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FANDANGO MOVING ON UP! I-net BLOG/ Consider RE-OPEN 12 DAYS OF BLOGGING/ WINTER 2014 |
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Due space ... cyber space, sillies @ a thing they call BLOG BOARD, am considering re-booting FICTION FANDANGO. Also, did find former arena for viewing latest blog creations from community members. Who blog along @ the train we may dub http://www.writing.com. At that spot one may still find latest blogs by date & hour. This random thing that swept the site like a cow catcher, never cut it with moi. Writing seriously comes @ a price. Not costly in the least, instead a crux quite easy on the eye and mentally relaxing fer sure. That's the craft for you --- when folks dedicate their works to a degree of ultimate impression for their audience. 'Random' applied like salvage for lackluster pieces clocks in as unfunny, uncanny sameness, tech gear only, buy-this-buy-that, keep up with the Jonses, be a married couple only, paint the white picket fence of online persona clone-ship is history. It always was for a talented ken of authorship. So, if boredom turns you on, personally can't even grasp the concept. Okay? Previously FANDANGO underwent a major wash & dry, hung out to air since ... summer 2013, when blogs crumbled along with golden rod, last Autumn. A year before --- 2012 @ Teffom Estates came with discoveries which eventually tuned into major news events due revelations from Edward "Scissors hands" Snowden. International press hounded the guy all the way to Moscow. What he revealed to the American Public, due a closed and corporate owned media in the States ... went entirely unrelated to domestic spying. A blight on these shores, to be sure. Suffice, IF TEFF rants, don't think she dislikes EVERYONE. I don't. I do run the EVERYONE contests and oh my --- have nerve to dub myself Prez @
Also, currently searching my own bonafide noggin for a way to kick start another truly laid back group @
Regionally we can only do our best. Of course, thru our writing. Most folks are not active protesters, another thing like even a hint of news (shunned onsite) remains in disfavor nationwide. Oh, yes, my pretties, tis in fact out there like a ground cover of wild geranium. Why, lucky we color ourselves when finding real news, these days. Hoaxes come, entrapment stories build but common sense lives on in a place you may dub: -------- FICTION ------ FANDANGO ------- A ----- WRITER'S ----- BLOGGEROO. HAPPY NEW YEAR. Deadline Jan 30 ... @
Christmas past submissions, encased in the only Christmas Genre Anthology onsite & online open See:
Perplexed while wondering about the CLUBs Silent Ones @
FANDANGO LIVE spells no pressure stats for moi. (I) might blog a bit, but short story time is more important, you see. Plans to make, resolutions to keep and sure ... the beat goes on. Public thanks to all who entered 2013s Everyone Contests which proves most successful. Yipee! Completion toward judging winners cicle while R&R (reading & rev) stories soon. Oh boy! Promoting same, holding in hand like Magi-ware then gifting ala Secret Santa. DONATIONS WILDLY NEEDED FOR CONTESTS. Please E-mail TEFF. Comments open @ FANDANGO. Sept 1/TWENTY-FOURTEEN! Officially open @
Tap the above if you like Ghostbuster mid. Also, accepting submissions all year long, from EVERYONE! MAY RE-OPEN in JAN @ un-revamped {bitem: Recenty Anthology created @
PUBLISHERS, CALL ME! Ditto @
Oh, the giraffe on the cover spells sticking FANDANGOs neck out there into that offsite view world aka an I-net EYE! |
Anywhere, anyplace. On PRC (pubrevcentral) RE: MASSACRE IN MAGUINDANAO, PHILIPINES/ NOV 23 --- 2009 Review of "A Mother’s Song in Masalay"  RE: Journalists on the front line reportedly at first death toll number 21. Journalists killed is not the reason behind today's reading/ research ... oh ...research "at this desk." This is the reason that massacre in the Filippes must stop. This is not a story tied to the villian, Teddy Roosevelt, dear American history buff cartel. Nope, DURING modern times --- last year. Where? punch in "Philipine Election/ Nov 2009 tie ... This can be suggested from this freelance journalist as a future topic for Southern Belles and Yankee dames alike up next in our blog challenges. No? ================== Meanwhile, burnt out item number wise, a dictionary on my lap, a bed to make, novels to stack .. Plus, gotsta book, tis Saturday peeps. Pie & Plant day. Note ... must be careful in kitchen ... do not let Mickey nor Big fluff ball White shake their paws over cheese pies. Don't want to mix up Hershey chocolat with soil which is not from a bag nor store bought. Simply dark as they come, grain by grain, muddy aprons et all. Whitey wears his signature heart pinafore, red velvet skirt, lace straps. Mick's in full buckskin regala, the dude from the western plains. Must ask Val if she saw Maruaud lately in Michigan or is it Wisconsin? Say ... Teff has a publisher out that way. No? YES!!! Lighten the load, my dearest Saturday kinda friends.
