Nonprofits I Support

The Auburn homeless shelter in Fort Greene

I try to donate as often as possible to the Springfield Rescue Mission. I don't only donate money but clothes and actual food as well that my kids and I personally deliver. The good people at the Mission do good and important work for all those in need. I admire them a lot.

Where do you find strength?

I find strength within myself, even on my woeful days I know that after a good night’s sleep, the next day will bring something new. As long as there is the promise of tomorrow then anything is possible. I am at heart an optimist and I would list that as one of my strengths. I suppose that my optimism could be a result of having a large family support system. Growing up having an extended family to rely on, is a source of strength in and of itself, even if it isn’t blatantly on the surface, inherently you know that there is someone in the family mix that you can rely on, that all by itself is a wonderful source of strength.

I think that life experience provides strength as well, the older you get the more that you realize that all is not as dire as it seems. That you can overcome, it might be horrible but eventually you will get there beyond that crisis or that disaster. I have to be honest, as I am writing this post I am in my usual optimistic mood, looking forward to tomorrow, had a happy day today. If I were in one of my sadder moments, this post might not be written in the same fashion.

I see how the sometime repetitive nature of some of these prompts makes sense. Just because you answered a question one way on a Tuesday, it doesn’t mean that further down the week, say on Friday, that your answer to the same question be entirely the same, it may very well be different depending on your mood.

A Shorter Work Week vs. Working From Home

1989 Mass Rapid Transit $5 Uncirculated Cupro-nickel Coin

If I had a job in the city being able to use mass transit I'd rather have a four day work week than work from home. It would be a plus not having to use the car, waste gas and get out of the house and be able to enjoy getting around the city be it New York or Boston. If I were working elsewhere and I was forced to drive to work than I would much rather work from home. I would think it would be more economical and energy conservation savvy staying at home.

Republicans Try to Convert America Into Pottersville

The way social security and medicare are described by the pundits and any politician on the news is the most powerful weapon that works against these two programs. Time after time these supposed “experts” use the phrase entitlemen­t as if these programs weren’t paid into by the American people.The level of ignorance regarding taxes and who pays what to which program or entity of government is astounding­. It calls to mind the misplaced outrage over the 47% of Americans who don’t pay taxes, that is an unequivoca­lly falsehood yet it is ferociousl­y believed and defended by those who listen to fox news. Social security and medicare are retirement programs guaranteed by the U.S Treasury unlike the 401K plan which can evaporate if the stock market goes bust, these two government programs also help ensure that many of our elderly do not sink into poverty as they did before the advent of social security and medicare, it goes to show how successful these two programs are when the opposition believes that their disappeara­nce won’t be missed, that the public just takes it for granted. Unfortunat­ely that is a measure of success and why a good thing is often most vulnerable because everyone has forgotten how bad it was before the program was adopted.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Before They Left Town, Did House Republicans Change the Rules of the Tax-cutting Game?

The fiscal irresponsi­bility of the GOP during the Bush years made Reagan look like a real economic genius. Everything else remaining equal, there has never been a time in our history where during wartime, taxes weren’t raised to pay for the military expenditur­es. World War 2 had a lot to do with getting us out permanentl­y from the Great Depression­s sinkhole because it called for huge manufactur­ing output and tax increases. The two combined finished the job that F.D.R had started with all government programs. Not only did Bush’s administra­tion decide to take the surpluses from the Clinton administra­tion and give it back to the people but two wars were launched as well. And we wonder how the deficits got to be where they are. The GOP legacy of yesteryear when there was some semblance of economic sense has been destroyed by the Bush lessons and completely stomped on by the tea party politician­s. I don’t see the GOP redeeming itself any time soon.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Post Christmas emotions

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postaday2011

Twas Christmas night and all the gifts have been opened, the family dinner has been cooked, eaten and digested by now, the traveling back home from my mother’s house has been made in the overload haze of holiday cheer. As I unwind from the holiday onslaught, that had started after Halloween, it becomes, as it does every year, depressing that all that build up and anticipation for one day is over, and that one day has come and in a few short hours, will be gone.

Ever since I was a little girl, believing in Santa Claus or not, I grew sad on Christmas night because I realized that the next day was only another countdown to next year’s Christmas. 364 days seemed like an awfully long time to wait once again for Christmas. Having become an adult, I feel pretty much the same, realizing with the same despair that all that preparation is only going to come round again in less than 364 days, much less.

The overkill of the marketing, merchandising and materialism of Christmas becomes onerous. The true spirit of Christmas does negate most of those less than positive feelings, and I will try to keep the true spirit of Christmas alive and well in my heart and not get so depressed this year after the holidays. I think that perhaps if Christmas wasn’t so close to the end of the old year, maybe I wouldn’t be so melancholy. The thought of a new year, which essentially means another year added to my collection of years, makes me a little sad. I get attached to the age I am for the short year that lets me be that age, I don’t particularly enjoy giving up that year, I got good at being that age, why ruin a good thing?

What I Appreciate About My Family

Nature Tree

My daughter entertains me on a daily basis without fail since the day she was born. My son reminds me of my father who I lost before his time and my husband makes me laugh, not just any kind of laugh, but the kind of laughter that comes from deep down and leaves you feeling better after having laughed that deeply.

The Best Holiday Gift

library shelves

When I was younger, around the ages of ten or eleven, I fell in love with book series and Christmas was always the perfect opportunity to get the most bang for the buck. I was guaranteed a solid week of uninterrupted reading of either Nancy Drew's, Agatha Christie's, The Black Stallion's or Kathryn Kurtz' sic-fi/fantasy series Camber of Culdi. That was absolute freedom, my head buried in a book with no responsibilities whatsoever.

Would you ever fight over a sneaker?

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postaday2011

No, never in a million years would I ever fight over a sneaker or any other material thing ever known to man. Nor would I ever wait on line overnight outside in front of a store, simply to buy something. I hate shopping and I think that material possessions are highly over-rated, that is just me. I have to admit to certain weaknesses such as books, handbags, shoes and kitchen ware. In my own defense I am very capable of restraining myself from any such purchases, I am quite content to simply browse the shoe boutiques and the handbag shops. It is difficult to only browse in bookstores which is why I don’t do it often, I wait for Christmas and my birthday.

I don’t know what those people were thinking, getting violent in stores over sneakers. Don’t they have any self-respect and generosity of spirit? There are lines that just shouldn’t be cross and fighting over a pair of sneakers is one of them. This is truly behavior that I will never understand, fighting over sneakers. Go figure.

What will you try to do everyday next year?

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postaday2011

Everything remaining equal I see myself still posting everyday about something or other. When I read this quickly, my immediate thought was, what daily prompter, are you calling it quits? Am I on my own, now? I then thought about it and realized that I had panicked a tad. I really like having the daily post come to my inbox with a question or an observation. It gives me an opportunity to divulge parts of myself gradually to WordPress community.

I will continue with my book as well, at some point I’ll be finished writing and I will then be at phase two, which is the difficult part (I think), the editing of my book. During this time I’ll also be educating myself about publishing and self-publishing. So I envision that 2012 will be a continuation of 2011, writing everyday and broadening my writing outlets.