Faith, fact and why MC is singing
Last night I woke up in the middle of the night, felt a knot in my stomach and recognized the worry: about family, deadlines, bills, clients who haven’t paid me for work I did last summer, and a retirement account that equals zilch.
It was pitch black; I couldn’t see a thing, but still I climbed out of bed and made my way down the hall to the fridge for some cold water. I took a long drink and leaned against the kitchen counter, looking out the window, wondering, “How did I get here? – to this point in my life where so many worries had piled up so high, and “How will I find my way out of this mess?”
I’m not alone. 2009 has been a year to rock the faith of even the most earnest believers. (more…)
MC in Sarasota H-T — Nadel Can’t Ruin Our Town
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ran a column of mine this morning in its Op/Ed section. Page 9A if you’re reading print … online readers can click on the link below:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091214/COLUMNIST/912141004
If you’re interested in commenting on the piece — you can do so by writing to: editor.letters@heraldtribune.com. And, of course, you’re welcome to leave a comment on this blog!
It’s a good Monday for me whenever I’m in print — so Happy Monday!
Support PBS and Hope MC Doesn’t Crash & Burn on Live Television …
Yup — you read that right. Tomorrow night, Friday, December 11th, I’ll be on WEDU/PBS Channel 3 LIVE for a roundtable political discussion of burning hot Florida topics (um, yes, we’re talking about the Sailor on the Bayfront, natch) on Florida This Week.
The show goes live, on-air at 8:30 p.m., and the reason it’s live is because it’s a fundraising call-in show. So if you’re a regular supporter of PBS, and in particular of WEDU, give a shout tomorrow night and make a donation.
I’ll be participating in the panel discussion first and then moving on to man, er, woman, the phone lines. If you call in, tell ’em MC sent you!
I really don’t have all the guidelines for donating — but I’m sure that no amount is too small and I’ll bet they have little give-aways — don’t quote me, though. If you tune in to Channel 3, at 8:30, they’ll have information on how to make a donation if you want to support the program — not just Florida This Week, but all the fabulous programs on PBS.
A tigger, not a tiger
“Bouncing is what Tiggers do best.” (A.A. Milne)
Ah, and Tiger Woods is bouncing right now. Bouncing in a slightly different way from when he bounced from his mistress(es?) bed to wife’s, but bouncing nevertheless.
Bouncing is what tiggers do — that’s all they know how to do. Because a real tiger knows when he’s got steak at home versus hamburger from the fast food joint down the street (a la Paul Newman) and apparently Tiger Woods is really just a Tigger after all — all bounce and no bite.
But he's still awfully cute huh? And I hear he's loaded!
Because, ergo, it takes bite, not to mention balls, to not f*ck around. That’s the easiest trick in the world, cheating. C’mon, it’s so passe as to be, um, passe. Show me a man who can keep it in his pants — not because he has to, but because he wants to — and I’ll show you a real tiger in bed. Non-cheaters, and yes, I think I’ve known at least one in my life, are better in bed because they know how to partner for the long haul, not for the tigger-conundrum of “Oh, I like everything I see and everything I taste!”
That’s what happens when you have no character. Everything looks good when you haven’t an ounce of discrimination in your bones. You go from tiger to tigger in the folding back of the bedsheets.
You bounce, and you tippety-toe through likes and dislikes and fancies and non-fancies, and the wives you wed but no longer want to bed and the women you wouldn’t consider marrying but don’t mind bedding.
But let me say this: I could give a rat’s arse about Tigger’s alleged infidelities. It’s all in a nation’s work, that, and we’re a nation of cheaters — whether actual fornication occurs or not, very few are loyal — to our wives, to our jobs, to our collective “values”, to the people who elect us to high office, to our communities, to say nothing of our disloyalty to our own selves. Day in and day out. We deceive ourselves into believing something about ourselves that our actions say, blaringly loud, is categorically untrue.
Here’s the only person I feel sorry for in this case: The Woods baby. That kid will grow up thinking “Sheesh, my Dad couldn’t even wait for me to be out of the womb before he hit it with someone not my mother.” Well, he or she will have plenty of money for therapy visits, at least.
And a word of advice to Tigger’s wife, though I know she won’t take it: Leave him, sweetie. Leave him and never look back and don’t take a dime. Take the kid and work at Mickey D’s if you have to. The schmuck’s not worth the two seconds it would take to cash his check.
Alan Grayson Keynotes Dem Club of Sarasota Sunday December 6
“Few Florida politicians have grabbed national attention as quickly and dramatically as freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Sunday Nov. 1, 2009, p.1.
Yep, Grayson was catapulted onto the national stage when he summed up the Republican’s Health Care Plan as 1) Don’t get sick 2) If you do get sick… 3) die quickly!
Guess you know where I’ll be on Sunday, December 6 … and it isn’t in church! Who knows? Maybe it should be … but instead I’m high-tailing it to the Democratic Club of Sarasota’s “Dinner for Progress” at Michael’s on East to hear national scene-stealer, U.S. Representative Alan Grayson ruffle feathers and enjoy just a smidgen of hyperbole with my dinner. A few weeks ago I was on Florida This Week trying to sound smart (ass) about Grayson and now I’ll have to see if he’s got the street cred to bring all that hot air down to earth. Hope to see you there — if you come, swing by my table and say hello to me! (P.S. if you do register, tell ’em MC sent you — that, and a near c-note, will get you in the door, meaning, basically, my name is mud without money! ;))
You can register relatively painlessly online — or take a look at the registration information below.
