Wordsmatter

Words matter or word smatter? You decide.

The Story

Did I ever tell you about the time my brother gave his car away? I mean, technically someone stole it, but honestly, he might as well have given it away. Wait till you hear this… For more than thirty years, that was the opener to my best party story. I pulled out The...

I haven’t forgotten

Live in peace. React in love. Help whenever you can. Let’s use 9/11 to make us better. We can’t afford to sacrifice our humanity for the sake of our existence. 

Collateral damage

[Warning: this post is way more polite than it deserves to be.] What a mess. What an absolute effing mess. I was horrified when I first heard what had happened in Uvalde. All those children! The horror continued to renew itself as details of the situation emerged,...

Regifting

At every life event, good or bad, my people show up. It may not be everyone each time and it may not look exactly as I imagined, but someone is there. In fact, it's usually a whole lot of people. Some are family, some are friends, but at this point, those lines are...

The power of belief

Several weeks ago I undertook a writing project outside my comfort zone. Truthfully, it didn't amount to much, but it involved my own content--not something I had written on behalf of someone else--and it made me feel vulnerable. I was nervous and unsure, but...

Things change

I got up this morning thinking about typing. Even though I was only half awake, I found an online typing test and started pounding the keyboard. After sixty seconds of churning out random sentences with my fingers, I learned my results: 75 words per minute. Not bad...

It’s about me

This morning I read an op-ed written by the daughter of someone famous. She began the piece with an anecdote from her childhood and built her argument from there. The piece was well written, thoughtful, and I believed, completely appropriate. Once again I made the...

Love what matters

When my son was little, I often took him with me to visit my grandmother in the hospital. Once when a custodian came into the room, my curious three-year-old wanted to know what that person was doing. I explained that she helped keep the hospital clean. Curious Boy...

Baggage claims

In the flurry of activity following the announcement of Brian Flores' lawsuit against the NFL, I made the mistake of reading the comments that followed several of the articles. Yes, I know better, but I did it anyway. Unfortunately. Here we are in 2022 and we're still...

When life gives you lemons

Many years ago, my daughter wanted to open a lemonade stand. Without a lot of thought, I assented. We made a quick pitcher of lemonade, I handed her some cups to go with it, and she scurried outside to set up shop. About an hour later, my aunt and uncle arrived for...

Do the right thing

I’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. Statistically, my risk of becoming seriously ill with the disease is very low, even with the Delta variant that has become so pervasive. I also live in a state that has not been very forceful about pandemic restrictions. If you...

You’re not listening

Dear US Healthcare System: I feel abandoned. >Before I start, let's be clear: this isn't about my personal issue. That simply served as a trigger for the broader questions.< I have a (mild) chronic issue that hasn’t responded well to treatment, but I don’t have...

Side effects

The other day I was talking to a friend who has devoted a good deal of her life to the ideals of the civil rights movement. She spent most of her teaching career working with inner city kids, leading classrooms of students who didn't look a thing like her when others...

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