Humility

Humility CS Lewis

The Prompt: C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” How good are you of placing others before yourself? I don’t think C.S. Lewis would want us to consider ourselves “good” at this – I suspect that defeats the purpose because we are fighting with our own nature […]

Pittsburgh: Not So Equal After All

Marriage equality Peduto pittsburgh equality

Pittsburgh received 72 out of 100 possible points on a recent national survey of municipal equality released by the Human Rights Campaign.  The city was not ranked in 2012.  The index was divided into 6 categories: non-discrimination laws, relationship recognition, municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and relationship with the LGBT community. Pittsburgh […]

Out Of My Reach

Betsy Wetsy

The Prompt:  Out of Your Reach – Was there a toy or thing you always wanted as a child, during the holidays or on your birthday, but never received? Tell us about it.  This might make you laugh – I wanted a real Betsy Wetsy baby doll. Keep in mind that I was the youngest of […]

Being Irrational About the Holidays

It doesn’t bother me when someone says “I read/listened to you and I need more information because I don’t understand how to be helpful.” In fact, that is a terrific response because it indicates that someone is trying to understand, wants to be helpful and is willing to invest a little time and energy into […]

The Water Bowl

dogs old dogs aging dogs

Daily Prompt: Write about a noise — or even a silence — that won’t go away. (We’ll let you interpret this in different ways…) There’s a noise that drives me absolutely insane, right up the wall on the aggravation scale. And my abiding fear is that one day – possibly soon – it will go away. […]

We All Want To Go Back to Graduate School

Graduate_School, intellectual conversation

Daily Prompt: What’s your learning style? Do you prefer learning in a group and in an interactive setting? Or one-on-one? Do you retain information best through lectures, or visuals, or simply by reading books? I’m going to take the middle road and say “both.” I love to read. It’s fair to say I’ve learned more […]

Watch “Gloomy Sunday – Billie Holiday” on YouTube

I’ve never been a fan of Sunday – it seems most of the world is caught in obligations to attend church, prepare food and go back to work on Monday. I have appreciated Sunday evenings b/c I rarely had to work during that time and it seemed like a good opportunity to simply rest – […]

Upated: Two Transwomen Murdered in Cleveland

Cleveland, Transgender, Brittany-Nicole, Kidd-Stergis, Betty Skinner, Hate Crime

Sad news from Cleveland. 52 year old Betty Janet Skinner was found murdered in her apartment Thursday morning. Cleveland Police say Skinner was physically disabled, required assisted living and received regular home health care.   She was last seen alive by her home health care worker when she left the Devonshire Road apartment of our fallen […]

Dear World. The End.

Pittsburgh Lesbian

Daily Prompt: You have 15 minutes to address the whole world live (on television or radio — choose your format). What would you say? “Dear World, Please read my blog. There’s a reason why I opted for this media to share my thoughts and insight rather than accepting 15 minutes of fame and a microphone. Thank […]

Saturday Memory: The Little Drummer Boy via Rankin and Bass

Drummer Boy

I’m a huge fan of Rankin and Bass stop motion specials, but one really stood out for me – The Little Drummer Boy from 1968. I have several memories of sitting cross-legged in front of our family television watching it and trying to put it in perspective with the lessons I was learning about Christmas […]