See ya later ... read on & on... crafting a new character today in Novel No. 4, five chapters in ... OH and Jenebugs is for sale, passkeys ... going once ... going twice ... TEFF's Moffett Estates ... where its all about the writing. |
Semi unofficial literature critique. Yes, correct. A first draft book report, blog take wise. Suppose there comes a time in the day's occupation know as the be real hour. Working @ a library has it ups & downs. Lil Librarian humor, folks. Safe to say, I rather can't remember knowing anyone who didn't read ... uh books. Meanwhile here's background before memory moves on to the next current library choice --- five finger hold em in one hand, stir the cheese filling in the other. BTW baking went superb and never share the secret ingredient capturing mock NY cheese cake with known strangers. No apology as per usual. Yum. Moving the saucer aside, great crust. Heavy on cinnamon this time out ... SUNDAY past. Imagine if you will a world filled with young women, girls, ladies perhaps and men and boys who do not know how to make pie dough. What a crying shame. BLACK & WHITE AND DEAD ALL OVER came with a flash back for moi. Since, uh back in the day ... did view the presses below the Philly Inquirer only once while in journalism class, one nippy fall night actually. Then onto their journalist pub ... so sure while running source material from a nearby county. SO -- safe to state TEFF came up as a journalist. To be more on point, loved this novel start to finish, relaxed along the way. As intelligent audience members know .... One does that with reads. One may not hesitate to quip that doing this as a turn coat effort to edit, indeph-ly along from rev game worthiness as a not too often is very very wrong. Yet, I do not feel sorry for those who can't read & relax (ESCAPE!) relax & write. Besides actually people should enjoy writing not flub dub it into the same category as a trip to have a tooth pulled out of their bloody mouths. POV --- If writing is a chore, stop writing. See onsite we've been treated lately to ... too many who voice opines which tell the audience they are ONLY working as they write. If so --- stop. Read another ten years more, then write. Most times the story itself causes a stab at a new pen. If you can't write, get off the pot, shut the hell up for a long while. Above all else --- quit the soap box, please. BLACK AND WHITE AND DEAD ALL OVER staggers right out with this novel's first victim and second body found, a woman done in by a baler wiring her figure into a statue ... suppose one simply says go figure. The presses once beheld by this highly courageous, serial journalist at the time were terrifying by size alone! Jokes at the city pub were supreme while on the arms of my teacher, a famous journalist in his own right ... all playfully recalled while reading this fine NY story of a press gone modern, a paper out of line via page after bloody page of get cross word trauma from John Darton. Ignored g-e-ts. Take out BLEAK HOUSE, a DVD collection from drama genre. Behold Mr. Crook, the hoarder who spontaneously combusts. Well done series. Now ... Take the murder vic, Chief Editor Ratsnoff. Take the skunk willing to suck until dry the fictitious Jarndyce vs Jarndyce ... namely: Solicitor Vole. Then while thinking spot-on character names such as Lady Deadlock ... quit the scene, go modern. Stand beside Barton's media editor, Mr. Grapple. Find a dining critic named Outsalot who takes main character, Jude, a reporter out to dine. When a topless waitress flicks a bic attached to her nipple ... forget all about any of two new heir apparently waiting in the wings, contemplating controlling web access to handle not mangle the NY Globe. Wind it all up, bring it on home is what one discovers ala Bollingsworth, a police investigator with an angle and another nutsy spoof surname for pure fun surround. Write your own articles, pieces, essays, stories, poetry, blogs. And maybe when this book is in front of me once more ... shall elaborate a tad bit more. Or not. There is not a single page in BLACK AND WHITE AND DEAD ALL OVER not courting laughter meant to knit pick, solve a crime and expose a dying industry. Did this 2008 c-rt capture in a heart wrenching way the bygone era of true journalistic standard? Well, that's a big question. Perhaps the fall of the greats around the corner became evident years ago. Let's assume Darton saw skilled lines on his palm, predicted need for return to moral responsibility by the fourth estate. That working-stiff, reporter venue includes the fantastically well written, memorable reports. We all know it's (time) arrived. Guess, what he aint the only one. I too predict a war on writers. In this novel we also see the term dumbing down. So to talk Lit is to smarten up? Not ... goshers ... my oh my how thought provoking. ============================= Gee, whiz, Wilbur is that another book on your knee? Yeah, wise guy, so what? Are ya gonna quote from it? Yeah. You know, Wilbur, I always wondered if people kept these quote stats close to the hip cuz they's so selfish to not want to look so crazy high allmighty less in the Literary establishment than em authors. We're all smart, Clem. Yeah? People don't dumb down, Wilbur, do they? Probably not, Clem. Quiet and I'll read some outloud. Praise the Lord, Wilbur. The Internet is a lot like the radio only no audio. Right? Shhh ... Lady Deadlock? What a freakin name. ============================================= It's all about the name ... its all about the writing. What one writes. What one reads. READ ON! PS: As far as novels with reporter characters goes --- THE SHIPPING NEWS is a lot better. |
Yes, correct. RED HERRINGS AND WHITE ELEPHANTS The Origins of the Phrases We Use Everyday ... Hails from Brit, Albert Jack, resident according to 2004 stats ... from Guilford, England. And you guys & dolls thought these were American. Nope, nuhuh, nada, ixnae on the Mericanae .. Au contraire, mon amis. Be back later ... maybe tonight when the moon is bright. Reading & Judging in progress @ "Invalid Item"  |
Oh .. good morning. Bit overcast this morning yet trying to turn sunny. Missing the blog challenge a little bit. Nah, missing it a alot. Why aint a lot one word. We pronounce it as one word a lot. Often. Usually. Thank goodness my friend and co-author bookgraham   is posting @
