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Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| Dictionary.com's Word of the Day for Sunday was "calliopean", meaning "piercingly loud; resembling a calliope in sound". Tell us about a time when you've experienced what you might consider to be the worst loud sound you can imagine, and how did you react to it? I always consider a baby's crying in fear to be the worst sound. But that is often not loud. If a baby is crying, I try to comfort the wee one -- at the very least locate a parent. The worst loud sound that does not involve babies is the time when I was working in the Sexton building in downtown Minneapolis. The landlords were more like slum lords in that they just collected rent and did not do any upkeep unless it was absolutely necessary -- and that was rare. One of their tenants was an environmentalist wannabe and decided that the roof was the best place to hive his bees. It was also where the transformer for the electrical supply to the building was housed, maybe housed is not the best word, maybe put is a better word. If anyone asks you if bees can take out a power grid, the answer is yes. I don't know how it happened, but those bees or the hive did something to the transformer and it EXPLODED. That damn thing was just two floors above my head and it sounded like a cannon went off. I was expecting troops to come running through the streets. However, with no lights, no computers, no phones, I was done for the day. Or so I thought. This was before cell phones and the boss still wanted me to send letters out before the end of the day. Me: How? The computers are down. He: You have a pen. Write it out and get it out? Me: Are you serious? He: Yes. It has to be done. Me: That's so unprofessional. He: Just do it. So I did. We looked stupid. So not only did I get the bejesus scared out of me, I got to put a whole new face on stupid. |
| Let me tell you about Larry Leventhal, a great civil rights lawyer who I have had the honor and privilege of working for since 1997. Larry entered the world in April of 1941 and left it on January 17th. He was the foremost authority on American Indian Law and Treaty rights. Others may argue that he was only in the top five. They would be wrong. Larry forgot more about American Indian Law and Treaties than any 100 attorneys could ever hope to know about the subject. The American Indians loved him so much they bestowed upon him the name, He Whose Name Is Carried In The Wind. They recognize him as a great warrior for justice for The People. They speak of his presence at Wounded Knee with honor and respect. When the government agents cut off communications at Wounded Knee, it was Larry and Doug Hall who took the tapes past the agents to get them to the public so everyone would know what was really happening there. Larry worked with Bill Kunstler in a 9-month trial to make sure that the Wounded Knee defendants were given a fair trial. The government was up to its usual shenanigans during the trial and to hear the tales of their misdeeds was so funny. At the time, it would not have been, but 40 years later he retold the stories at the Indian Law Conference and it was well received. Larry is described by all who knew him as an American Hero. He was a friend to everyone. If you google his name you will find lots of stories about him. He did not shy away from the newspaper, radio or TV appearances. The cases he took on would not get any coverage unless there was an advocate like Larry to put them into perspective. To know Larry was to know someone who truly lived in the moment. He was like the wind. He would come in on a breeze or gale, spend time with you and then leave just as rapidly. To those who called him father, Papa, brother, uncle, friend, boss, he was the best gift giver. He never showed up empty handed and at gatherings, he always picked up the check. And some of his best friends were also those who had notable names either locally or nationally. Yes, he was the attorney for Shabazz, and Wounded Knee defendants, but he also represented many others whose names or causes you would not recognize. He was so humble about his wins. He never said he lost, he only ran out of time. From his personal side, he would do things that were a bit unusual just because he had to. If he felt like running on the beach, he would. And did not care that he was wearing burmuda shorts, black socks and black wingtop leather shoes for this run. If his frequent flyer miles were expiring, he would make a quick trip to visit friends in Alaska or Hawaii, and it did not matter that he had to wing it back home 48 hours later. He would show up, live strong and fast and wing it on to the next adventure. Another thing about Larry is that he was an adamant Democrat/liberal and I am an adamant Republican/conservative. We had good debates, believe me. His favorite thing was when Democrats were in office because he would get phone calls from vice presidents and invitations to go to inaugurations. His invitation to this last inauguration must have gotten lost in the mail. I just want you all to get how outside the box his thinking was. He knew that if the DAPL focused on environmental rights and water rights, it would all get trashed by government agencies. He brought it back to treaty rights. We know that DAPL worked without permits and were hurting real people without remorse. The police needed an excuse to protect the people and not the machines. I hope Larry’s work made that happen. Larry’s most amazing talent is that he used to be able to do five things while driving. He could read a brief, drink coffee, play with the radio, drive the thing and talk on the phone. It was amazing. Sitting in the passenger seat was often like a Disney ride, you know the one, where you go from 0 to 60 with Aerosmith blaring in your ears. So now you know Larry as a man of tenancity, one who cared about justice and experienced life with an urgency and energy that was unparalleled. I know he is in a better place and that he can now experience the peace and restful sleep that he never had enough time to do in life. At the end of his life, Larry would probably have said: The Defense Rests. |
