Writing Reality

Will our Democracy, Rule of Law be saved if we tread lightly? No. Large media outlets in general are giving that sensory dynamic off in their news reporting. And I'm certain we may not survive as a free nation that needs to buckle down on progress of freedom and equality for all. When we lose that ideology as a nation we've lost our freedoms even if we have people in power that look like us.  It appears as if someone took most of the Erin Brocovichs and Bob Woodwards and shut them out of the ability to record, report and/or video the truth; however, there are US citizens who are not reporters now filming and reporting what news media outlets refuse to do completely. When they omit information in their news report, their report becomes an untruth. The newspaper outlets are reporting hundreds of protestors when there are thousands. They're reporting thousands across our country when there were over 13 million protestors on one day. If we want the truth givers, like the electe...

Recently I spoke with a relative just days after his spouse of over 50 years had passed. I expressed the things I had to learn before my husband passed. It was mostly items such as the care and use of the lawn mower, our small generator (if needed), cleaning the dryer vent one to two times a year.  The beauty of our 36 year marriage was we shared nearly every chore. We didn't have landscapers, neither cleaning ladies. No, we were a typical middle class couple with two kids and three pets. And I can say, my husband was entrenched in our chores. We never had to ask one another much of anything when it came to that. However, as I've listened to people who'd suddenly lost a spouse of decades I noticed the difference in those relationships. As devoted as they were to each other, I had a woman over 20 years ago tell that she didn't know how to shut the water off in her home. She had no clue about their home in nearly every way. She'd then realized upon her husband's ...

  When I worked in defense contracting for a UK/NATO corporation, I’d had great bosses. I can say in my work careers I’ve almost always lucked out with having either great bosses or people I worked with in most of my jobs before and after I’d started my own business which lasted nearly 30 years.  As I was ending my obligated military time with the Marines, I’d gone to school from 1983-1985 for accounting. It was difficult, as I’d gotten married at that time, then worked in corporate by 1984, and was attempting to make the Olympic Trials for the Marathon too. I took a year 1987 to focus on training, worked minimally for a year. My husband and I had some tragedy, as well I’d gotten multiple injuries from muscle/tendon issues that were perhaps caused by a couple of birth defects I was unaware of. By mid-1988 I was back in the corporate atmosphere once again. And making about 20% more than I had when I’d left it in 1987, it was with a different company and a different position. ...

  Ernest Hemmingway was known for his story telling; however, many may not know that the reading public perhaps saw at most ten percent of his writings. I am no Ernest Hemmingway. Yet, I have evolved as a writer since age seven when I’d started to enjoy writing. I had no idea what would come of my writing. My mother didn’t always give encouragement to it. She’d expressed that writers always had sad lives. She’d mentioned Mark Twain, who I’d thought highly of what little I’d read of his works. The rest of my immediate family as a child were big readers. My older brother, Don, read all Tom Sawyer’s adventures, The Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie novels and the like. My dad read Thor Heyerdahl’s Aku-Aku, Kon-Tiki and similar books. My mother read quite a bit as well. I cannot recall what she’d read; however, she was always reading when not doing a chore or at work. My little sister more than thirteen years my junior I am uncertain of what she’d read or currently reads; however, I believ...

  Why had I chosen to serve in the military, much less the Marines? And soon after the Vietnam War ended just five years prior? It was a dream of mine. Yes, a dream since I was at least age six or seven or even before then. Both parents were astonished at the announcement by age ten that I was going to be a US Marine. No one in the family had been a Marine. Too, no woman that I’d known of in the family had been in the military. Yet, their Bible reading daughter was thought to be different; however, I knew I bewildered them. They were thinking I’d either be a nun or a police officer. I told them, “…New Jersey State Trooper after I serve in the Marines.” My dad, although he’d claimed to be a law-abiding citizen, I knew otherwise. He was surely disillusioned. My mother didn’t know what to think of me yet believed what I’d said. She would always tell me I was “…too honest”. Why had I decided at such a young age to serve in the military? I’d not ever told my parents the whole trut...