Who I am…
I am a lawyer, former mother of teenagers, and a quixotic seeker after and champion of factual truth.
I make the best damn brownies you have ever had that are not regulated by the federal government.
I love movies, Broadway, and intelligent conversation.
I think in song lyrics and movie and television quotes.
I believe in the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar even in text messages. I am willing to debate the use of the Oxford comma, if you know what the Oxford comma is. It also makes me very happy if people use the subjunctive mood when appropriate.
I have been told I intimidate people. I am really just a fluffy-centered teddy bear. Really.
- It's all my fault. No, really. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone and in no way whatsoever represent the views of anyone else, including any past, present, or future employer.
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Words to live by ….
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.
“Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.” Mary Harris (“Mother Jones”).
“Don’t boo. Vote.” Barack Obama.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr.
“No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Sir Terry Pratchett.
“Damning facts are still facts.” Steven C. Holtzman.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re tested, they’re not values — they’re hobbies.” Jon Stewart.
“Darkness never sustains, even though it sometimes seems it will.” Doctor Who.
“Writing is a form of mischief.” Stephen Sondheim.
“An idea is not responsible for the people who believe it.” Don Marquis.
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” Joseph Campbell.
“Truth is our strongest ally, our biggest weapon, and our best defense.” Me.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert.
“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” Jonathan Larson.
“We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda.“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Emma Goldman.
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett.
“I believe that the God who made (among other things) light, and space, and number, and time, and the spiral curve of Fibonacci numbers, must be acknowledged to understand more than I do about why there’s pain in the world.” Teresa Neilsen Hayden.
“No, it’s not fair. You’re in the wrong universe for fair.” John Scalzi.
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” Lawrence O’Donnell
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Molly Ivins.
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Tag Archives: life sucks sometimes
How to know you’re sick.
…when you are excited (for some value thereof) that your temperature has been less than 101 all day (for the first time in five days) and that you actually got a shower. It was a bad cold which morphed into … Continue reading
Okay, I just need to whine some here.
Living with a chronic pain condition is hard. Being unemployed with a chronic pain condition is harder. That seems counterintuitive, I know. When you go to bed crying from the intense aching in your muscles that won’t respond to painkillers … Continue reading
One of those days. Which once again brings up the question of how much you have to buy at a Starbucks to make your presence there for (at this point, 3.5.) hours ethically supportable. Thus far, it has been two … Continue reading
I’m still alive.
I have not been writing frequently, my desires to the contrary notwithstanding. There has not been a lot going on in my life, although there has been too much going on in the world at large. As I wrote earlier, … Continue reading
Incompetence hurts.
FML. It turns out that, although I thought I had set my email program to archive emails letters I did not delete, I hadn’t. We changed providers and poof! fifteen years of email gone. I have been trying to recover … Continue reading
Something crappy has happened. In the big scheme of things it matters to no one but me. The fact that I have nothing to blame but my own serious incompetence makes the heartbreak worse. I am not writing more right … Continue reading
I have not been writing. There is a big post on a very painful (but not too personal — do not worry) subject. I could post about inconsequential things — how the cat has bombed the bed again; how happy … Continue reading
Down from the attic.
There really is no other way to begin this post than… Hello, my name is Pat. I have bipolar disorder. I am not alone in this: an estimated one to five per cent of people in the United States are … Continue reading
The “I have done nothing of note with my life” virus is running strong through my veins this evening. It is a weird combination of green-eyed envy, deep sadness, great shame, and and a surprising amount of guilt. The combination … Continue reading
Not to whine (or at least, not to whine overmuch), but I have had a rough couple of years. Things are better, but you can see the marks of time in the wrinkles around my eyes that seem to have … Continue reading
November, thus far.
It’s definitely fall. The trees are turning late this year. Usually, they turn in October; but the trees on my street only started changing color last week. They’re not quite as bright as usual, either. It is still lovely to … Continue reading
You never know what you’ve got ’til its gone.
Before last night, I had not really appreciated the wonder that is the articulated joint in the middle of my leg. Knees were things to be skinned, with ligaments that were occasionally stretched and needed physical therapy, but in general, … Continue reading
I had planned to spend a lot of time writing this evening, and this month in general. Friday was the first day of NaNoWriMo, and while I have not participated in years (I have neither the attention span nor the … Continue reading
Things are…. Okay, not so hot. Work has been occasionally problematic, and life in general kind of sucks. A friend of mine has a motto, “Nobody died, nobody is going to jail.” We’ve adopted it in our family, too. Normally … Continue reading
I just screamed at the cat, poor thing. She had stepped on my leg. I strained the medial collateral ligament in my left leg in December. It did not heal, so in February I started physical therapy. I got better. … Continue reading
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