, but it shouldn't be humiliating. But since you have to retrain your thoughts and because repetition is the best way, you do have to take this chalk and write one gazillion times "I can only see clearly from a loving heart. "


I can only see clearly from a loving heartI can only see clearly from a loving heartI can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heartI can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heartI can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart I can only see clearly from a loving heart

Black History Month

Is it live or is it Memorex?

Remember those old commercials--Ella Fitzgerald and the shattering glass? Ella Fitzgerald was the bomb!

Go to Youtube and listen to some, oh what the heck, spend the day listening to all of her stuff!

Writing quote for 2/18/09

The process of writing is an adventure; you never know how things are going to configure themselves. When I begin a book, I know it’s going to transform my life.

—Charles Johnson

Quote for 2/18/09

Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us, the labyrinth is fully known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.


— Joseph Campbell

Checking my yahoo account

and on the Yahoo page, Dwight Howard smiling at me! (Okay, okay, smiling at anyone who opens the page).

Anyway, he appears to be quite the baller. Yummy sexy and skilled. I may have to become a Magic fan;-p

The adventure begins

You look so happy to get out of here, someone told me this morning. Doing some last-minute 'cause I'm hoping to be headed to Tennessee this weekend and then I'll make my way back here for my friend's memorial service and for the reading and then I'm off on my latest (and greatest) adventure. Afraid? Nope. Keeping the quote for today next to my heart. My novel is about a woman's reclamation of herself and I have to do that for me, so I can authentically and honestly write about it for another. Besides it'll be fun. We all know I like fun-ha!

So the story begins:

There once was a woman named Gwendolyn who sought upon a journey which would lead her to love in its many incarnations; to friendship, intimate and with the world; but foremost, to herself. . .

rsvp? I probably won't show

An email in my box about my high school reunion. 30 years! Unfortunately I hope to be at a writer's conference when the reunion is taking place. Didn't go to the
10th, but I did the 20th. This football player that was soooooooooooooo cute was uhm chunky and balding. The geeky guy that gave me a love letter during a movie in Social Studies got gorgeous and became a lawyer. DAMN! If only I'd known!

Black History Month

Claudette Colvin -- google her and find out the part she had in the Civil Rights Movement and what part she didn't.

misc

Errands to run and some last few things to take out of the house. I need some figures for a business session tomorrow and I really want to work on a flash or two today, but there may not be time for that.


A few more goodbyes and 'give me your address, I'll write' s and I'm good to go:)

Creative Quote for 2/17/09

So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.

--Brenda Ueland

Quote for 2/17/09

I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot . . . and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why . . . I succeed.

-- Michael Jordan

The February reading

------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, February 28, 10:00 AM

Reading "For the Love of Lit" sponsored by ArtForm as a part of "Love of Art" month at the Branigan Cultural Center on the Downtown Mall. Emcee is Wayne Crawford. Following are the names of readers (5-8 minutes each) and the times ( half-hour slots) in which they will read.

10:00--10:30
Bud Russo
Matt Meyers
Linda Jacobs
Gwendolyn Mintz
Ann Sellemi

10:30--11:00
Sheila Black
Joann Townsend
Ellen Roberts Young
Kay nation--fiction
Bob Sanchez

11:00--11:30
Susan Rivera
Joe Somoza
John Duncklee
Pam Hunt
Sue Miller

11:30--12:00
robert Proctor
Floydd
Dick Thomas
Noreen Lehmann
Diane Walker

12:00-12:30
L. C. Hayden
John Pate
Lawrence Welsh
Wayne Crawford

I said I would do it today

and I did! I wanna go to this writer's workshop and I got my materials sent today.

Lots of times I've been lazy about it. Several years now I've been saying I'm going to apply to go to this conference or that workshop. Really want to do the Sarah Lawrence one again, but I procrastinate about pulling the application packet together. This year I'd like to go to Sarah Lawrence, however my first choice is the one I've just submitted to 'cause they're happening at the same time.

Sending it out to the universe. Please oh please oh please oh please oh please

Creative quote for 2/16/09

Everything you can imagine is real.

--Pablo Picasso

Quote for 2/16/09

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.


--Thich Nhat Hanh

Black History Month

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne five children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.