————————————————————————
The Democratic Club of Sarasota and The Democratic Party of Sarasota County
invite you to A Dinner for Progress featuring Congressman Alan Grayson
Sunday, December 6, 2009
6:00 pm Social Hour • 7:00 pm Dinner
Michael’s On East
1212 East Avenue South, Sarasota
Other speakers include:
Democratic candidates for Florida Attorney General
Florida Senators Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber,
and Florida Representative Keith Fitzgerald
$90 per person (in two checks*)
RSVP by December 1 For more information, call (941) 244-2266
The Democratic Club of Sarasota and The Democratic Party of Sarasota County
invite you to A Dinner for Progress featuring Congressman Alan Grayson
Sunday, December 6, 2009
6:00 pm Social Hour · 7:00 pm Dinner
Michael’s On East
1212 East Avenue South, Sarasota
Other speakers include:
Democratic candidates for Florida Attorney General
Florida Senators Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber,
and Florida Representative Keith Fitzgerald
$90 per person (in two checks*)
For more information, call (941) 244-2266
*******************************************************************************
More $$$ for All Faiths!
All Faiths Food Bank let me know today that even more MC Reality Reader donations have arrived at the food bank — an additional $120 has come in!
That brings this year’s drive total to $1,731! Thanks so much!
All Faiths “Thank you for contributing” drawing winners
As reported a few days ago, MC Reality readers — on this blog and in the Creative Loafing and Pelican Press newspapers — dug deep and donated $1,611 to All Faiths Food Bank in my third annual “MC Reality/All Faiths” fundraising drive.
Late yesterday I received a list of names of those contributors who wanted to be entered into the drawings — which were held today! Four names were selected and I’ve sent emails and a snail letter to those folks to offer them their choice of “thank you for contributing” give-aways — including a guest blog on MC Reality Online, copies of my book Sideways in Sarasota, or having me emcee an event, conduct a writing workshop, a free ad on my blog, or give a talk to a group or organization, within the Sarasota area.
Whether you wanted your name entered into the drawing or not — HUGE, BIG, GINORMOUS thank you for everyone’s contributions to this year’s drive!
Healthy, not wealthy, and dumbfounded as a post
Just received my health insurance renewal forms for 2010. My health insurance plan is going up by over $30 a month. I already can’t afford it at $30 less.
I’m a fairly healthy woman — no health problems, no medications. My biggest downfalls are too many martinis and not enough exercise (however, my fingers are long and lean from hours at the keyboard).
So, here’s this week’s conundrum: cancel my health insurance and walk the wire of relative health with no safety net below me? Or continue forking over beaucoup dollars every month for a health plan I never, ever use except to have twice yearly dental visits?
Or put another way: Be broke but protected or be unprotected and have a bit of money left over each month to buy a bottle of eau de parfum or maybe the occasional pair of new shoes, both of which by the way, give me a better sense of physical and emotional well being than any health insurance premium or check up ever has?
MC Reality Readers Make a Real Difference this Thanksgiving!
“Wow!” That was the headline from the email I received from All Faiths Food Bank earlier today letting me know that as of about noon today, MC Reality readers — here at this blog, at the Pelican Press, and at Creative Loafing — dug deep into their already economy-affected wallets and pockets and still found room to send donations to the food bank to help those in need.
Amount raised? A fabulous $1,611.23!!!! Add that amount to the drives since 2007, and that means Reality Readers have donated an incredibly generous total of $10,484!
Want to know how many Thanksgiving dinners that amount could supply to families of four or five — including turkey and all the yummy trimmings? — 134!! One hundred and thirty-four!
Want to know how many individual meals that amount can buy for the hungry in our community now as a result of your generosity? — If I’m doing my math right — it’s a staggering 2,557 meals!
(All Faith’s website says 159 individual meals can be provided with just $100, so I extrapolated from that; someone correct me if my math is wrong — hey, I’m a writer, not a math genius!.)
They haven’t had time to get the names to me for the drawing, but believe me, as soon as they do — I’ll report the drawing results right here at MC Reality online!
I don’t know how to thank you all — each and every one of you — for pitching in for the third year in a row to this little drive of mine. A couple of people have said to me “Oh, wow, you did a great job with the drive this year!” But I know it wasn’t me — it was all of you … making a difference.
Thank you.
Sarasota County — A+ in responsiveness
You know me — always (or at least usually) complaining in some form about errant Police Chiefs and odd goings on in connection with acquisition of parcels for big league baseball … yada yada yada.
But I have to give credit where/when credit is due. And yesterday — it was due to Sarasota County.
Below is an email I sent yesterday to Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson who represents the District I live in; unbelievably I heard back from Commission Patterson that same night and from another Commissioner the next day. Color me impressed by the responsiveness from the County — from the phone call to a nearly-anonymous call center operator to the headline-making folks that help run the county — it was a very gratifying experience, and I really appreciate the insight into some very good things about the County. (more…)
