Poets & Writers Magazine

OMG . . . My letter to the editor was published by Poets & Writers Magazine in their Nov/Dec 2016 edition. I did not know until I started reading through my copy. I am stunned!

Vlog From Korea

My youngest son is currently in South Korea and I asked him to write about his experiences. Being a millennial, he is vlogging instead, but I actually like it better because I can see visuals of what he’s talking about. Here is one of his vlogs and he’s talking about the food that is available at Convenience Stores in Korea:

Also, he sent a map showing how many Convenience Stores are near his residence:

Flaws

Everyone has flaws. You don’t always see them because we don’t always do much more than scratch the surface with many people we know.

The longer and better you know someone, the more aware of their flaws you become. It may explain why some spouses become less enamoured with each other over time. It may explain why some friendships never last.

I would assume we’re more accepting of the flaws in others that we share as our own flaws, but I really don’t know. Perhaps, psychologically we would reject those who have the same flaws that we have?

I do know that characters in our writing have to have some flaws in order to hold the attention of the reader.

I know when I’ve watched some movies and heard the question, “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”, it piques my interest. I really don’t think I want to know the worst thing most people have ever done. It does not truly define them any more than the best thing they’ve ever done would. It may show what they’re capable of; it may show the one thing they will never, ever do again.

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The Problem With Being A Poet

I am a poet. I tend to say things in as few words as possible. Or I try to.

The problem with being that way is that when I hear someone explaining something or telling something and they go on and on and belabor the point and seem to enjoy the sound of their own voice more than they do what they’re saying . . . I cannot take it.

This also affected me as a teacher. I was told to tell the children what they were going to learn. Then I was to teach it by modeling, explaining, using visual aids, having children practice it, then having them do the task alone as an assessment and then to sum it all up, I was to tell them what they learned. If they didn’t know what they learned, my telling them wouldn’t matter; if they did know, what was the point? Likewise the “Today, class, we are going to learn . . . ”  Really? That is the quickest way to tune me out. Don’t tell me what I’m going to learn, or see, or do . . . let’s just do whatever it is. Children learn by doing. I jumped right into the lesson and was often criticized for it. However,  the scores of the children I worked with rose and rose quickly.

I just tried to listen to a three minute video. The man droned on about what some group had not done, how long it had been, on and on, and whatever point he wanted to make, will elude me because I cannot listen to the same point being made in six different ways.

I’m a member of MENSA. I learn quickly, I bore easily, and the fewer words used, the better.

Sometimes as someone is yammering away, I sit and think, I could make that point in one word (remember “Name that Tune” show?) . . .

I just can’t take so much explaining about something that doesn’t really need that much explaining.

It may be the election ads and comments, etc, for it was a political explanation. I wonder if I should copy/paste it here?

Well, I can’t find it again, so the short answer is NO.

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Writing

It’s been hard to write lately.

My mind is so busy worrying about the election, the hurricane, flooding, my new used car, my pets, my son who’s overseas, my son who’s decided he’s transgender, my son who is an aerospace engineer in a country that suddenly doesn’t value engineers as it once did, my own aging . . .

What difference does it make, if I write or not?

Does it feed the dogs/cat, does it end the never-ending flooding?

Does it keep anyone safe?

There are projects listed on a page taped by my computer. I’ve done everything I could not to notice it.

Perhaps I’m depressed? I may be lonely.

The world is a scary place lately.

I’ve lost faith in my country. We care more about other nations than we do ourselves.

I see people fall to one knee and refuse to respect our flag. Whose flag do they respect? What do they think they’re doing? It angers me. It doesn’t make me sympathetic to whatever cause they think they are supporting.

Then I read that singers don’t want to sing the Star Spangled Banner anymore.

I said that when we decided the word “illegal” didn’t mean anything, and we spent time teaching other cultures to our children while ignoring our own, that the country would change dramatically. And it has.

Do you dare say “Merry Christmas” now? You can say and even be applauded for saying greetings in other languages and cultures. We must hide our American values?

What’s there to write about? What the hell is left of America?

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Which One?

Sitting here in a house surrounded by 32 trees and wondering which room to get in to avoid any falling tree? Hurricane Matthew is on the way.

I spent the afternoon  clearing out the carport so I could move my new used car into it. The place I usually park it is subject to flooding with a regular heavy rain and they have predicted flash floods.

I had room for the car in the carport, but I also take my dogs out that door and needed a path for them as well. I moved several things into the utility room. I must be getting well. I couldn’t have done all that a year ago.

I counted the trees in the yard. I’ve never lived in this house during a hurricane. I did stay here during an ice storm and several tree branches fell.

I hope it’s not bad. I’m in North Carolina and they said Hurricane Matthew was going to turn and go back to Florida. Now they say perhaps they made a mistake and it’s coming farther inland than they’d predicted. Well, I’ve still got 32 trees surrounding this house.