--Sojourner Truth

Super--yummy--man

Tossing the USA Today from Friday. One last go-through to see if there was any article I wanted to keep for a story. Special section on the All-Star game, front page was Dwight Howard removing his suit and revealing a superman shirt underneath.

Now I don't know who Mr. Howard is, don't follow basketball like I do other sports, but I can say that that man is yummy sexy.

I don't know what team he played for but I hope they won.

We're at that point

where I'm running around like a chicken with no head.

but I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love adventure, maybe too much, but that's me.

Creative quote for 2/13/09

As an artist you’re looking for universal triggers. You want it both ways. You want it to have an immediate impact, and you want it to have deep meanings as well. I’m striving for both. But I hate it when people write things that sound like they’ve swallowed a f***ing dictionary.

--Damien Hirst

Black History Month

I ws reading something the other day and the writer of the piece said something about Rosa Parks that was not true. It had to do with the seating on the bus although I can't recall at this moment what it was. But what the author said showed that she didn't know about the situation regarding the racial-based seating on buses in Montgomery. I want to say that the writer said she hadn't wanted to sit in the back of the bus. I'll check and come back.

Anyway--

At the time, there was a 'white' section on the bus and a 'black' section. The black section could be moved back so more white people could have seats. Theoretically, blacks could have had to stand in the aisles if there were a busful of white people that wanted to sit.

Mrs. Parks sat in the first row of the black section. She refused to give up that seat. And she wasn't physically tired-- she was tired of the biased system. And she'd been trained at Highlander to protest.

Opportunity and preparation meeting-- definitely changed the U.S.

Quote for 2/13/09

If a woman is sufficiently ambitious, determined and gifted - there is practically nothing she can't do.


--Helen Lawrenson

Creative quote for 2/12/09

Creative people have an abiding curiosity and an insatiable desire to learn how and why things work. They take nothing for granted. They are interested in things around them and tend to stow away bits and pieces of information in their minds for the future use. And, they have a great ability to mobilize their thinking and experiences for use in solving a new problem.’

— Bill Hewlett

Quote for 2/12/09

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

--Mark Twain

8+6=14

That woman in California sure is getting a lot of press. From what I've read/heard she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I can sort of understand her logic.

Maybe she truly wanted a gazillion children, and maybe she thought she'd become a media sensation and people would jump to help provide her and her children with what they need.

I mean it's been done before-- companies donating diapers, formula. Didn't a couple at some time get a house built or additons to an existing house when they were blessed with a whole lotta kiddies?

We've become a society where everybody wants their 15 minutes and they want to milk it for all the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ they can.

What a day yesterday!

Opened the morning paper to find a former professor, a fellow poet and a really cool man had died. Keith Wilson was an extraordinary poet and a good person. I am so very glad I had the chance to meet him and to be supported by him, to have him teach and befriend me. Goodbye, dear one.


So much happened yesterday, one of those days when you just go from here to here and you don't know if you're accomplishing anything. I had a Bible study to go to, packing the U-Haul truck, two parent-teacher conferences at two different high schools about 20 miles apart, more packing the U-Haul, another meeting at the Small Business Development Center--whew!

Today I have to fax my application for this apartment and make a bear for someone and read and write and start cleaning the house because it's time to go.

Black History Month

in the late 1800's, a black woman hypenated her birth and married last names. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was fearless in her journalistic pursuits of justice and against lynching. She worked with Susan B. Anthony, though Anthony became critical of her later.

Why?

Oh, you'll have to research that for yourself. That's today's lesson; go learn it.

Quote for 2/11/09

There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world--its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles. The more you understand, the more you look, the greater is your enjoyment of life and your sense of peace. That's all there is to it. If an activity is not grounded in 'to love' or 'to learn,' it does not have value.

--Anne Rice

Writing quote for 2/11/09

Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it's the answer to everything. To 'Why am I here?' To uselessness. It's the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it's a cactus.

--Enid Bagnold

Let's celebrate!

I haven't had a soda in it seems like forever. Gonna go buy myself something to celebrate my progress!

Artistic quote for 2/10/09

A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on to canvas what is in front of him, but one who tries to create something which is, in itself, a living thing.