While my real email has so many new words --- let me see --- what was that score tallied at last week when a true email sweep was in progress (?) ... oh yes put all of them safely to bed --- into saved email .. yes 197 new vocab words from an outside online dictionary which kindly sends a word per day. Must mention this on next edit & add that particular vocab website info to email for the group: "Invalid Item" So, oh yes, my current read. Now damn, do I ever need a fresh cup of strong coffee or what? Sure, you do TEFF. Okay fixed a bit of Maxwell House Original with Maxwell House Hazelnut ... wait a few seconds and Jimmy the Lip spits it right into an anxious cup. Mmm, now pouring in a hefty dash of International Creamer, previously diluted with water & milk. This week's on-sale creamer is Irish Cream. Jimmy the Lip is a Mr. Coffee with a curled glass lip, impossible to pour from without spilling mucha java on counters, saucers, sleeves. So, mix: coffee, a blog, a subject (my bedside book) but no blog challenge today. Aint it a tad bit interesting or not interesting a'tall how only FRONTLINERS offers onsite blog contests. Well, we seem to center on rev world or the site does. Most of the bloggers are fine reviewers doing something which is fun, communicating with writers. Then there are contests here too, of course. Going to phase all of mine out in 2010. I might even sell them, if anyone has an the proper offer which must be beyond huge. There's the word interest again which seems used alot, usually, often. So the creamers thickened up in the china pitcher during the night. The cats know it is on the windowsill. They seldom drink milk. Trying to wean them from dry colored catfood. Toast and gravy is a new hit. Milk is a biweekly treat. Why, it twas just Tuesday the lecture came down how all cats must listen to their moms. We are poor. So you must eat what your mommy gives you. They do fathom our home made bread inside the milk saucer. Well, the whole neighborhood likes aroma of fresh loaves baking to be sure. Catfood manufacturers add sugar and like adult tums and taste buds, the kitty contention laps up artificial flavoring dotted lavishly with sugar. Well, listen Big Whitey, Teffy owns a sugar bowl, empty like my coffers where intentions of selling fiction are but dreams these days. So seriously, should revamp, nay meaning the word finish SOJOURN TO INVERNESS. Or maybe, dig up a fabulous new vocab word and write an addition to THE POINDEXTER TALES as this fine cast of characters is stuck in both Boston and Vermont. Alas, the bok is so damn good, it places me inside a huge newspaper builing every single night. Where I just cruise innocently around inside, elevator to hallway to newsroom wondering who the murderer is by morning. One needs visuals for setting. And I like my fiction reads well written. Another reason why the rev how to gang's game plan is moreorless helter skelter. Let it work for them. Let us review as adult readers commenting on novice works, from all onsite. Ourselves, readers, writers, revvers. Odd how one settles on the easiest most instantaneous path somedays, some years. Blogging is one such entity. Now about that novel ... BLACK & WHITE AND DEAD ALL OVER by John Darnton, a former journalist ... C-RT... 2008 from Alfred A. Knopf, NY ... is probably available on Amazon. Once I received via wc email an exact explanation on how to rev for Amazon from a member here. This awards little but due to reading this novel from Darnton, considered trying to craft something short. Revs on Amazon, of course, must be the genuine article. Say, who writes revs inside quotation marks, sums stories? Oh, you'll never guess, kids. But TEFFY knows who it may be. My favorite part of the book is the phase "dumbing down" of the public readership, aka circualtion for the paper. Darton himself uses g-e-t as if it is the glue holding pages to the binder. Well, it almost looks like his publisher added umpteen superficial verb tail of get. Oh, hell, what do I know, besides plenty? Well, time for a morning bath & shampoo then onto the library shift. Ta Ta. Oh and y/c y'all hang in ... your writing probably only needs improvement overall (maybe in some cases, of course.) Signed the Wildcat, extrovert, freelance journalist, librarian .. April Sunday ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Now furthermore in keeping with get overuse, verbose, a ridiculous e.g. of a verb sandwich as thick as a brick... lather em on why don't you, Alfred A Knopf of NY? Where anyone even standing in NY should know better than this and send out great vocab, not trite crap via get overdrive in almost ten paragraphs per two pages at the start of the novel. However, managing to ignore and kept reading on ... only on p 306, did somebody record these dull "get" goings on. The awful list which if this is slangy, help me Jesus, it stinks and is dumbing down of readers from above 17 to nigh on six. Bad, publisher. Shame is your name in the overuse g-e-t game. From p 272. "to get a court decision why they had to get rid of him" fire the man. before any of the patrol cars get into the area" --- hell arrive gets done -- finishes mange to get it --- comprehend/ collar get back to basics --- return who gets to occupy the chair /// --- sits, occupies, no get nec gets access --- accesses what mischief we're getting up to --- undertaking, embarking upon get out @ the 6th St stop === stepped out can get the story out -- report coffee breaks: we used to get those === had those/ took coffee breaks distant rumbling -- the presses getting ready to roll --- presses rolling, save me some feakin time will you just? get in bed/ laid abed/ laid down/ his voice seemed to get stuck --- his voice stuck/ drop seemed/ toss get See? What the hell is going on. Paid by the word are we? Or publishers are instantly dumbing down. Tsk, tsk. Hang in yc/ blue/ rainbow echelon ... for one day you might find you can attempt better writing all by yourself! Cool beans. HUH?? |
