Happy (almost) Tax Deadline Day! Hope you have your return prepared and that you are receiving a refund. Also hope you did not wake to snow as we did in Chicago. It’s odd certainly to get snow in mid-April and odder still to hear that baseball games are cancelled because of snow. Facebook has been in the news. I have used this spot previously to discuss my qualms about social media. Sometimes, more often than it used to be, I am tempted to quit Facebook etc. But in … [Read more...]
Be good and be quiet?
I’ve been thinking about bragging. These days we call it promotion. Social media is thick with it. Bragging used to be frowned upon, but it doesn’t seem to be that way so much anymore. I get it. I try to promote Solace in So Many Words and my writing. That’s professional promotion that’s seems required these days when we each have a persona we present to the world. But let’s not get into the branding of Ellen Wade Beals--ouch. How about when it comes to personal … [Read more...]
Blogs & books to overcome the mid-winter blahs
Hello you. Yesterday was supposedly Blue Monday, the saddest day of the year. I don't know if I was sad, but I sure have been lazy. I cannot get it together to be productive. How about you? The biggest effort I have put forth this year (besides a few submissions) was to participate in a challenge on Facebook to post nature photographs for seven days and to nominate others to do so too (like a chain letter). Posting my photos gave me something to do and I have really dug … [Read more...]
Artist’s failings, a new review, and contributor news (Somlo, Calderwood)
I am peeking at you from the crest of Thursday, September 11, to say hello and tell you I’ve returned to my post. My hiatus was great (I've posted some pics in Glimpse of Solace). Hope the summer had some high points for you. One recent Facebook craze is to be tagged to name your ten favorite or life-changing books. I am a little daunted by the list because it will show I am not that well read, certainly not as well read as some of my friends with advanced degrees. And … [Read more...]
Daniel Cleary: “Fireside”
I "met" Daniel Cleary over Facebook. He lives in Chicago and we know people in common so it is surprising I have not met him in reality. I enjoy his posts, whether they are his original paintings (Dan is a visual artist) or his own poems or work by Yeats. He posted this poem as a Thanksgiving wish, and, admiring it, I asked if I could post it here too. Daniel Cleary was nice enough to let me use it and mentioned that "Fireside" received an honorable mention in a … [Read more...]