--William Dobell

Quote for 2/10/09

Now I'm growing and I can see my faults. I can look at myself objectively and say I can't blame anyone else; it was my own damn fault.


--Christopher Atkins

I think I have a plan

I have 8 days to work it out.

Black History Month

Rev. Jesse Jackson, though I use Rev. loosely. More an adulterer/fornicator and shake-down artist than man of God in my opinion.

Still he's fascinating as a character. Opportunistic ( read somewhere while I was in Tennessee that MLK said so and just moments before he was shot, he was calling down to JJ to join them for dinner as a way of making amends.) JJ would later wear a shirt that had MLK's blood on it on television and it was said that MLK died in his arms but he didn't.

Crocodile tears for Obama, I'm sure. More likely pity for what he would never obtain.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Low 40's and winds 30-40 mph make it colder. Best to stay inside, curled up with a book.

Creative quote for 2/09/09

The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.


--Stephen Nachmanovitch

Quote for 2/09/09

The best motivation always comes from within.


--Michael Johnson

Black History Month

The amazing Jack Johnson. What a boxer! And an inventor to boot-- did you know that? Some patents in his name. Google him. And get a copy of the PBS special "Unforgiveable Blackness" or read the book. You'll learn either way.

9 a.m.

and I had the top three things I wanted to get done, done. A couple of emails I needed to send. Done.

The rest of the day to write, though I've got one load of laundry that has to be done. And some bears to finish. And the apt. I've got to check on that.

And then I have the rest of the day to write. A flashathon at a writer's workshop that I want to jump into.

I'm feeling productive today!

what do I do with my life

okay, actually the next six months I've got to myself. (Reality flapped its wings in my face; I've got two chickadees who will fly back to the nest)

No matter. I've still got six months!

A response from an apartment complex; move-in special is $49! for the first month and they do short leases. Do I go there straight up or take a detour from Nashville???

I'm thinking I'm in Tennessee for awhile and then make my way back west 'cause I've got to be in LA in June and then again in August (if things work out the way I want them to and I do believe they will).

Things depend on the apt complex; if they've got something when I'm thinking I might get back west.

what to do what to do what to do

I have exactly 10 days to figure it out. The countdown begins. . .

if you were my kid

and you were already in bed and asleep, I'd go in and wake you up, take you outside and make you look at that glorious moon in the sky.

I don't do that anymore, though I believe my children would still go out with me if I did wake them up. Still it is a glorious moon and if you happen to be reading this right now, you should go outside and look at it.

congratulations

the gmail read.

My story is the first pick for the "Best of" anthology/chapbook.

Cool!

Writing quote for 2/08/09

I cannot live wthout books.

--Thomas Jefferson

Quote for 2/08/09

Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me.


--Zora Neale Hurston

Black History Month

The Negro Speaks Of Rivers by Langston Hughes
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Gonna spend the day doing more

Going to a worship service and then it's back home and on the computer.


I'm feeling rather jazzed about this piece I'm working on so I don't think I'll be resistant today.

It don't make no sense

Why I procrastinate about the writing esp. when I get to the computer and get into it, I don't want to stop.

Go figure.

Artistic quote for 2/07/09

The task of art today is to bring chaos into order.


--Theodor Adorno

Quote for 2/07/09

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently.


--Bill Watterson

Black History Month

Black Wall Street.

If you don't know the story about the Tulsa race riot, learn yourself something today.

Chained to the house

Waiting for my daughter's furniture to be delivered, so I can't go anywhere till after 4 p.m.

Planned to write but I can't procrastinate by cleaning the house 'cause most everything's gone and there's just space.

Might as well get right to the writing and then to the bearmaking.

Writing the rest of the night

A contest I've got to get to.

Black History Month

Read "Going to Meet the Man" by James Baldwin

Writing quote for 2/06/09

Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent.


--James Baldwin

Quote for 2/06/09

Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.


--Ralph Charell

2 more anthologies I might be in

One is a best of from a publication I previously had a story in and another is a goal to reach for.

Taking my own advice

I was hoping to go out of town this weekend, but that's not going to happen. Something better may be on its way. I just have to wait and see how some things work out.

