• High school was rough

    How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

    In high school I was separated from my classmate simply because I was a tax write off for the school district I was in. They needed to fill a quota & I was the “lucky” winner.

    What did I “win?” Four years of verbal abuse from my so-called “special education” teacher, being told that I shouldn’t go to college because even though I was multilingual & played first chair cello in orchestra. I apparently wasn’t bright enough to go to university.

    What I also won was a tedious, humiliating parent/teacher conference twice a semester. Where they would talk about me as if I wasn’t in the room. These meetings would drag on for hours.

    This lasted the longest 4 years of my life. It wasn’t until I got into university & blossomed in school that I realized how wrong they had been about me in high school. The university taught me that I was smart & could accomplish anything.

    Was what my school district behavior warranted, no. But I was just a cash cow for them in those 4 years. They had to make my issues with math & science seem much bigger & grander than they in fact where. How has someone labelled you wrongly changed or altered your life?

  • The Tipping Point

    With an orange blob in a house the world is beginning to shift & to tip. By berating a leader of a country at war is unprofessional & frankly mean spirited.

    The tipping point happened this past Fall where fake news beat real news & it became about sides & not health care or the ever changing environment. It became about spreading lies, lies that are still used to this day.

    Tipping points are dangerous for many reasons, they can be a cultural shift or a societal shift. It can be a shift towards aggression & war or like now driving the world into a recession.

    A recession that may take us years to recover from. Over tariffs being placed on what were allies of the United States. Because the orange blob “claims” that incorrectly the world “owes” the US. For What?

    No, we’re in a tipping point & the lines between allies & enemies are becoming blurry like an ugly guy in a bar with beer goggles on groping at any woman in sight. No, we’re not going to recover from this circus for years if ever. The tipping point has been reached & the boat is taking on water but there aren’t enough life rafts or vests for everyone on board. All I ask is was it worth it to support a fascist?

  • A moleskin

    Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

    As a writer the best gift I’ve ever received was a moleskin journal over a decade ago. Now, I won’t use anything else.

    Moleskins are great, as the paper quality is exceptional & I use them constantly. I’ve two one for personal feelings & observations & the other for just general observation in my day.

    I can’t go anywhere without one. What’s the best gift you’ve been given?