| Let's just take this down a notch. Here lies an attempt at deciphering a political venue surrounding health care reform in 2009 & 2010. Th House passed a bill for Health Care reform in Dec 2009. Foxnews won't carry that information, therefore to the nation as a whole, it does not exist. A few papers will report the issue, such as the NY Times and the Washington Post, and local papers which are still not calling Mr Obama, President Obama. Daily the seated president of the USA is referred to by his last name, even on Public Radio or NPR. For eight long years little kids thought gurj bu's first name was "President." That polecat waltzed on television, no Cheers reruns for you. President O's speech on Health Care reform last Oct was printed verbatim by most of the online rags. Basically he hopes to give citizens in the USA free health care options for doctors visits, hospital stays, etc. Anything that is needed by anyone in any state. This is already on the books, because the US Health Department can expand Medicare. Imagine, opening a letter from Public Welfare listing local doctors & clinics, without standing in line for days & weeks. Look for the little card with your name on it ... sometime in the way way way future. Or by the end of one of the President Obama years. Yet, we elected senators & representatives who won't vote either their conscience, their party, nor their president. Nor who even recall who or where their constituency habitually resides. *1. If you have not watched Michael Moore's SICKO, recommend you do so at first opportunity. At least you'll have a handle on how free medical things work for citizens in the UK, Canada, Cuba. After WWII as we know, England was one devastated country. The place was a shambles due to German bombing, people were hungry, deathly ill and injured. Then the Prime Minister rushed thru all changes to assist these people. The ruse worked, and is in place today via free medical opportunities for all citizens. King Coal in the Appalachian areas do not purchase drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents. Nor do they offer clinics for cancer victims due to the overall mining practices causing devastation to environment where folks must manage to survive on their own, at their own expense. How? Is a damn good question. So, we were told that in the Midwest, people object to free health care for all. We're force fed misinformation from fox, cnn, msn, abc, nbc, cbs --- all of them repeat that the Midwesterners are hard workers, they have been such for generations and they do not want government interference in their lives. They want to pay for their health care, and not foot the bill for anyone else. This is false propaganda. Due to hog farms, industrialized agri business and Monsanto seeds, people would be grateful to be able to attend free clinics, visit doctors or specialist == for what they need done, even birth babies without such staggering costs and care for their children properly with affordable medical options. Now of hard working ... yeah ... we are a nation who was hard working when we had factories that were open. Many of these buildings, we are told are to costly to bring back as local means of employment. Right? Free enterprise comes with few grants. No money to spend means less small establishments, eateries inclusive. We became a corporate nation. Fox corporation gives medical benefits. So anchors stand to lose not a freaking thing with pundit reporting. Okay, little Miss Teffy, and I am short, I just pretend I'm taller than 5ft, 7" ... went to college late in life. Back in the mid Eighties there appeared a topic out of nowhere. Yeah, we probably missed those early implication re: "overpopulation" of the great USA. Taking this a step forward ... since then and especially in the last decade, I never though to behold in my life time the amount of greed capability in this country. Never! From our overpopulated nation, we shall always boast some consumers, some people who can afford $155.00 for a physical. After New Orleans fell victim to Hurricane Katrina, there emerged right before our eyes as a nation, privatized companies for disaster relief. That fine city, still has a very high crime rate, dwindled employment, closed hospitals and a school system which is basically defunct. Everyone already knows in DC that President O will most likely only serve one presidential term. Dems & repugs shall fight Health Care reform in the Senate & in the House during his term. Why? Well, they (a few) covet his seat. They can stand before that four foot high health bill, rename anything they want, confuse with labels like single payer ... whatever and hand the country into corrupt coffers of Health Care Insurance Corporations ... whom due to escalating debate and revelation from actions by protesters (not media coverage) we now realize pick and chose whose medical bills to actually pay. While the premiums rise every single year. So, will a day come when you can enter a free clinic? I hope so. Senors are in line for medicaide but not until age 65. The trickle down theory involves a huge, overwhelming percentage of the population without health insurance. No jobs or companies offering new employee benefits. All these health care reform changes will be postponed because two parties want a chance to put their next guy in the White House. We'll watch the next election, we my vote for an independent candidate as a major grass roots boycott against media's outright slander. Maybe see how that goes in 2012. Or we can move to Canada, wait ten years, enjoy free health care. Know this passport applications are indeed on the rise. ======================================== *1. Of elected state officials in Congress, here's the short version. Each man or woman spends mucho for election. Gainful is the yearly salary, perks, power, prestige, staff, residence, offices, free stuff. Hopefully from the fancy resume shall occur a fine income from another job after one has supposedly served the public. These people have health care. Are they out for themselves? Sure, they are. Are they out for their party, of which there are only three in this godforsaken country? Naturally. Some even write best sellers. We'll let illegal contracts slide in this tiny footnote. What good are highway & road maintenance grants for states, when people shall be unwell or not healthy enough to drive upon the byways or afford vacations to financially suffering tourist spots? Answer: few jobs, just federal money to each senator's state. Politically each one rides a short term windfall and are aware of this. This causes confusion & forgetfulness even amnesia once they set their foot inside the US Senate or the House. Then they must as consumers keep the airlines in business. Few of these randy do-gooders **2 ... give back to the population since maybe their stocks went down. They become blind to homelessness, hunger, soup kitchens and funerals for American servicemen. They become perhaps as greedy as the next guy across the aisle, on camera, on a committee. When terms are up they return to mansions in their home state which now owes them for their lifetimes for their gov'mint service. **2. This group is the most accessible. One can join groups, arrive enmasse at offices or simply write letters asking for public Medicare for all US citizens. Phone calls are encouraged as well. The good news is that some states are instigating Medicare for ALL state by state. ***3. Signing up for news from the following is one means of garnishing a understandable look at what is not reported across the nation in newspapers which are becoming so small, one can't even wrap the fish inside these pages. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ***3. Research Ralph Nader, the third presidential candidate --- 2004 & 2008. He's trying to organize currently for banking reform. When you come this far ... no doubt a website sending free mail will show up. Try: move.org Try: A.C.T.I.O.N === Try: Freespeech tv, Laura Flanders Democracynow.org Sorry didn't have these email addresses in front of me. My cold came back two days ago, the second one since DEC. Due from standing outside, talking to a neighbor whose house was foreclosed on Tues evening. Yes, wore a heavy coat. Not to worry, we've honey, lemon & herbal tea. Last fall, when involved on a recent job quest for a pal --- via phone ... a local receptionist told me the doctor must charge $155.00 for a physical since "his malpractice insurance, in case he gets sued, is very high." And she said: "This is what they all are charging in this area." And:"You should be glad we took your call. Since we don't take new patients." Result -- we eventually found a clinic for $55. RE: The foreclosure mentioned above Alas, they handed me keys to the place, which is very warm indeed and comes with free cable. A lawn chair fits perfectly next to an ancient portable TV propped on a wide windowsill. At this writing, no idea what to do with this great big dog, abandoned like the house itself. He's affable enough, likes cats, walks about the 'hood via a fast run adjacent to light traffic. My gawd, does that thing eat. Not only am I out ultra hours as a volunteer contest hostess. Now I'm in by the pound on dog chow. And the beat goes on ... |
| My mother had three sisters who all set a splendid table of holiday treats or summery picnic delicacies. When they gathered us together back in the day, we enjoyed sitting around the kitchen listening to them explore various ways to up the anti for basic favorites they insisted we learn how to fix. Naturally we came away stuffed from all these outings, where tasting everything wasn't an option. Thus coleslaw became a requirement to perfection. One had little chance of ever snagging a husband if they couldn't make coleslaw. In later years at a family dinner of our own, my husband introduced horseradish to Mother's Coleslaw. That was quite the surprise since he didn't think to warn us in the least. So this is how it all began. Take about half a head of cabbage and grate it on a grater. No cheating with sliced cabbage. Don't you do it. Or you will simply produce mayo coated sliced cabbage. So, you place into the largest bowl you have --- the cabbage wedges, the grater and set to work. After your arm, wrist and hand is about to fall off ... stop grating. Put into the mixture, and do measure carefully as you count aloud .... one tablespoon vinegar, two tablespoons vinegar. Stop. Replace the lid on the vinegar bottle, lest some accidentally in a mysterious manner, magically leak atop the slaw. My advice to you right now ... is take the vinegar bottle to the garage or porch. Hide the sucker. Now, you listen ... Open a jar of mayonnaise. Never use Miracle Whip. NEVER!!! Put at least four large tablespoons or four large soup ladle worth of mayo into the bowl. Take the sugar bowl. Examine it carefully for cat hair, dust, ashes from burn entrees that came before or coffee grounds. Now measure two --- only two (same exact equivalent as the vinegar --- but try not to think about this) ... tablespoons of sugar. Drop that across the entire bowl of cabbage. Find a Morton's salt shaker. Swish it lightly into your palm. Drop the salt onto the mixture. Now, take a pepper shaker ... add a dash ... take a paprika spice container ... Don't open it ... just have it handy. Mix all inside the bowl with a large wooden spoon. Taste .... okay now add two more tablespoons of vinegar, two more tablespoons of sugar. Remix. At a family reunion one year, Aunt Polly entertained us with heating coleslaw in a micro. My mother took great umbrage to this, so we are not allowed to do this ... EVER. As in never. Mom also grates in about two fat carrots. So she maintains the rep for best coleslaw known to mankind. I've been sneaking in one teaspoon of horseradish, and no one ever notices, but they rather lick the rounded edges of their lips before leaving the plate clean. Oh and atop the coleslaw ready for centerpiece worthy status ... then dot lavishly with paprika. Serve this coleslaw in either a glass bowl or in a mound on a china plate atop outer leaves from the cabbage. Coleslaw to my knowledge tastes bland when contacting plastic of any kind. Coleslaw is great on top of hot dogs in cheap hot dog rolls. Also very good beside mashed potatoes, turkey or ham. Fresh coleslaw is a great addition to most cold cut sandwiches. Trust me ... coleslaw is alive and well all year 'round. Plus it is a good way to stick it to the man running fat cat (Establishment) grocery chains. Which are charging $1 or more for a can of veggies. Of course, best to buy your next cabbage at a farmer's market. Thus supply your fam with a fresh veggie. And farmers with a bit of cash, plus a hearty thanks for harvesting his/her homegrown, healthier, crops. Ah, a splash of Worcestershire Sauce never hurts a side dish of coleslaw when served with roast beef or brisket. Bon appetit. ===================================== I can still see the last coleslaw standoff between my mother and my aunt Polly. Aunt Polly smirks, pushing a saucer of hot coleslaw toward my mother. My mother is about to laugh but won't. Now her eyes are tearing up. We're all standing around, male cousins, girls, boys, nieces, nephews, grandkids, adult girl cousins waiting, nary a flinch amongst us. For we know the family code. Aunt Polly is the oldest sister. My mother is required to taste whatever is offered. Meanwhile all eyes are on my mother who waited this out long enough. Aunt Polly notes with her finger that the slaw is now lukewarm. So she reheats the coleslaw. My mother looks as if she will faint. She is verbally breaking under the pressure, exclaiming loudly that coleslaw is meant to "To be eaten cold, Polly!" No one moves. My mother closes her eyes, nibbles at the slaw in question. "Oh that is just awful," she says. "How can anyone eat this?" It brings tears to my eyes now to recall how my Aunt Polly burst into her contagious laughter. When she laughed everyone caught it and laughed even louder. My mother, once more, laughed so hard she cried that day. We