Author Archives: Linda Lenzke

Dispatch from the Hideout: Premature Hibernation

“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.” ― Albert Camus

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ― C.G. Jung

Though it’s not officially autumn yet, I feel the urge to go underground, to hibernate prematurely. Like caterpillars who cocoon in a chrysalis and emerge in a new form as a butterfly, it’s my desire to find a safe place to enable transformation.

The world seems like it’s becoming more threatening, whether it’s our natural world and the consequences of climate change, or our political environment and the actions and policies by those currently in power. On a personal level, things sometime happen to us — and for me — how I respond makes a difference in my emotional and spiritual health and serenity. While there are storms happening outside of me, there’s also turmoil and uncertainty stirring within. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Random Topics IV

Niksen, Situationship, and Neuralink

From the introduction of the first in the series of Random Topics:

“As a blogger, I mine my daily life for topics to write about. I set out to find something timely and meaningful, something that my readers can relate to, a universal message or lesson to discover in my lived experience. Another option is to choose a subject from the news of the day to comment on, however sometimes current events are tragically overwhelming.”

In the past week, and longer, there was ample craziness in the news to comment on including Trump’s frivolous and dangerous claims. First, he declared he was “the chosen one” — increasing tariffs and escalating the trade war with China, causing a downturn in the stock market threatening a recession — next, the real-estate mogul’s “absurd” attempt to purchase Greenland from the Danes. All of this happened before his departure for the G7 Summit and proclamation to reinstate Putin, making it the G8 again. Trump participated at the summit as an outlier to the world‘s democracies. As the G7 Summit concluded, he promoted his Trump National Doral Miami Resort as the location of next year’s summit when the U.S. hosts. Oh, My!  Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2020 Vision: Cataracts, Candidates & Critical Choices

“Your mind is working at its best when you’re being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity.” ― Banksy

Morning in America

On the morning of Saturday, August 3rd, a young white male, an alleged domestic terrorist, by his own admission and confession, targeted Mexicans in El Paso, Texas at a Walmart near the border of Juárez, killing 22, including U.S. citizens and Mexican nationals and injuring many others after posting a screed on 8chan, an online megaphone for hate groups and gunmen. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To-Do List Confessions, Or How I’m a Little Bit OCD

“The only thing more important than your to-do list is your to-be list. The only thing more important than your to-be list is to be.” ― Alan Cohen

“Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.” ― Patti Digh

Today as I write, it’s the Fourth of July Holiday, which for my part-time work schedule means it’s the beginning of a four-day weekend ― and an opportunity to power-load my weekly to-do list to capacity. I’m not an electrical engineer, yet it sounds like I run the risk of blowing a circuit, and some days it feels that way. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Random Topics III

Sober Bars, Emotional Labor, and Salad Frosting

“So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.” — Sidney Poitier

“Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.” — Eric Hoffer

From the introduction of the first in the series of Random Topics:

“As a blogger, I mine my daily life for topics to write about. I set out to find something timely and meaningful, something that my readers can relate to, a universal message or lesson to discover in my lived experience. Another option is to choose a subject from the news of the day to comment on, however sometimes current events are tragically overwhelming.”

“I’m often left to choose from the mundane or subjects that pique my curiosity. When this happens, the only common theme is the randomness of my choices. Today, I offer three random topics with absolutely no connection or relation to each other at least that I’m aware of at the outset of this essay. Perhaps as I write, I may discover the subtle relationships that bind them together. Life is like that.” Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Memorial Day: Memories, Flowers, & Gratitude

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” ― Gabriel García Márquez

Flowers have long been used to memorialize loved ones and symbolize new beginnings, which makes them an ideal tribute to observe Memorial Day.

This Memorial Day Holiday weekend I find myself looking back, remembering loved ones now departed, friends and family traditions that have changed, and loved ones who’ve moved away from Wisconsin. Many new beginnings start with good-byes and letting go.  Memorial Day is a holiday to remember those who served and died for our country — and for my family — to remember our family members who are no longer with us in life yet remain in memory. Grateful. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Procrastination Station: Dysfunction Junction

‘‘You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. 
What mood is that?
Last-minute panic.”
― Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)

“I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do – the day after.” ― Oscar Wilde

Hat Tip to Schoolhouse Rock

First, a brief backstory about the origin of one of my nicknames. We all inherit nicknames, beginning with our families of origin, our classmates in school, friends and coworkers, and endearments (or, not!) from our significant others.  A nickname assigned to me early in my marriage by my husband Frank and his brother Dennis in the early 1970’s was inspired by two things, the first a song from Schoolhouse Rock, a series which aired on ABC from 1973 to 1975 described as, “animated shorts adapting the multiplication tables to songs written by Bob Dorough; Dorough also performed most of the songs.”  Multiplication Rock was soon followed by Grammar Rock. My nickname was Lolly Keebler inspired by the song, Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here and my love of cookies and milk. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

1968 – Flashback & Fast Forward

“Memories are not the key to the past, but to the future.” — Corrie ten Boom

Every two years, Madison’s Forward Theater launches a monologue festival with a dedicated theme. From their website, “Forward Theater’s biennial monologue festival is back! Featuring a dozen original pieces written just for us by playwrights from across our community and around the nation, this festival celebrates the many different ways creative authors can approach a common subject. Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Wisconsin’s ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, our Two Steps Forward festival will encompass a wide variety of perspectives on and interpretations of our state’s long progressive tradition.” I’ve submitted monologues in the past and did so again this year. Unfortunately, it wasn’t selected. The Two Steps Forward monologue festival will be performed one weekend in June 2019. I suggest you get your tickets now. I have mine! Following is my monologue submission: Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filmgoer’s Wrap-Up: 2019 Wisconsin Film Festival

“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.” — Pauline Kael

The 2019 Wisconsin Film Festival (WFF) #wifilmfest wrapped up a little over two weeks ago. I feel like I’m just beginning to recover from eight days of filmgoing, seeing multiple films each day, standing in queues to secure a good seat in sold out theaters in what amounted to four seasons of weather (winter returning again today), plotting logistics for travel in between venues, finding parking, coordinating plans with filmgoing friends, and grabbing caffeine or sustenance as required. As a person on the eve of becoming a septuagenarian, it also means getting enough rest while still working a part-time day job.  As a cinephile and not a critic, to mix metaphors, I’m more like a filmgoing weekend warrior than a true filmgoing athlete. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Creatures of Habit: Harbingers of Spring

“What I’ve learned, the lessons from keeping and rereading journals, is that I’m a creature of habit. Though I allow my imagination to wander and travel places like a free spirit, I’m pretty earthbound and sensitive to the changing of the seasons, the length of daylight in a day, the heat of the sun on skin, the relationship of the stars and moon to our planet, the color of grass and leaves, the smell of the breeze as it changes from the smoky potpourri of autumn to the chilled neutrality of winter, followed by the musky odor of newly-turned earth and fragrant scent of flowers blooming in spring. And, finally, the conscious and unconscious cycles of life.” An excerpt from the introduction of Seasons/Change, one of my poetry chapbooks. Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,