Articles

Nov 06 2012

5 Reasons I Voted for Bronco Bama

Author: Kerry

Love is Love – Who you love and how you love will never make you a second class citizen.

Rape does not come with birth control – There is no excuse in this world that makes it acceptable, no amount of alcohol drank, no amount (or lack of) clothing.

My friends with disabilities and/or their children with them deserve to have every opportunity we can provide them.

Global Warming is real … it just is.

My Child watched me … I had the responsibility to teach him that EVERY vote counts … and it is our duty to vote our conscience.

Oct 18 2012

… Sail

Author: Kerry

This is what I imagine the theme-song of my dreams to sound like… Love!

Oct 16 2012

Someday I’m going to …

Author: Kerry

… Live next to the ocean …I will fall sleep every night with the crashing waves creating white noise… rather than my fan… or my app on my phone… and start each morning with the scent of coffee filling the small loft… I will finally find the time to write all of these stories trapped in my head…and there will always be music… and always be candles… and I will always be found perched high above the walk below… in a window seat… laptop on my lap… watching the people on the boardwalk below… making them my characters… giving them names… and roots… I will walk to my favorite coffee shop and sink into a large over stuffed chair with a vanilla lo-fat latte and discuss politics with the local older men… and laugh at their passionate debates… with my hair piled on top of my head in some ridiculous form of a bun… and the softest oldest most tattered hoodie, with the most comfortable jeans … I won’t be wealthy… this much I know… But I would like to be comfortable… comfortable enough to spoil the grand-babies or whomever babies I will dripping with on Sundays… searching for moonstones on moonstone beach … passing out apples and sandwiches to the older ones running barefoot in the sand… cradling the sleeping newborn whose form has found its natural curve from a head on my shoulder… torso over breast… and tiny feet poking out from my arm holding it there…I want to experience the peace and quiet at the Mission so often that the Father and Sisters know me by name… I want to light candles in remembrance .. and not attend a single service there…I want to drink a dark beer when at hauffbras… and a peach wine when anywhere else… I will watch and wait… every night either from the window… or preferably with my toes in the sand sinking in a bit deeper with each wave as it stretch to its limited reach out of the ocean… I will wait for my chance to see the green flash… I will know the temperature it needs to be… what cycle of the tide… with a breeze or without… for its perfect chance to appear… and I will see it… and I will know then that I have done it all…. You see… This may not sound like much… But I have done everything else… I have birthed my child… raised a few more… had a first grandchild… I have toured the Louvre… and watched the sunrise from the lawns around the Eiffel tower…I have been papered by the armed policemen in Red Square… I have seen the castles on the hillside in Portugal … I have walked the streets of Paris… Moscow…Lisbon…. I have flown from coast to coast several times… I would like to do it all again I suppose… I would like to see more things… meet more people… experience more cultures… But all of that is secondary to my wanting to write…

I chose this writing prompt from my favorite writers workshop…

… Someday…

Sep 20 2012

Theme song thursday… Old School

Author: Kerry

… here is some Motley Crue!

Sep 18 2012

… the collection of characters I have in my life already is pretty amazing.. Just imagine if you will.

Author: Kerry

Its Writer’s Workshop time again… This weeks prompt was fun! Just because I can imagine us all in some coffee shop… or neighborhood bar… retelling the days.

Share 5 Fictional Friends you’d want in real life. (Movie/Book/TV etc.)

Harry Potter! So what if he’s a little whiny sometimes? Harry would still be a kickass friend. Think he’d speak Parseltongue if I got him drunk enough?

Bilbo Baggins! He has even better adventures than Tom Sawyer! And a better sense of humor, better jewelry, better-insulated feet. Just better all around!

Lara Croft! She is a bad ass, and she always seems to find the treasure she is looking for.

Optimus Prime! He is so Cool! and he is a car… what more could you ask for?

And lastly… but not least by any means…. (You all think I’m going to say Captain Jack Sparrow)

Sally Owens! From practical magic… we would be BFFs!

Now I’m going to state the obvious! How cool would my life be? Christmas presents from Lara Croft? Hey Optimus! I’m stuck in traffic! Help!

All that being said, the collection of characters I have in my life already is pretty amazing. I wouldn’t change them for anything!!!