| I have been offsite for the last three days to attend the passing of my Uncle Jim. Let me tell you about Jim, Jimbo, or Jimmer, he went by anything really. He was deaf in one ear so you could call him anything and he would not know it til you put you hand on his arm. Then you were greeted by a shout of whatever nickname he had at the ready and a big old bear hug. He was quite popular with all us kids, and even our own kids. He loved to play cribbage, whatever that is, and had his favorite hangouts in Lakeville. He did not need to show up with a partner, he would just shout out "who wants to lose today?" and he had a covey of takers who wanted to prove him wrong. Jim married my aunt and they raised up 7 kids together. He was rough and rowdy until he wrapped himself around a guardrail on the highway because he drank too much. He remained sober for 35 years after that. Never even wanted to relapse. It was only when he had this near death experience, that he realized how much he loved his wife and kids and chose to get help. I am proud of him for figuring out new ways to stay "naughty" and play with the youngest members of the family. You would have loved Jimmer. I miss him so much. He truly knew and embraced the concept of living in the dash. http://www.linda-ellis.com/the-dash-the-dash-poem-by-linda-ellis-.html |
| " Write about a time you experienced music or a musician bringing a community together during difficult times. Did you feel more hopeful? There is a local musician named Larry Long who wrote a song called Lay Hatred Down. It discusses clemency for Leonard Peltier. If Obama can't bring himself to make this injustice right, I hope Trump will give him clemency. It is time. My boss is the passionate voice demanding justice for Leonard Peltier. Please give a listen and then act. If this link does not work, just type in Lay Hatred Down on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZjoOEBk3sY |
| So my son Matt went shopping with me. Before we hit the grocery store I made sure to tell him that I need to drop off the paycheck and mail bills. My mistake is I put the grocery list and the paycheck in the same stack as the bills to be mailed. So we mail the bills and then head for the bank. I got confused and stop by the grocery store first wherein Matt asks if I am skipping the bank. You know that Oh, s*** expression you get when you know you blew it. That was me. Slam on the brakes and start searching madly. Matt had to tell me to pull into a parking spot to look. After he figured out that I was looking for my paycheck, he asked if it was in the stack of envelopes that he mailed. Yes! So I drop him off to do shopping while I head back to the post office. I walked up to the clerk and said I did something stupid. She got her supervisor who walked out to the post box to get it. I told her what it looked like and what name was on it and boy was I thankful and appreciative when I got it back. She got a good laugh and bruised egos heal. After we got the groceries that Matt shopped for, we head straight to the bank and deposit the check. Then off to home where I found out I got a refund check from the mortgage company. I lost a Christmas check that my dad gave me. I misplaced a Christmas bonus check for 10 hours. I tried to mail an unstamped unaddressed payroll check to myself. Who thinks I can be trusted with this refund check? Anyone? |
| Prompt: What is the worst thing that happened to you this year? What is the best thing that happened to you this year? I think there has to be one good thing to a year to balance it all out or otherwise you just want to skip the whole dang thing. This is the year of too much death, too much sickness, and then looking forward to one little itty bitty new life scheduled to enter this world next week. How can a heart take such divergent variances in emotion. Ben died in February Brian died in February AJ died in march Richard died in April DeGalynn died in May My boss had a fake TRO dropped on him in June. Brian's heirs demanded that we buy out Brian's portion of the house. My daughter and her husband brought my husband and me a cake that said 1+1=3 (I did not need an interpreter for that riddle) My boss was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August. September was the gift of Brian's heirs deciding to be assholes and made us hire an attorney to get this house deal finalized. October the heirs blew another closing date. Finally came up with an agreement and finalized the deal in November. Unfortunately, the boss spent the entire month of November and most of December in the hospital, and what was not in the hospital was in the nursing home. My nephew and his lover had their baby in November. It is a little