all did. When I visited Aunt Polly back in 1992 after her heart attack, she said she missed making coleslaw. Two days later I was back with a bowl, cabbage, the works. My uncle insisted on using their mayo, so I never opened mine. In this way my aunt needn't wash up or find utensils nec for a proper family coleslaw. That day we ate it with ham sandwiches, and we ate that coleslaw for what seemed hours. There was snow on the ground. Naturally my uncle had to check all the car stuff, windshield and wipers, anti freeze, snow tires, heater. He even drove off in it for awhile. Still that coleslaw sat on the plate. I said, "Do you want me to heat this for you, Aunt Polly." No, she said, I never really liked it that way. I'd give anything to rewind the clock to that particular winter day. Which reminds me today ... how the following week, I asked my Aunt Polly to teach me how to make her specialty. Borscht, of course, a different story altogether. Yet, quite a spicy tale. By the time we completed that ordeal, my car underwent a visit to a car wash, a wax job, oil change and vacuum. Plus, we both put up enough hot soup to last all winter. Like these memories which last forever. Blogging in "Invalid Item" |
| YOUNG SCHOLAR, CHARLES DARWIN by Mary Moffett aka TEFF Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England Feb 1809 "Suze, he looks like a turtle with his bald head and furrowed brow sticking out of his blanket." "Oh, Mr. Darwin, best not converse about our son that way. He's only a week old, my dear husband." "No matter, wife. The way he curls his legs together reminds me of a lizard tail. Are you sure he's fit?" "MR DARWIN!!! I'll not tolerate such nonsense from you. Especially in front of the baby. Little Charles is perfect, beyond a mother's hopes. Now bugger off dear, our other children need you at home." =================================== 1810 ... one year hence .. "gall gall galla pa pa pa go go oo os" "Robert, come, the babe is mumbling his mantra again." "Wife, don't fret yourself, it's only baby talk, my dear." "You're probably right, Robert. Let's retire to the dining room where dinner awaits." "Goodnight, Charlie, sleep tight, son. Look, wife, I kissed his wrinkled little face." The door to the nursery closes behind the concerned parents. "Galapagos." ===================================== 1817 ... seven years later "Charles dear, time to clean your room, dearheart. My heavens! What exactly is this in your specimen collection, my dearest?" "Oh, Mother, please leave that be. It belongs next to the petrified toad, between the frog and the salamander. Set it down, please, Mother." ================================ 1821 ... Charles Darwin is twelve years old, a kindred spirit always seeking knowledge from simple things he finds outside his home in a nearby swamp. "WIFE!!!! Oh there you are Sushanna with your binoculars turned on the neighbors. Are they moving out?" "Yes, I think they are. You know the Links weren't here very long at all, only a few years, Robert." "Yes, I hear one of their long lost relatives has gone missing in the Amazon of all places." "Husband, do you suppose it's a bit of a family emergency for them then?" "Indeed, Suze. And they've been so kind receiving young Charlie at their home as often as they did. He shall truly miss them." "Yes, he'll be devastated when the Links are missing from his young life. See here for yourself, Robert. They are loading quite an extensive taxidermy collection into those waiting vans." "You don't say? Yes, there goes an ape of some kind. And a baboon, if I am correct, looks like. What? We're reduced to common spies." "Charles told me of these fascinating creatures over there. But I really had no idea." "Suze, order cook to pack a picnic. Rather than have my son brooding over missing Links ... Let's take Charlie to the zoo today. Being among live animals will surely cheer him." "Oh, husband what a splendid idea. I'll fetch him at once ..... Charlie!!" ================================ 1825 ... Charles is a student ... "Mrs. Darwin, we've called you in because Charles is having slight difficulty with his art assignments." "Really, how so, kind Headmaster? Do tell." "Well, he seems rather disconnected some days. But we do have a terrific suggestion from his art teacher." "My son is a dreamy lad who pores over world Atlas maps. Please, do continue, sir." "That learned man suggests a bit more concentration. And he's come up with this remarkable method." "And what is that, sir?" "Quite elementary, Mrs. Darwin. Charles is simply to outline his project. Say he must undertake a still life, for example." "Yes, I follow your words. But what is this?" "Well, it's a formal charting system. Which proceeds numerically around the paper. See you start at point one, then onto dot two, three, four etc." "Oh yes, I saw these at a department store in London. How very helpful. Why, thank you, Sir." "Indeed, Mrs. Darwin. We at Shrewsbury School express our utmost certainty Charles Darwin will have no trouble whatsoever connecting the dots." ==================== The End |
Ah the blogger team from FRONTLINERS is at it again. Lengthy prompts arrive; this time with instructions on what to write, maybe a bit terse, maybe these could be a tad more open. ... One wonders how to cut to the chase and answer today's message RE: what movie changed my life. Dear Audience, stupefied and sneaky as a pelican carefully lifting a tuna sandwich from a beach goer, there is no specific reel from Hollywood Hell which ever changed the likes of TEFF. Affected or effected perhaps. Sure, after seeing EASY RIDER in a movie theatre back in the day, I swore to never ride on the back of a Harley dressed as a hippie. Who'd consider such an audacious fete? When we rented CHOCOLAT, I quit making candy, feeling outclassed. However, adopting Whitey our big white cat served to boost moral. Then after a few years of watching that movie another twenty times, we were notified we had to move from a six year rental because the house was sold. Not because Whitey kept knocking all the rickety end tables over like he did in CHOCOLAT. Faced in 2006 with sixty days to vacate the premises, deal with treasures, umpteen collectibles encompassing second hand crystal, glassware and doll house miniatures, we set to work. Whitey was not welcome at our temporary digs, a basement den of a relation. Somehow or other spinning a story helps with each box carried to storage. Whitey, I informed Johnny Depp, now belonged to him, plus we emailed his adoption papers. Well darn, one of the packers thought these Moffett- Depp communications were dead serious. Probably since not too many folks smile or laugh when forced to give up their favorite cat of all times. Big White aka The Popester. Open the door, call to a feline dubbed Your Excellency and he'll obligingly come inside from the yard. A can of catfood in hand also serves as a pert incentive. Well, next thing you know, the word spreads like sleds on a snowy hillside. Especially since Reading, PA is a college town sporting college bars & grills. Whitey by then is hailed as Johnny Depp's cat, who starred in the movie with him. While filming "Chocolat" in France ... Snowy White ... became Johnny's lovable sidekick. You see? Low and behold here comes a reporter from the Reading Eagle, whom would have been better off covering a crime scene. This fool demands to see adoption papers for cuddly Whitester. Ah, hell. When you'd rather feign collapse since the jig is up .. embarrassment quickly follows. So I said ... "Pet adoption in this case is an International matter, sir." Not to be outdone, and yes, perhaps I taught the children wisely, a teen yells from the front room ... "Depp's arriving at the airport pretty soon to pick him up." Meaning our cat, Whitey, of course. Well, the guy scribbles that down, asks what time the flight from Paris arrives. We slam and lock all the doors, lay on the floor and don't budge for about fifteen minutes as a photographer photo ops the entire stone house with it's tall windows, and Mr. Whitey, actor, preening inside bay windows. Oh, Lord, the goings on from favorite films. Plus, remaining neighbors ensconced like hens on cozy straw nests, wonder what's up inside the first floor apartment. Things kinda snowball after the paper shows people appearing out of no where, a handful of about thirty if one counts the crowd bearing signs --- WELCOME TO READING, JOHNNY DEPP!!! ... We opt to SNATCH Whitey up and our belongings a little earlier according to schedule. SNATCH is a movie which relaxes me, since the music is so invigorating mental cares wane. The relative in question bought the paper in a different county thank goodness, accepted Whitey since he's now considered once more a famous feline. Whiter-oo? Oh, he's sitting right here beside me in our very own kitchen. Deciding to try my hand at Hershey chocolate melting, rolling coconut centers ... with Whiteface supervising. Meanwhile, it seems appropriate to watch CHOCOLAT again. We're housebound due to the cold. Besides poor old Whitey displays a tendency to blend with snowy lawns. Thus, we're both content wearing our candy making aprons. Whitey dons a polkadot bib affair. We seriously apologize for any disappointment on Johnny Depp's side of the near pet exchange. But in the case of ... well ... or the event of _______? RE: future ownership of Big White? Johnny's still next in line. 30/all Author, Joanne Harris hit the stands in 2007 in the UK with CHOCOLAT's sequel. Namely: GIRL WITH NO SHADOW hails as a much acclaimed best seller from William Morrow, An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers. |
| TO READ FAULKNER IS TO SAVOR & ENJOY By Mary Moffett When the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to recipient, William Faulkner in 1948, he won for a writing style. Here you will find their words from the Nobel Committee which changed his life and his career as an esteemed Southern American Novelist. Because as years ensued he withdrew funds from the prize amount then $30,000. Faulkner later became a world traveler, often an unofficial ambassador yet a spokesman for the United States. In 1949, The Nobel Committee announces the Literature Award to Mississippi's native son, William Faulkner: "For: his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel." Of note, Faulkner didn't win for a specific novel. Although his SOUND & THE FURY causes news reporting slight confusion that he won a Nobel for Peace, he won for his literary style. Hailed at the time with numerous novels, short stories and poetry already popular additions to the American and world wide literary scene of the times, since 1920 the $30,000 prize set a new pace for Faulkner. Acceptance Speech 1949 Stockholm, Sweden wasn't exactly a place easily accessible in post war Europe. Faulkner arrived at the ceremony a year late. His acceptance Speech at the Nobel Banquet is legendary and available verbatim via online sources. He was known as a reluctant, shy speech giver initially. He wrote in longhand until he adopted his work pattern upon his first Olivetti Typewriter. He quipped upon departure ... although his own state was disappointed, hounding him for his free flowing style, here he was on the way to pick up his prize. On the Nobel podium he graciously reaches out to upcoming fictionists --- of which by his death in 1962 he has an increasing following. "Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique." Faulkner's works gobbled up by competing publishing houses for decades still fell victim to outright error critique for punctuation (lack of quotation marks, absence of commas) He continues to a stunned audience who doesn't expect writing advise for the unpublished or the unborn. He talks of mankind's desirable ability to harness body & soul in realism led fiction. Of course, Faulkner became adept at recording the times post Civil War, post World War I & WWII. He remains his entire life an outspoken, loud, critical voice for Civil Rights. From ... "technique. ... There is no mechanical way to complete the work --- no short cut. The young writer would be foolish to follow a theory." Sad but true, more than fifty years later the school of thought is still out on the open-book writing platform. Mentioned again & again at "Invalid Item" few writing websites consider differences surrounding innovative styles of those who achieve higher grades of writing style via originality to be primary paths toward fiction eloquence. Eventually, as sales of Faulkner's work (and these are still sold today) top ... In 1949 according to "The NY Times reports that 100,000 of his books ..." plus "2.5 million paperbacks are in print." Citation: WILLIAM FAULKNER: NOVELS 1936 -- 1940. Library of America (Publisher updated 1990.) Faulkner's Style As time marched on for the popular Bard of the South, biographers note Faulkner's style evolves into "stream of consciousness writing." Originally this psychological term is coined by noted philosopher, psychologist, author, William James. Applied to writing it is to this day still misconstrued by fast track definition nor accurate in summary for Mr. Faulkner's style. Stream of concsiousness is often taken to only mean the