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Showing posts with the label non-food related

Happy Father's Day! Remembering Harley D. Semple (1901-1974)

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Harley D. Semple, circa 1972 ______________________________ My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. --Jim Valvano Harley D. Semple, my grandfather Dee-Dee, was a very special man. Not only did he and my grandmother Mo raise me, but they did so at a time in their lives when they should have been retired and free of child rearing. Taking me in must have been a huge sacrifice, but I never got the sense that I was a bother. Still, I was always a bit at odds with Mo because, even as a child, I had a suspicion that she was the one who made the final decision to leave Robin, my baby sister, with my stepfather’s family. In our family, Dee-Dee never made those kinds of decisions, but, in my heart, I know he would have been more than okay with having Robin around. Indeed, Mo, in her last years, admitted that leaving my sister behind had been one of her greatest regrets. My relationship with Mo and Dee-Dee was complicated; as I grew into my teen y

Legalized Lying

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Winston Churchill, 1874-1965 ___________________________________ A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. --Winston Churchill Have you ever had a day when thoughts seem to flow like an oozing sludge? Today is such a day--it must be the back thing caused by the treadmill mishap: I have a compression fracture of the L1, so I'm a bit concerned about that. Tomorrow I'm going to the spine specialist, so that I can get a treatment plan and put the injury out of my mind. Meanwhile, I keep going back to the H.G. Wells quote: "Advertising is legalized lying." Seems especially timely right now: my husband Jerry is shopping around for tires, and the various ads appear to be offering some good deals. However, when he inquires about the so-called deals, suddenly the fees begin piling on: taxes, recycling fee, disposal fee, installation fee, balancing the tires fee, breathing fee--well, almost. Jerry is normally a patient person, but

Do You Believe in Fate?

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Jennifer Semple's bus ticket receipt and ticket envelope from May 1, 1969 ________________________________ Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence . --Ralph Waldo Emerson I'm not sure that I believe in fate per se , but I do believe that a series of small decisions can move people in unexpected directions. Forty-two years ago, I made a decision that dramatically changed the course of my life. The above images represent this major shift in my life, but it didn't occur all of a sudden--a series of events, some minor and some major--led me to leave Iowa and escape to Pennsylvania, where I have lived ever since. I wrote a memoir about this shift; if you're curious, I have posted some excerpts from it here . Had I not moved to Pennsylvania, my life would have been dramatically different--how, I don't know. I suspect that my life would have been less successful, but who knows? Maybe that "movie agent" who approached me on the stree

Thought for the Day--May 22, 2011: Oops! We're Still here!

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"Sorry, my flock, you must go back to earth. No room in the cloud." --God ______________________ Well, with prophecy you got to see what happens. --George Noory It's dangerous to base predictions on The Bible, which is basically a good book with good intentions, but it's a divine-inspired text transcribed and filtered by humans, who often have their own viewpoints and agendas, no matter how holy and pious they may be. I'm not sure why some people take the Good Book so literally. But the truth is, some day, the world, as a living thing, will end, so the prophets of doom are right about the event but wrong about the time. I think we'll have some warning, perhaps thousands and even millions of years lead time; the laws of physics will dictate when and how the world will end. Today is a new day. Enjoy!

Thought for the Day--May 21, 2011: Save the Date! For the End of Days!

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"Oh, no! Where am I going to put all these pious earthlings????" _____________________ 2011 AD--On May 21st, Judgment Day will begin and the rapture (the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will occur at the end of the 23-year great tribulation. On October 21st, the world will be destroyed by fire (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation). -- eBibleFellowship Actually, according to the ebiblefellowship site, today is only the beginning of the end, so I will likely still be around to post on May 22. According to ebiblefellowship , the rapture begins today: The Bible teaches that on May 21st, 2011, only true believers elected by God to receive salvation will be raptured (taken up) out of this world to meet the Lord in the air and forever be with the Lord. So if some of the people you know--especially those who are deeply religious, have been tossing around today's date ad nauseum , and take the Bible literally--are missing, then you will know that the

Thought for the Day--May 18, 2011: What the Hey? Homeless Woman Arrested for Sending Child to School

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I'd go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked . --Eminem You can spend the money on new housing for poor people and the homeless, or you can spend it on a football stadium or a golf course . --Jello Biafra I thought I had heard everything, but this story shocks me. As if it's not bad enough to find yourself and your kid without a place to live, now you're being arrested for enrolling your kid in the "wrong" school. According to News of the Weird (this specific snippet published in the May 17, 2011, issue of the York Daily Record ), Tonya McDowell, a homeless parent, was arrested for "felony theft" for "stealing" $15,686 in educational services from the Norwalk, Connecticut, school district. Read more in HuffPost Education McDowell, no fixed address, has apparently lived, off and on, in Norwalk, but at the time of registering her son at Brookside Elementary School, she was living with a fri

Thought for the Day--May 9, 2011: What If Osama bin Laden Had Never Grown Up...?

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Is this Osama bin Laden's baby picture? Before deciding, consider the Source __________________________ What if you had a chance to go back in time, to save millions of lives by killing one man? Andrea Collins will soon discover this mission to be more difficult than she ever imagined, as she takes a one-way trip into The Twilight Zone. --Opening Narration to Cradle of Darkness , 2002 A week after Osama bin Laden's death, it has been strangely quiet among the conservative bloviators, although that is likely to change soon, as the "birthers" begin to re-form as "deather" conspiracy groups, despite al Qaeda's confirmation (and subsequent threats to the U.S.). Meanwhile, how about a little speculation? What if bin Laden had never been allowed to grow up? If you were able to go back to 1957, the year of bin Laden's birth, and given the tools you need for your mission, would you kill baby bin Laden, even knowing what you know now? It's an interestin

Thought for the Day--May 3, 2011: What is/was One of the Most Joyous Times of Your Life?