boy baby and they gave him a name that only they like. They screwed up the middle name too. If he survives school he will be in entertainment or a professional something. December so far has been quite awful. Hubby spent 3 days in the hospital for a bronchial infection. This is where I let my red eyes show. The primary doctor was a neurologist who could not get it through her thick head that he was sick not having an MS relapse. So I put on my big girl boots and threatened to talk to my lawyer if he did not have a respiratory doctor in there that day, and I did not care that it was 4:30 on a Saturday night, I would be calling their hospital administrator and my attorney. He had the right doctor up there within the hour and he got the meds he needed and was able to be discharged the next day. I am "borrowing" his meds so that I can get rid of whatever he gave me. I hope this is gone in time for the birth of my first grandbaby. I hope they do not give her some horrible name that only they like. The way my year is going, that is more than a real possibility. Let's hope that the year closes with this as the high note. Merry Christmas and I hope your year was better than mine. |
| Prompt: What was your best Thanksgiving? What was your worst Thanksgiving? As I think about this, I quickly ran through the Thanksgivings over the years and trying to find the best and worst. It is not easy. I am too content or too boring, depending on your point of view. But as always, two rise to the top. I can't tack down the best to just one. I remember the Thanksgivings of my childhood and the best ones were with my mom's folks. When we were little, we got to sit on grandpa's lap and get whisker rubs. My mom had four girls like he did, and he liked to sit us on his lap, give us a whisker rub and then laugh as we ran squealing. Those were so much fun. The worst stands out solitary. It was the year my 16-month-old nephew died. We lost him in August and the pain of the loss was so near the surface for Thanksgiving that year. I don't want anyone to know that kind of pain. |
| Prompt: Can you find a positive meaning in a negative situation or even in a word, such as revenge, mayhem, pain, etc.? Come up with your own examples, if you wish. I have taken a number of communication courses from Landmark Education and I know that the formula and technology works. I also know that chaos precedes transformation. In order to get to a goal, you have to rid your mind of the status quo and business as usual, and humans do not like to give up the familiar for anything that is bigger than we are. Anytime you want something massive, you have to be willing to walk through fire to get to the other side and achieve your transformation. But it is so worth the effort, the chaos, whatever it takes to shed off the shackles to get you lifted up to the next level. I also know that language creates the world we live in. If our situation is negative, it is only because we have declared it to be so. Granted there are some people who really are in wicked evil situations, I am not talking about that. I am talking about the situations that are self inflicted. |
| Unicorns. They're special and unique and fun and whatnot. But what are they, really? What do they eat? Where do they live, and where do they sleep? What do they do when they're not out unicorning or whatever it is they do? And what's the proper name for a baby unicorn? Please write the Wikipedia entry on unicorns from your unique, special blogging unicorn perspective. I know nothing about unicorns, but I would like to borrow one and ram it horn end first up a certain body oriface of a dimwit mortgage lender who has my life and financial future dangling by tether string off his pen finger. Why should that mental picture make me feel better. I don't know, it just does. Uh,oh, Dear God, forgive me and feed the starving children. I should be nicer to the stupid people of the world. |
| November 10 prompt Pick a quote from one of your favorite movies and tell us how you relate to it. “My good opinion once lost is lost forever.” ― Mr.D'Arcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice We are not talking about first impressions. We are talking about established relationships where the trust and the love/affinity is present one moment and then lost the next. Even if I clean up the conversation, there is always that little burr under the saddle that makes it a rough ride to normal. It's not anything I am proud of, it just is. I don't know of very many people who can rewind the clock. If there is no trust to be lost, the relationship can build and grow after the mess is cleaned up, but dang, once the trust / good opinion is lost, I really do believe that one should put a period on that chapter and write the next one. Whatever was missing in that relationship where the trust was not there in strong enough measure, well, it just should not the time or effort to try to get back. That's not to say you can't start from a clean slate to fix a broken relationship ... but can you do that? Most people don't know how to get to a state of no emotion, and then create the possibility of a fantastic relationship. I do, but even I at some point made the choice to end this because the fixing was not working. So I guess the real choice is to build the relationship you want from the beginning so that the sorrowful choices never have to be addressed. |
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