Mixed Metaphors

Jun 29 2022

Posts

Rainbow Scare

“The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.” — Maya Angelou

“If the Supreme Court can reverse Roe, it can reverse anything” — Mary Ziegler

Earlier in June, I began to consider a topic for my next blog post. I often begin my writing process with research, reading online, frequently the subject is politics, culture wars, and/or the news of the day. I also reflect on my lived experience and things that pique my curiosity.

I decided on Rainbow Scare and soon after read an opinion piece by Allison Hope. I also became alarmed when the leak occurred earlier in May of the draft Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade and its potential impact overturning settled law. It raised the possibility that the gains we made in the last decades could be undone. We’d essentially go back in time. We could lose reproductive rights, both access to abortions and contraceptives, and for women, the ability to make decisions about what happens to our bodies, plus our LGBTQ+ community may have our marriages nullified and our relationships criminalized. Oh, my! Continue reading →

Tagged Abortion, Activism, Feminism, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+ Rights, Love Is Love, March on Washington for the ERA, Politics, Pride, Protests, Rainbow Scare, Roe v. Wade, The Personal Is Political, The Political Is Personal, The Supreme Court of the U.S., Wisconsin

May 30 2022

Posts

Childhood Report Cards: Snapshots of the Future

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” — Graham Greene

On April 1^st my sister Tami, niece Gemma and I traveled to Racine to visit our father and Gemma’s grandfather to celebrate his April Fool’s Birthday. We told stories, reminisced about our shared past — updated each other on our current lives — and our plans for the future.

We shared stories about all the pranks our family played on Dad for his April Fool’s Birthday over the years. We updated each other on what’s happened since we saw or talked to each other last. Gemma talked about graduating from high school and her plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the fall.

Dad has been downsizing and purging items from our childhood home with the help of my siblings. He’s 92-years-old, uses a walker, and navigates the first floor of his home, and no longer uses the stairs to the basement and second story. Family members have been claiming items one last time from the basement and attic that we each want to keep, before the dumpster was scheduled to arrive later in April and our brother Rick and his crew of two helpers, would dispose of things that weren’t claimed or recycled. Continue reading →

Tagged Childhood Report Cards, Death, Elementary School, Family, Father, Henry Mitchell School, Memorial Day, Middle School, Racine, S.C. Johnson School, Snapshots of the Future, Starbuck School, Stephen Bull School, Uvalde 21 Victims, WI

Apr 08 2022

Posts

Awakening Desire

“…pleasure is not a ‘nice to have.’ It’s a ‘need to have.” — from the Netflix series, The Principles of Pleasure.

During spring, my desires awaken. Like the earth defrosting in the warm sun from the extended daylight, I too unthaw and heat up, begin to have cravings and appetites that slumbered during our Midwestern winters. My senses are enhanced. I observe more couples outdoors in the neighborhood, taking romantic walks, holding hands, some with dogs and children in tow. Following is a poem that captures the itchy restlessness of spring fever. Continue reading →

Tagged Awakening Desire, Happiness Chemicals, Itchy Restlessness, Relationships, Skin Hunger, Spring Fever, The Dilemma of Desire, The Five Senses, The Principles of Pleasure, Third Winter, Touch Deprived

Mar 20 2022

Posts

A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2021

“The part about going to the movies that was so thrilling was not the film itself…but being around other humans, tearing up at the end and realizing that the people on either side of me were sniffling, too.” — How Life Resumes, NTY, Melissa Kirsch, 2/19/22

Things change. As I write, the Academy Awards are a week away on Sunday, March 27. I usually post my annual, A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films, well in advance of the Oscars. Since the event is approaching, the deadline for this review is here.

Award shows this year, those that didn’t cancel their in-person events, were delayed. The same was true of many of the films from 2021. Studios hoped people would feel safe enough to return to theaters in person so they postponed premieres. Most didn’t feel safe, including me. Continue reading →

Tagged A Filmgoer's Guide to the Best Films, Audiences, B/W, Cinephile, COVID-19, Critics, Family, Father, Films, Grief, Loss, Love, Mother, Movie Theater, Movies, Pandemic, Personal Narratives, Relationships, Reviews, Stories, Streaming Subscriptions, The Bechdel Test

Mar 15 2022

Posts

The Road Forward: A Recovery Journey

Finding the Light in the Darkness

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” – Desmond Tutu

Note: This article was originally written for and published in the March/April issue of Our Lives magazine, a look at the impact of the isolation of the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and a Wisconsin winter on our LGBTQ+ community. I drafted it in February. A link to the March/April issue of Our Lives follows the article.

Continue reading →

Tagged Alcohol Use, Behavioral Health, COVID-19, Harm Reduction, Isolation, LGBTQ, Our Lives Magazine, OutReach Community Center, Recovery, SAD, SAMHSA, Spring, Substance Use, The Road Forward, Winter, Wisconsin

Feb 14 2022

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Love in a Pandemic 2.0

Heard today: “I finally fell in love with my person.”

My realization: “My person, is me!”

Though the title of this Valentine’s Day holiday musing is Dispatch from the Hideout: Love in a Pandemic 2.0 it is actually the eve of the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let that sink in for a moment.

Like most things in life, we can look at life from both sides now (cue the amazing Joni Mitchell). There’s pre-pandemic romantic love and our relationships with friends and family — compared to the past two years of love in a pandemic. It was a challenge and we each made an assessment — weighing the risks versus benefits — every time we made a decision of when, where, and how we’d get together in-person with friends, family, and loved ones with whom we didn’t live. When you live alone, the question became more powerful. How much isolation can my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being tolerate? Continue reading →

Tagged Chosen Family, Conversations with My Next Girlfriend, COVID-19, COVID-19 Journal Project, Crushes, Dating, Dispatch from the Hideout, Ex-Partners, Family, Friends, Holidays, Love, Pandemic, Pod Squad, Relationships, Romantic Love, Valentine's Day

Jan 11 2022

Posts

My Love/Hate Relationship with Technology

“Life was much easier when apple and blackberry were just fruits.” — Ray Bradbury

First, let me share some background. I’m a baby boomer, a couple of days shy of my 72^nd birthday. Let me begin, “Aging isn’t for sissies,” yet I’m grateful to be above ground. Hopefully, this information should provide some perspective on why I’m a late adopter and my love/hate relationship with technology. Continue reading →

Tagged Aging, Communication, Facebook, Family, Father, Flip Phones, Gender Bias, Late Adopter, Mansplaining, Memoir, Memories, Social Media, Technology

Dec 26 2021

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout: Omicron Edition

“The year 2021 has been like a roller coaster. It was supposed to be the year the pandemic fizzled out. Instead, it was a year of intense whiplash.” — Julie Ries

“It’s not over, till it’s over!” — Yogi Bera

This dispatch is part holiday season review, 2021 year-end wrap up, plus a look ahead, and once again, an acceptance of opposing conditions, that things both change and remain the same. It has been a year characterized by both hope and despair, gratitude and grief, and resistance and surrender.

The past year — or 22 months — depending on how you want to count — we’ve been riding the coronacoaster of the COVID pandemic. There have been highs and lows on this ride, whiplash, and screams. We want to get off this ride, yet we can’t until it’s over. Continue reading →

Tagged 2021 Year-in-Review, COVID-19, Death, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Father, Films, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Holiday Season, Holidays, Home, Look Ahead, Loss, Omicron, Pandemic

Dec 12 2021

Posts

The Legacy of Material Things

“We didn’t have much, but we had love.” ― Tyler Perry

“I’ve not always possessed what I’ve wanted, but I always received what I needed, and most days it was simply the love of friends and family, and the ability to live comfortably in my own skin.” ― From Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! Dispatch from the Hideout: Letter to Loved Ones

It’s that time of year when we celebrate the holidays, often the traditions of the generations that preceded us, the food we eat, the rituals we recreate, the stories we tell, and the memories we share. This is our legacy. It’s also that time of year when many of us look back and reflect on the year behind us and grieve our loved ones no longer present in life.

We inherit many things from our family, from our DNA to our shared lived experiences, both nature and nurture. We also inherit material things, bequeaths, mementos, and gifts from family, friends, and loved ones. They also represent a legacy. What creates a person’s legacy? Continue reading →

Tagged Brother, Chosen Family, COVID-19, Death, Family, Father, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Holidays, Legacy of Material Things, Loss, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Sisters

Nov 21 2021

Posts

Thanksgiving: Things Change (Again, Again!)

“The only constant is change.” — Heraclitus

“Things do not change; we change.” — Henry David Thoreau

From November 25, 2020…

As I write, it’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I’ve been rereading Thanksgiving Holiday journal entries from the past 12 years, plus my Thanksgiving blog reminiscences. A theme emerged which I’ve addressed before, yet continues to weave through my life — and the lives of loved ones — things change.

I begin this reminiscence and musing about the Thanksgiving holiday with the same quotes and sentiment from a year ago when COVID-19 was surging and many families and friends had to make the difficult decision of whether or not they would celebrate in-person, and how it might be different from the traditional holidays from the past. The only change in this introduction is I’ve been rereading 13 years of journal entries, and two years of Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! Thanksgiving: Things Change essays. Continue reading →

Tagged Chosen Family, COVID-19, Death, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Loss, Love, Memoir, Mother, Movies, Racine, Relationships, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner, Things Change, Traditions

Mixed Metaphors, Oh My! – A place where words, this writer, and readers play together.