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1st Row (left to right, seated): Afrodita Nikolova, Jennifer Semple Siegel, Zoria Petkoska 2nd Row (left to right): Vesna Ilievska, Marija Dudan, Ana Lakaliska Photograph taken by Maja Tomovska and used with permission. ___________________________________ Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls . --Mother Teresa The above photograph represents one of the best times of my life; in it, I'm posing with some of my students from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, where I served as the Fulbright Scholar to Macedonia for 2009-2010. Other than giving birth to my son, my undergraduate and graduate college years, getting married to Jerry, graduating from college (both undergraduate and graduate), and the direction my life is taking right now, my Fulbright year has to rank as one of the happiest times of my life. Every day, I would wake up, jump out of bed, and say to myself, "I'm here in Skopje, Macedonia, and I can't wait to get my day started." I cou

Thought for the Day--April 22, 2011: Mutter Museum, The Mint, and Poe House in Philadelphia

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The cellar where Edgar Allan Poe wrote many of his works __________________ I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. --Edgar Allan Poe Yesterday, my husband and I took a day trip to Philadelphia. For years, I had it in my head that I just had to see the Mutter Museum. Okay, done that, don't want to do it again. What a surreal experience--viewing all those damaged fetuses in jars was kind of upsetting, and there seemed to be a faint smell of formaldehyde in the air (or maybe it was my imagination?). Also, it was kind of warm in the museum, so I was feeling a bit off, like maybe I might pass out. Well, I didn't, but someone else did; evidently, this is a fairly common occurrence at this museum. I do not mean to be disrespectful. After all, this museum offers an important collection of abnormal physical oddities, which occur in nature and shouldn't be swept under the rug and denied. Also, this museum was set up in 1787 by The College of Physicians to advance th

Thought for the Day--April 16, 2011: Taxes!

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Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that man behind the tree. --The late Sen. Russell B. Long (Democrat, Louisiana) Federal Income taxes are due on Monday, April 18. No one likes paying taxes, a necessary evil, but it seems as though some of us (middle class) pay more proportionately than others (the very poor and the very rich). It seems that too many rich people are getting off far too easily, and yet they seem to whine the loudest, while the rest of us plebes simply pay our taxes and take the hit. Why middle class Republicans support big business lawmakers is beyond me; these lawmakers don't work for us but for the special interest groups that line their campaign coffers... Aw, shucks, there I go, getting all political--the ides of April make me a bit grumpy. As usual, I have procrastinated in doing my taxes, taking advantage of the three extra days because yesterday was a holiday in Washington, D.C. (Emancipation Day). It seems as though the tax code gets more complicated each y

Thought for the Day--April 13, 2011: Find a Heart-shaped Rock...

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This rock was found on a rock pile (Skopje, Macedonia, 2010). _________________ Geologists have a saying--rocks remember. --Neil Armstrong 1. Find a heart-shaped rock (or other unusual shape), and slip it into your pocket. 2. Wash it. 3. Photograph it. 4. Fix and crop the photograph. 5. Manipulate the photograph in interesting ways. 6. Post the images on your blog. 7. Feel the rock's earth energy. 8. Keep the rock and love it. I love rocks of all kinds, including the expensive kind, but I particularly like the common random rocks that you stumble upon by accident, the ones that you catch out of the corner of your eye and beg to be picked up. When I was a teenager, a know-it-all doctor told me that I spent too much time looking down (instead of up), but I have since discovered that looking down has its good points, too. Collecting rocks is my bliss. What's yours? If you don't know, look for it. Have a good day, my cyber friends.

Thought for the Day--April 8, 2011--Baltimore Orioles Win (Again)!

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Last night's Baltimore Orioles game (vs Detroit Tigers) was like a big gangly dog, sloppy and slurpy, licking and loving its fans while wrangling its Tiger foe. What a fun game for those who like to see the big bats swing and don't mind the uneven pitching. Score: 9-5 Read more GO O's!!!

Thought for the Day--March 31, 2011: Tornadoes in Florida and Conference

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I'm enjoying my conference (St. Petersburg), but the weather outside has been wild, some tornadoes in Tampa and high winds and pounding rain here. It's crazy! I thought I would get away from "Weather" by being in Florida, but, instead, it has followed me here. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow (April Fools' Day), though. I hope so. It's a nine-block walk to my hotel, and I'd rather walk it in nice weather. Tonight, I (the president) met with the new Creative Writing committee; we have agreed that our organization should develop a creative writing journal but that, due to costs, it should be online. We named the journal, but I'll talk about that later, since I have not yet snagged its domain name. Besides, it's not a done deal because the Board must approve it. Jerry (my husband), Larry Rubin (a Southern poet), and I are planning to see Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf at the the American Stage in St. Petersburg. Kind of eerie, what with the r

Thought for the Day--March 30, 2011: Arrival in St. Petersburg

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We arrived in St. Petersburg, about 30 minutes late, due to "Weather." We flew into Tampa--a bumpy flight all the way. Evidently, we got in just in time because later flights were delayed and even canceled. We grabbed a bite to eat (Broiled Grouper, asparagus, and orzo--very good and within the Weight Watchers program). Then I rushed to the Board meeting (late), where I, president of the newly formed Creative Writing Committee, gave a report about what is on the agenda for tomorrow evening. In other words, not much to report yet. It looks like this is going to be an interesting conference, although the rough weather is supposed to continue tomorrow. By 10:30 p.m., it was pouring outside, so we took a taxi to our hotel (although it is only 9 blocks from the conference hotel). Off to bed. I'm very tired--I hope to sleep well because I have lots to do tomorrow. Later!

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment