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: What I like
A Case of You.
You’re in my blood like holy wine You’re so bitter and so sweet I could drink a case of you, darling And would still be on my feet I would still be on my feet “A Case of You,” Joni … Continue reading
Boredom on a Sunday afternoon: love songs and other drugs.
This afternoon, I was listening to some new music — “Lego House,” by Ed Sheeran — and I got to thinking about love songs. Being an incurable romantic (is there any other kind? romanticism is a chronic condition), every so … Continue reading
Musings on music.
I often write about my tastes in music. This morning, I was listening to my favorite Glenn Frey song (okay, the only Glenn Frey song I like since the Eagles broke up), “Smuggler’s Blues.” It occurred to me that although … Continue reading
Bits and pieces.
There is no day so bad a pint of Lagunitas Brewery Imperial Stout won’t make at least a little better. School starts tomorrow (okay, later this morning). The Red-Headed Menace is pulling his first all-nighter, writing a six-page paper on … Continue reading
Today is my birthday. But much more importantly, it’s Daffy Duck’s birthday. As I have gotten older, I have grown to really appreciate Daffy. Bugs knows all the answers, is always right, and always wins in the end. Daffy doesn’t … Continue reading
Memories of Boston.
I thought of writing this yesterday, then thought it might be better to wait a day until my thoughts cleared. Another act of terrorism on American soil. Domestic, international… nobody knows yet and in the short term it doesn’t really … Continue reading
Nice consolation prize, there.
As I suspected, I did not get the job at the Coolest Place Ever. Given the way the process was handled, I don’t feel like I was rejected, simply like I was not that good a fit. However, as I … Continue reading
I do not think I am the droid you are looking for. Sadly.
I did a skills test earlier this week for a position at the Coolest Place Ever. After I turned in the computer portion of the test, they handed me Tom Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.0 with instructions to take the assessments … Continue reading
If I have not been writing here as much as I had been usually, mea culpa. I have been writing elsewhere, and creating very silly PowerPoint presentations, and job-hunting. I have also, for the first time in a while, been … Continue reading
Cookies.
From The Red-Headed Menace: “Tim-Tams are Australian crack cocaine.”* Then there are the Girl Scouts. At least in my area, they always put the Brownies on cookie duty. Brownies are natural salesman; the GS equivalent of kittens, they look at … Continue reading
Odds and Ends
The Rocket Scientist is back from his tour of the Southern Hemisphere: Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. Now he only has South America to go to have a complete continental set. It’s nice that he’s back. Now I don’t have … Continue reading
Play on.
“If music be the food of love, play on!” Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 1. William Shakespeare I started to make a list yesterday of of “Music I can’t live without” and it turned out to be “Music I really … Continue reading
Now if I can just win that stupid Powerball thing…
Remember when I promised a list of the U.S. hotels* I want to stay at when I win the lottery? This is it. I chose hotels I am personally familiar with; there are many just as exclusive places — certainly much … Continue reading
My new bucket list.
Since I am close to finishing my art museum list, and inspired by Ken Burns’ series on the National Parks, I am creating a new list. There are fifty-eight national parks (fifty-nine if you count Pinnacles which will be one … Continue reading
I, along with many people — most people, perhaps — view Handel’s Messiah as a Christmas piece. It’s not: it covers the foretelling of Jesus, his birth, death, resurrection and return. In fact, the “Hallelujah Chorus” occurs in Part II, … Continue reading
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