I just wish Mr. Amazing could turn into a car sometimes 🙂

Sep 17 2012

… I wouldn’t even bother reading this one…

Author: Kerry

September… ugh… like a punch in the mammary glands…. seriously… As if my birthday wasn’t enough… does anyone really like getting a year older once you are past the major mile stones… Voting… Buying liquor…. having children…. your children having children…. I have surpassed all of these… I’m not even forty …

… as if I wasn’t the type of person that struggled with anniversary’s naturally… I am… I think that most people who have been through trauma of sorts or loss of loved ones are date conscious… I seem to take it to a whole new level… I have written this several times… I’m pretty sure we are all tired of my personal drama… fucking hell… I know I am…

Let’s discuss the other anniversary’s that fall on the same time frame…. Suicide awareness week… First week of September… I’m glad it exists… I am … people need to be educated on it… I hate the shit though…. For anyone that has lost friends… those warning lists are like a check list of everything you fucked up and didn’t catch… as you yourself are just wishing for the earth to open up and swallow you whole … and are hoping no one is seeing the signs…

… 9/11 … Wow… I know we need to remember… never forget… don’t worry… I never forget anything…

Something magical happened on the first day of september though… many close to me have given up on the common practice of pointing out the many good things in my life (which are abundant… and wonderful) because they have caught on that I just use them as another means to mentally punish myself… for being alive and having them… Disturbing… Im aware… A few years ago a friend (I have the most amazing friends in the whole wide world… btw) suggested just getting through it… Not trying to do anything more than survive… and she printed off a calendar… and pinned a sharpie next to it… and everyday we Xed a day off… and we laughed about some of them… and we cried about some of them… and there really aren’t that many days in September…

… This year she is across the ocean in the city of love… getting married in paris … My phone buzzed the text “Day 1, Thinking of you” … The next day pictures of the eiffle tower … “Day 2, How are you holding up?” …. Pictures of her in her gown… pictures of the french country side…. every single day…. she is counting with me… I don’t even want to know what it is costing her to text me from Paris….

Mr. Amazing has been amazing… as if he could be anything else… I love him so much ….. Small child has blood work out… that I am waiting for the results… He has some big life changing challenges directly ahead of him… Smallest child’s safety and security is always a source of anxiety when she isn’t under our roof… Tiniest child made an appearance for a couple of days this weekend and honestly steals my heart every time I see him…

… I have found other comforts… Sippy cup corner has happened several times…. I can now drink wine out of a buzz light year cup… with the bendy straw placed in such a way that it looks like his penis… to infinity and beyond baby…. Wine just tastes better that way… best gift ever…. We are raising our families together… and kicking ass at it.

… Pajama Birthday Coffee (okay it was mountain dew) with eyes swollen shut … teeth furry… hair untamed… without even worrying about it being embarrassing… These are the kinds of friends I have….

Halfway there.

And that is everything in my head this morning…

Aug 29 2012

… I may be bent… but I’m not Broken

Author: Kerry

It is writing prompt day again…

I thought perhaps I might try to make an actual post this week… you know… because I really haven’t most of the summer… Just little quips… pictures… and crazy to share… But this week I thought… well just maybe… lets see how it goes…. I am choosing “Tell us about something you broke.” … because as I read through the prompts this week I saw that indeed I had a story for each of them… But this one could go so many directions… Broken bones? Many… Broken cars… Like mine in the bottom of the off ramp embankment? … I have caught a vacuum and a blender on fire in the same week… I wish I were making this shit up… OH! I know! There was this one time I blew up a Kitchen…

I was 18 … Living in an adult halfway house (getting there and where I went from there is a completely different story) being the youngest by at least 6 years in the home I was tired of being treated like I wasn’t capable of anything… We all had different reasons for being there… The house chores were divided up by the facility managers and even they tended to treat me like a kid sister (you know… as an adult now… I should have savored it… instead of being offended by it) and after 3 months of vacuuming the upstairs living area everyday I went to them and told them that I thought their vacuum was broken… It wasn’t picking up even the smallest things any longer… They asked me if I had changed the bag… and I stared vacantly at them and inquired “What bag?” … “Where do you think all the stuff goes?” … Blink Blink … “into the vacuum”… Come on people I was 18… and based on where I was you can guess that I hadn’t really had a normal upbringing…. In fact… I can’t remember having ever vacuumed before this… another thing I had never actually done is cook anything that wasn’t made in a microwave… But it wouldn’t have done much for my self-esteem to point that out as they suggested we rotate jobs and I be in charge of setting up lunch … All I had to do was set out sandwich stuff … and warm soup on the stove… there were approximately 35 residents in the home… male and female… and it wouldn’t work to have all of them attempting make lunch at once… so setting up lunch in an assembly line was the answer… I stepped into the kitchen that day… and pulled a couple of Family Size Campbell’s Tomato soup cans from the pantry… found a large pot… and looked at the stove…. I had seen my mother use one of course… I had a general idea… I turned the knob with the matching diagram indicating it was to the burner I had set the pot on to medium… and went to the fridge to get all the sandwich fixings and condiments…. I smelled something… but again… it becomes very apparent that I hadn’t grown up like other people… because I didn’t know what it was… and just ignored it…. soon… Ray popped his head in and said “Whew… Smells like gas!”… I looked at him and him at the stove…. “Kerry, you have to light it for it to heat up” …. Blink… blink… “How do I light it?”….. he turned the knob unaware how long I had actually left it like that….. and the entire room lit up blue with a big WHOOSH… We lost arm hair… and eyebrows hair looked a little crisp and curled up on the end… but that was the day I learned what a gas stove was….and that was the last day they ever asked me to do anything in Kitchen… I was given back the vacuum that now miraculously picked things up again… and never… ever… lived it down.

