Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

What's the world coming to?

Night before last there were eleven shootings in one 8-hour police shift in the St. Louis area. In Kansas (?) a woman and her boyfriend kidnapped her young son at gunpoint from his father, who'd just been awarded full custody. Social workers didn't think she used good judgment. Hours later as police... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

New poem inspired by the Barry Hannah quote

Attending To Voices Not My Own It happens sometimes during a gathering where salient points are being made by wiser fellows than I; fundamental pro and con, although none leaves the faintest trace of an impression on my mind. Maybe they’re lamenting how the oil company has flooded the Gulf of Mexico... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 9, 2010

You can't escape Facebook...

I dropped it a few months back. Bothersome, boring, time waster. People rarely saying anything much. Turned me anti-social, or rather more anti-social. Folks I barely knew wanting to "friend" me, share stuff I couldn't care less about, ask nosy questions. I had blogs to write, yard work to do, and I... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The writing life

In the June 2010 issue of Harper's Magazine, Barry Hannah's essay "Why I Write" appears on page 13. Well into the article, on p. 14, comes this: "Once you are into the life of writing, you are never really rid of the inner voices, and they are certainly not all your own. They will exhaust themselves... Sign in to see full entry.

The creep shot himself.

There were hundreds of calls to the tip line, lots of detective work, they checked out known sex offenders, narrowed down the field to one "person of interest." He could be the suspect, but it could be someone else. Or he might not have been the only one involved. Turns out Mr. Smith wasn't living... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Answered Prayers...

Monday night about 7:45 or so, a short time before sunset, the Meier kids were playing in their front yard in the small town of Louisiana, MO -- Alisa, 4, and her 6-year-old brother, whose name wasn't listed in the story online. Their parents had just gone inside. A car stopped next to their yard... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Something's missing

Have you noticed, there's no Pepsi-Coke challenges on TV any more? No ads for "the real thing" or shots of happy young athletes accepting their trophies and enjoying a Pepsi after a bike race or winning a skateboard competition. Once in a while there's a Dr. Pepper commercial, or a mini-story about... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Victim of a miseducation

There's only so much room in one pitifully small brain, only so much knowledge that can be absorbed. And there's only so much time to absorb what you need to know to survive in the world, feed yourself, shelter yourself, and learn to act like someone others would care to know. I just found an... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Mother's story...

You stand to one side, I to the other; We see different pictures of our mother. For several years I've wanted to tell my mother's story, write her biography. I know my sisters and brothers wouldn't like that. It's a touchy issue to five siblings who've overcome their childhood and achieved a measure... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

It's a girl thing...

Moving furniture, that is. The couch and big chairs slide fairly easily on these hardwood floors, so rearranging the living room's not an all-day, call in the boys for the heavy lifting kind of ordeal. With my trusty duster I rounded up the dust bunnies, took the Pledge and a dustrag to every solid... Sign in to see full entry.

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