And I did find someone who might be willing to move my mini jungle. Yay!

trust that something better's on it's way

My daughter went to put the deposit on an apartment on Monday, but the people at the rental place were at lunch. When she went back, the apartment she wanted had been rented out. She was very disappointed (the apt. was very very nice) but I assured her that Life had a way of being generous. "Something better is going to happen," I said.

Spent the week scrambling and hunting down places in her budget and close to the university (did I mention I have 3 children in college; I'm very proud). Found a gorgeous townhouse and now's she very happy and tomorrow her living room furniture gets delivered and next week she moves out and she's happy and so am I:)

Artistic quote for 2/05/09

What makes for great art is the courage to speak and write and paint what you know and care about.

--Audrey Flack

Quote for 2/05/09

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.


--George Bernard Shaw

Black History Month

Let's celebrate a *real* baseball hero-- Jackie Robinson!

Barry Bonds about to get his

:)

update

Not much going on. Working on the business-- to teddyhugsandthings.blogspot.com-- for more there, but I will share that I'm going to a bear show. Learning how to get myself "invited" to read has helped me get "invited" to this bear show!

Getting ready for goodbye, goodbye, though I've got postal and email addresses and telephone numbers and I'm going to make a grand effort to stay in touch, to let people know that I want them to be a part of my life and be a part of their's.

I am going to be alone soon; one kid left to go. And then I'm going to be gone. I'm excited and scared, though I've got some road trips planned.

The empty nest-- finally I can do for myself and I am looking forward to being alone. Still it's bittersweet. I believe I've given my childen the wings to fly. I pray, though, that I've also given them courage enough to soar.

Done

with all the procrastinating I can do. It's time to write.

Have a good one:)

Black History Month

Google the artist William Johnson. A tragic life, but an immense talent.

Quote for 2/04/09

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.


--Rabindranath Tagore

Writing quote for 2/04/09

Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to reexamine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow…. Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.


--Octavia Butler

Creativity quote for 2/03/09

Most people die before they are fully born. Creativeness means to be born before one dies.


--Erich Fromm

Quote for 2/03/09

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.


--Unknown

I've got to go catch a bus. Things to do -- you know how the story goes. I may be back to share my day. Maybe not. I didn't get to bed till after 12 midnight so I may just come home and sleep.

Black History Month

I think you should befriend a Negro and listen to his/her story. Find out what it's like to be Black in America.

duh-- a correction

In a previous post I said I was starting my business from scratch. Uhm, Gwendolyn most things are started from scratch.

What I meant was, I'm going back and doing the stuff I should have done previously like creating a business plan, having some ideas about marketing, how to price an item, etc. when I started doing this years ago.

I was successful just jumping in; my goal now is to see what kind of success --and yes, I'm looking for primarily monetary success this time so I can be financially independent to pursue my writing--I can create when I act with intention.

Artistic quote for 2/02/09

An artistic endeavour comes into the world naked, unnamed, and vulnerable.

--Peter London

Quote for 2/02/09

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

--Sally Berger

I've got homework

from the small business counseling session. Will work on that. Tomorrow meet me over at teddyhugsandthings.blogspot.com and find out how it's going.

Black History

Have you ever heard of Eli McCoy? Why not increase your knowledge?

I need some sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was hoping my day would start around 8 'cause I'm not especially fond of mornings but a mom thing had me up at 6:28. The sun wasn't even shining yet!

A hurried day; things to do, people to see, yada yada

I got some things done. Have a time slot for the reading at the end of the month. Am following up on participating at a book fair that I was going to be at back in 2007 but things changed.

Hoping some writing tomorrow. I'm just reading tonight. A microwaved dinner and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Writing quote for 02/01/09

Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to write about, or who black writers are supposed to be, are condemned to silences in black literary circles that are as total and as destructive as any imposed by racism.


--Audre Lorde

Quote for 02/01/09

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.


-- Maya Angelou

Go Steelers!

Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!Go Steelers!

A very busy week ahead

so I'm gonna continue bumming till tomorrow morning at 8.

Then I'll jump back on those projects of mine and the moving.

(Climbing back into the papasan chair with a book)

Manana.

Quiet weekend

Doing nuthin'

Yesterday I got to spend the day watching the sweetest little girl.



How fortunate, me!

Today is the first day of Black History Month

Have you ever heard of the writer Nella Larsen? No? Well, go google her and learn yourself some black literary history.