Truth Justice and The American Way

Rights, Wrongs and Truths.

Mar 27 2014

Oh the places you’ll go!

Author: Kerry

mama kats

What countries have you traveled to?

This blog post will be short and sweet… much like my list of countries I have visited.

I remember when my boss at work told me to get my passport… I thought she was kidding… me? Paris!

She wasn’t kidding… They flew me first class… I stayed at the Plaza Athenee. The following year in Moscow… the Ritz… with heated bathroom floors… about a city block from Red Square… and just 6 months later….In Lisbon… The Palace.

It was one of those bucket list things for me… I have 5 years left on my passport… I would love to get many more stamps…

Paris, Moscow, and Lisbon

Paris, Moscow, and Lisbon

 

Completely unrelated plug … See this post to rock out for a good cause… and a comment for a chance to win.

 

Mar 27 2014

Themesong Thursday – Coral Bones

Author: Kerry

I first saw him sing at a Grass Roots Shakespeare performance…. we LOVED him… so I searched him out on social media and started following him.

Then Yesterday he released this piece of magic… and supported a cause that was already very near and dear…. forever endearing them to me!

So listen to the song… but even more importantly….

BUY SONG TO DONATE TO NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) HERE: https://redatdusk.bandcamp.com/track/…

I bought it… Please do the same when you can. In fact, leave a comment below and share it with your friends I will randomly select 3 peeps from the comments to purchase it for! So please share!

Mar 24 2014

Hunger Like Love… A Book Review

Author: Kerry

I Already Reviewed it on Amazon but I found myself with more to say….

Hunger Like Love … By Jane Devin (Author of Elephant Girl)

After reading the title I found myself quite shocked to be in the story of a young child… but I quickly came to love the character “Easton” I related too much… and was impressed by the lack of anger the writing expressed… in fact it was written beautifully… and without resentment… I quickly came to love Easton in his adulthood… His display of unconditional love in parenting a child that was not his… the lengths he went to… the moral integrity told in such a way that I found myself letting go of so much of my own resentments. Then his relentless search for love… never giving up… finding it in the most unusual places… and his love affair with mankind as a whole…. I found myself smiling through this book… I found myself cheering on his daughter Liberty… I was inside the story… and that takes a special kind of writing.

 

I read Elephant Girl … Jane’s first novel… and fell in love with her writing style then. There is something so poetic about it. Every good writer can describe a scene in such a way that makes you feel you are there, and in that hopes to encourage you to feel as the characters feel along the way…. Jane has the ability to describe the emotions in such a way that you feel them, physically, and then it is not so hard to imagine your surroundings being the same as the characters.

If you find yourself giving up on man kind… or looking for good in it… read Hunger Like Love… it is still there.

My Favorite Excerpt

” I’d written once that my desire for a partner, for intimate love, was like a hunger that other types of love did not fill, and that few times I tried to explain it to well-meaning people inevitably led to them point out that I had the love of a daughter and friends. The more I tried to clarify that it wasn’t the same, the more misunderstood I felt. I wasn’t looking for pity or bromides. I didn’t want to be told, as if it were a fact, that the right person would come along when I wasn’t looking. I didn’t want to be encouraged to get a therapeutic massage, volunteer more time to social causes or adopt another pet. I simply wanted to share what it was like to feel the kind of restless hunger I felt. I wanted my friends to know the part of me that was so often hidden or buried. After a few attempts I quit confiding. I understood that it was like trying to explain the gnawing ache of hunger pangs to people who had never gone hungry.”

I hope I never forget what it is like to be hungry.

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Feb 20 2014

Frozen: Letting Go

Author: Kerry

I know.. .I know! Believe me I know that I shouldn’t waste my time getting drawn into this… I know that it is energy spent on something that shouldn’t be given… I read it yesterday… much like everyone else I would assume… and at first I laughed… Then my irritation grew… and as the day wore on I just couldn’t shake it… the words had settled in my skin… and my least favorite feeling in this myriad of emotions I go through is shame… I was ashamed of my friend who shared it on Facebook voicing her agreement (this is how I came across it to begin with, before it was ever picked up by the local media) … I was embarrassed to be living in Utah… where not only is this popular opinion but it was picked up by the media… Every fiber was annoyed… by the name of the blog… and every hateful word typed out… I am not going to counter her opinions… I just figured I would do a little review and opinionating of my own…. you know… from a well behaved person that has not lost her ever loving mind to hate and paranoia.

Frozen: Letting Go

Let me paraphrase… The movie opens with these two adorable sisters… laughing and playing in the snow and ice created by the eldest Elsa … Surely this is dark magic right? Sorcery? Witchcraft? don’t you worry… its a Disney Movie… and its JUST A STORY…  I saw it five times… Its full of dark magic and sorcery… and death… and treason… trolls who adopt the poor guy with apparently poor personal hygiene  being raised by a reindeer… but the poor guy with the Swedish accent it surely the problem… Oh that and the fact that the girl… who DOESN’T FEEL THE COLD takes of her repressive cape that she had to wear for a coronation is being considered to sex it up… hey hey… who am I to judge… I’m sure the people taking issue with this also wear these swim suits… and I’m cool with that…

else-and-anna

My favorite part of the movie is the Let it Go sequence… as I am sure anyone with a 7 year old knows… it is catchy… and dramatic… and the graphics are beautiful… and everyone is covering it!! (See my Themesong Thursday Post)

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I’m the Queen.

