Vox populi
Voting, Lyndon Johnson said, is the “first duty of democracy.”
I’d go one step beyond LBJ and say that voting is the first duty to one’s self, and an absolute imperative in duty toward family and community.
And for those among you who, perhaps as discontented as I with the current state of intellect and integrity among so many of the candidates, are thinking of not voting – all I ask is that you think again. (more…)
… “a larger number of voters get more money under Obama …”
Double click on image to read why Obama’s tax approach makes more sense for most Americans.
Morgan’s my man (for State Senate)
At a lunch meeting today with a prospective client, I mentioned Morgan Bentley — only I referred to him as Morgan Stanley! Good grief; at least the client only razzed me slightly.
Then, tonight, I was sitting outside on my stoop with my cat, Boomerang, on his cute little red leash. Covered in cat hair (Boomer and I had a tussle over putting on the leash) and dressed in my “cleaning the house” duds, I sat on the stoop with the door open, half-listening to the nightly news and enjoying the not-very-cool breeze.
Suddenly, a tall man walked up my driveway and startled me out of my reverie. (more…)
Whoo hoo!! MC snags Best of Suncoast in two categories!
And I owe it all to you!
For the second year in a row, the Creative Loafing Best of the Suncoast Readers’ Poll named me as Best Local Columnist. I’m a goofy kind of gal (whoops, does that sound too Palin-esque?) and things like this make me goofily (yes, I know that’s not a real word) happy!
So, of course, I’m TOTALLY psyched about it — particularly since I haven’t had the privilege of a regular IN PRINT newspaper column since May of this year — just the sporadic appearances in the Tampa Tribune and the recent Sarasota Herald-Trib pick-up.
I consider this “blog” a column as well, though — an online column — and in the category of Best Blog, MC’s Reality Online came in second! This little blog is averaging about 80 unique visitors a day so far (after just launching in late August) and I’m really grateful that so many of you take the time to visit the site occasionally to see what’s new. Feel free to forward the link to this site to anyone you think might be interested — in fact, I hope you do!
BIG THANKS to everyone who took the time to log a vote for my writing. It means a lot to me, has made me smile today and given me a reason to justify that piece of chocolate cake sitting down at Morton’s Market with my name on it. And fingers crossed, it will eventually mean something to an editor somewhere … someday … and I’ll get a job in print again!
MC goes back to school — book event at Plymouth State University
For any readers who may be in New Hampshire on October 28th — I’ll be giving a campus/community talk and reading excerpts from my book, newspaper columns, and blog at Plymouth State University in Frost Commons (part of the Robert Frost Building) on campus at 7:00 p.m. If you have friends or relatives in that area that you think might be interested, feel free to send this link to them.
Copies of my book, Sideways in Sarasota, will be offered for sale before and after the talk.
I’ll also be talking with writing/English/journalism students in several classes on the 28th and the 29th.
Plymouth State is my alma mater. I graduated in ’93 summa cum laude (yes, I’m bragging!) with a BA English (Writing focus) and a French minor. The school has invited me back to campus to talk to students about my experiences in carving out (or at least trying to carve out) a writing career.
Will Sarah now accuse Powell of being pals with the pal of a terrorist?
I don’t know how much longer Sarah Palin and John McCain will be able to keep spouting their obsessive, delusional, and purposefully misleading rhetoric about Obama, pals, and terrorists. I imagine they’ll muffle that message beginning yesterday, at least if they’re even slightly capable of thinking rationally at this point.
Listen to — or read — Colin Powell’s comments on Meet the Press yesterday and you’ll experience a refreshing intelligence, candor, and sensibility that is all but missing from much of the public Republican dogma these days.
Yesterday, I walked in a march, along with several thousand other people, in support of Obama. The only ugly moment occurred when a rabid-looking woman (seriously, her face was so contorted with rage) sporting McCain/Palin decals, leaned out of her car and with both hands (luckily she wasn’t driving) jabbed her middle fingers in and up and down motion at the crowd of Obama supporters. It lasted only a few seconds, really, at least at that juncture (she probably continued her behavior all the way down the road), but it exemplified for me the sad quality of character exhibited by so many Palin/McCain supporters — at least in public.
Dawgs, dogs, and bitches
Lucky for me, I personally know very few people who are voting for the Palin/Joe the Plumber/McCain ticket.
But I do know a handful and here’s my snapshot of the three-headed Cerberus base: (more…)
Buddies and pals
Am I the only one who thinks it’s odd that McCain says that he and his campaign never met or talked with Joe (so-called) the Plumber (so-called), but yet in his debate with Obama McCain referred to Joe as “my buddy”?
I guess his “buddy” was someone he had never met and only seen on a television clip ….
Guess that explains why Palin would use the word “pal around” to describe a remote relationship between Obama and Ayers.
And, considering the amount of vetting McCain gave this man whose last name he couldn’t even get right on national television, this man who is not a licensed plumber, this man who owes back taxes, and who, I’d lay good money down to bet, this man who was a plant at that Obama swing-through …. yeah, considering all that, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that McCain plucked Palin out of nowhere to be his running mate, and that he says, still, that she’d be an excellent President if he kicks the bucket while in office.
Awake at the wheel
For much of my life, if doctors had analyzed my brain waves, I’m pretty sure they would have determined I was asleep. My body may have been going through the motions of being awake, but for an embarrassingly long number of years, my brain was slumbering.
I snoozed my way through jobs, vacations, opportunities, even love affairs. Wandering around in a somnambulistic daze, just letting life happen and just reacting, rarely acting.
And while I don’t regret my life, I do regret the minimalist approach I had to living it. (more…)