character presented in a work of fiction, the character's 'thinking.' Since consciousness points to this literal meaning. Audiences and authors still adopt that side of the phrase. Entire pages are often viewed inside italics ... denoting as in Stephen King's novels the character is thinking and thus the novelist is showing those views, whims, character details etc via stream of consciousness. The ploy includes harsh critique for absence of punctuation, departure from syntax, grammar via dialogue or simply additions to chapters without any emphasis on the character speaking. This causes confusion for readers so runs the tight school of anti Faulkner chronologists. However, the actual meaning of Faulkner's style equates to mean the writer is free flow writing aka first thought writing. Not only pertaining to characters or character action but to setting, plot, anything the author is brainstorming forward bereft of conventional restraints as he/ she communicates their message ala a story to readers. Difficult to read should never be a problem after exposure to the works of William Shakespeare since few in the modern world of recent decades are savvy to old English. Authors who use stream of consciousness seldom present an entire work via this method which serves as an important aside, employed when feasible. Thus the reason why author, Mr. William Faulkner received his Nobel Prize in Literature. William Faulkner went on to lecture, travel & teach at several popular universities while he continued to write. He tried a stint in Hollywood for financial purposes, found the place unbearable and returned to his roots as a Mississippi farmer, one of his favorite ways to describe his alter ego. He remarks on his Nobel in a letter to friend. "I fear that some of my fellow Mississippians will never forgive that $30,000 that durn foreign county gave me for just sitting on my ass writing stuff that makes my own state ashamed to own me." One of the saddest things concerning Mr. Faulkner is how he fell victim to popular demand shown by numerous attempts to edit his originals. He too, like some writers who place much on criticism, worried about his novel appeal for wider audience acceptance. Edits of Faulkner's novels are undertaken to this day, by an eager, echelon type, perhaps a learned few who dare to change words of one of the greatest writers ever born. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** On Wikipedia one may research and find many notable authors adept at stream flow writing. See: Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, E.L. Doctorow, Patrick McCabe etc etc ... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** msn.com search As for the search terms "William Faulkner" msn.com carries over 980,000 spots for further induction. |
CLOWNS DISPUTE COSTUME DUPLICITY By Mary Moffett teffom@writing.com Twilight's gloaming sunset crawls across several floorboards as final rays from the setting sun depart the scene. Tina carries three paper mache camels to the attic a little earlier on Saturday, Jan 9. Since Tina Montaire's a born procrastinator, she usually leaves them on her front porch until St. Valentine's Day. This year's deep freeze coupled with pivotol high velocity winds already sent two of the three foot Wisemen next door. Tina's neighbor, Mrs. Tilly chides, "I thought the Magi were about to borrow a cup of sugar, dear. Being out of sweets altogether, I thought it best to escort these brainy gentleman home." On her last climb, Tina aligns the trio and their desert mounts beside an old trunk, tucked under slanting eaves. Funny how light plays tricks on one up here, she recalls. As curiosity is her middle name, Tina tosses open the lid, immediately showered by dustmotes as big as mice. "Flashlight time," she remarks to the open ceiling. The closest Magi grins as if about to receive a gift of his own. Eh Tina thinks after all these centuries you probably deserve it, buddy. Inside the trunk lies a scrapbook. Tina folds it in her burlap bag, returns downstairs. By the light of a silvery moon and a beside lamp she reads the inscription. "This book is the property of Bobo Bodine, Bonafide Clown." Hmm? The first headline to fall away from yellow tape reads: CLOWNS DISPUTE COSTUME DUPLICITY. Tina laughs then entranced quickly finishes the article. "Readers might think all clowns enjoy dressing alike. However, this is obviously not the case. At the recent Clown Convention, held annually in Huntington, WV, August 10, 1972, a committee continued to debate common advantages taken by clowns who were accused of imitating each other's wardrobes. Bobo Bodine, Clown Extraordinaire spoke loudly and without a bit of humor when he announced to the assembly. "Just because I wear baggy striped pants, which are flared inside by wire hoops, doesn't give any clown the right to create his or her own knockoffs." The crowd roared with spontaneous jeers. "Go home, BOBO!!" A red mopped lady clown in the front row, jumped to her large shod feet, clapping. "Let the feller speak. I took three weeks to sew this multi colored dress. Next thing I know, y'all be wearing identical copies." Honking ensued from the center aisle. A bum rose to address stunned onlookers. "Lulu's right. I been wearing this patchwork vest all my life. And I seen a lot of these across the country. So what's up with that?" Bobo held up his hand for silence. "Just because we're expected to don weird hats, rainbow hued curly wigs, and round noses, doesn't mean we can steal another clown's identity. This torn hat with a droopy flower is my trademark." Bodine's closing argument and heartfelt words were met with a standing ovation. Foot stomping shook the entire floor. Tonight, covering this story, one can only fall to sympathetic tears of humiliation for these poor clowns. Whose embodiment as performers depends not on duplicity alone. But on dignity. As the debate wore on far into the night, Bobo Bodine seconded an amendment that put the matter of clown wardrobe duplicity under wraps. False mustaches, horns and squirt bottles never once entered the dispute." Tina slams shut the book, promises herself to visit the now defunct newspaper morgue for more on this shocking story. About midnight, Mrs. Tilly, next door, swears she hears laughter from the wiseguy, wisemen. She remains unsure, since she sports a hearing aide. However, when a camel with a pink wig, wearing a long purple raincoat flies out Tina's attic window, Tilly vows to visit her optometrist come Monday. The End. "Invalid Item" Prompt: journal found in attic |
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