Queen of isolation… I get that… Trapped by expectations

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Storm inside… raging emotions… Okay, I don’t have snow flakes sprinkling from my fingertips… but I am relating to this chic.

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know
Well, now they know

Ahhh sweet sweet emancipation… from worrying about what others think of me… from judgement… and cruel words.

Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door

I don’t care
What they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway

It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free

Freedom from fear… self confidence… self discovery… Fantastic!

Let it go, let it go

Let go of the negative… hey smallest child… I hope you memorize each and every word of it!

I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry

Ha ha! okay okay… crying is okay… even if people see it… but not “You” not the people that I am letting go of… not the people that wanted me to be someone I am not

Sing sing sing… lots more words… storm rages on… etc

You get the idea… I take absolutely no offense to someone shedding what was forced upon them and coming to their own opinions, aspirations, dreams and I will cheer on my children whether it is at their graduation from college… or a pole dancing competition (please please let it not be pole dancing… so awkward)

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and so… in conclusion… if you have to take some moral to what is really just an awesome story with fantastic music and stunning visuals… take this… Love is unconditional… Sisters before Misters…. also… reindeer raise gentlemen… Braids are sexy and trolls are love experts…. That is all

SO someone needs to explain to me how she gets from cryokinetic power to same-sex attraction?

tumblr_myjvz4yLR71sqyhgqo1_r1_250

OH! and someone better tell their kids… whether oaken likes men or not (which I don’t understand why that is relevant when he is just selling some damn carrots) that a Swedish accent isn’t required for someone to be gay… they can choose that for themselves… and they will be accepted and loved and keep their voice 🙂

Frozen-oaken

Jan 13 2014

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…. Unless it is a Mantis Shrimp

Author: Kerry

From the depths of January… I bring you this… That Honey Badger who don’t care? I would like to introduce him to the Mantis Shrimp

“Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff”…. Great advice passed on from a dear friend of mine… her second favorite back up line to all of this is “It’s all small stuff”… I try… I do … I try to not let little things get to me…But Sometimes the small stuff gangs up on you! Sometimes that small thing is this little guy!!!

HOLY SHIT!

And THIS!

And from my favorite credible source of all time… THIS!

Mantis shrimp2

 

Dec 17 2013

Pajamas in Paris

Author: Kerry

 

mama kats Write a blog post inspired by the word: pajamas

Sometimes… The only way out of a funk is pajamas… let’s be honest… I prefer the penguin and christmas tree variations … I am truly struggling right now… and almost on Holiday break… Pajamas will be the only thing I am wearing… Some days… I will shower and put on clean ones… just saying… This is not much of a post… it is kind of more of a… well hell….. I have been fortunate enough to have walked these streets of Paris… THIS LINK… will at least let you escape for a little while… and we can just stay in our Pajamas the whole time. By the way… if you are considering not clicking that link… do yourself an act of kindness… click it.

 

It truly is Paris.

Paris

Dec 03 2013

Shave for the love of god…

Author: Kerry

” A trend you’re not much a fan of “

mama kats

 

Funny that you should ask… I came across this prompt just as I was singing the praises of the 3rd day of December!!!

Look… I am all for doing things for a good cause… I participate in fundraisers… I pay it forward… I try to work a random act of kindness into each day… I never pass a bell ringer without dropping whatever change I have into his bucket… but by the time you are in the second week of November every man in the office looks like a mountain man… grizzly adams in the IT department over here didn’t get the memo that he should not continue to shave his scalp… whilst growing out his beard during No Shave November.

This is not my real IT guy… I just got this image off of google to illustrate my point

IMG_0018

But… Here we are in the first week of December and let the shaving begin… and somehow from this we gleaned some kind of cancer awareness… Couldn’t we come up with a better way? Because I am pretty sure woodland creatures have moved into your face.

Now that I have that off my chest… Let’s discuss this whole month of gratitude posts on Facebook… because every morning I wanted to stab my eye out with a fork… luckily I only have coffee for breakfast… no fork in reach.. and for that I am grateful.

I live in Utah… and while I do not belong to the popular religion of the area… most of my friends and family do… cue the angels singing and the pearly white gates of heaven opening… because they all posted each and every day what they were so grateful for…Seriously… if you have ever read my blog… you know I am a fan of the whole being grateful thing… I am truly so blessed in so many ways… but I would be lying if I didn’t wake up on December 1st and kiss the computer screen right on the first post bitching about the weather… The crowd at the stores and the amount of housework to be done… because I swear… on a stack of your holy book of bibley whatever that that was the LONGEST 30 days of thanks ever!!

Im grateful its over… and to raise awareness of my gratefulness… I will not be shaving during the month of December… We can braid the leg hairs and sing kumayah for Christmas!!!

<EndRant>