Aug 23 2012

… precocious you are

Author: Kerry

burn the books they’ve got too many names and psychosis
all this incriminating evidence would surely haunt me
if someone broke into my house
suits in the living room
do you realize guys I was born in 1974
we’ve got someone here to explain your publishing
we know how much you love to be in front of audiences
hopeful you are
schoolbound you are
naive you are
driven you are
take a trip to new york with your guardian
and your fake identification
when they said “is there something anything
you’d like to know young lady?”
you said “yes I’d like to know what kind of people
i’ll be dealing with”
precocious you are
headstrong you are
terrified you are
ahead of your time you are
don’t mind our staring but
we’re surprised you’re not in a far-gone asylum
we’re surprised you didn’t crack up
lord knows that we would’ve
we would’ve liked to have been there
but you keep pushing us away
resilient you are
big time you are
ruthless you are
precious you are

Aug 21 2012

… Like a vomiting of words into the keyboard and onto your screen….

Author: Kerry

Ive missed some writing prompts the last few weeks again… And I think you missed me… I cant say that I blame you really… I will make it up to you… I will write about them all… I will get past this writers block… and join the land of the bloggers yet again….

Or will I …. Perhaps instead some insight into the dilemma….

1.) What do your kids have that you always wanted when you were a kid? Other than this one… Im not going to answer this one…

2.) You were supposed to start a garden this summer…share the fruits of your labor. OH MY GAWD ::: Looks outside at her planter boxes that had planted seeds of Catnip, Chamomile, mint, and some smattering of wild flowers :::: Im not answering this one either

3.) Aside from your kids, pets, your husband, your coffee and your wine…what makes you smile? Are you watching me? How do you know about my love affair with coffee and wine… Obviously you already know way too much about me… I can’t answer this one either

4.) Write about something that complicates your life. I feel like these prompts are personal questions! Like you know what is going on in my head… Because it is complicated right now… I struggle to find ways to spend time with my thirteen year old boy… and feel close… I love him so much … and he is so… well… look for yourself…. this is what he is doing as I type.. I cant possibly write about that!

5.) Share your writing process. How long does it take an idea in your head to get published on your blog? Upon seeing this prompt I only came up with one image… I am sorry … But its true… and I am incapable of putting it into words

Aug 17 2012

… Arachnids on Crack

Author: Kerry

I found this… All proper credit is given… I just thought it deserved a republication!!!

Spiders On Drugs

Scientists at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have turned their attention from the mysteries of the cosmos to a more esoteric area of research: what happens when you get a spider stoned. Their experiments have shown that common house spiders spin their webs in different ways according to the psychotropic drug they have been given. Nasa scientists believe the research demonstrates that web-spinning spiders can be used to test drugs because the more toxic the chemical, the more deformed was the web.

* Spiders on marijuana made a reasonable stab at spinning webs but appeared to lose concentration about half-way through.

* Those on Benzedrine – “speed” – spin their webs “with great gusto, but apparently without much planning leaving large holes”, according to New Scientist magazine.

* Caffeine, one of the most common drugs consumed by Britons in soft drinks, tea and coffee, makes spiders incapable of spinning anything better than a few threads strung together at random.

* On chloral hydrat, an ingredient of sleeping pills, spiders “drop off before they even get started”.

* See what happens to their mental state.

Start with a Drug Free Spider Web