Category: Uncategorized
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Hats and Flags
This week we celebrate the birth of our nation. I’ve got some mixed feelings about it. Maybe you do too. On one hand, I am so grateful and proud to be American. I’ve lived a life of such freedom and possibility and privilege that people in other countries can only dream of. I have our…
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I can pinpoint the exact moment I lost faith in my church. It was when a local politician, who around that time was under felony indictment (and was later convicted and served prison time) for violating state ethics laws was chosen to light the Advent candles with his family.
This man was also running commercials on local television in an effort to sway public opinion and I assume, the jury pool. At no time, to my knowledge, has this person accepted accountability or actually shown remorse for his crimes. In some Protestant churches, lighting the Advent candles is an honor for a person or…
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We ain’t 30-A
The thing about Key West is that we are not like most other American coastal communities. We aren’t a pre-planned city. There’s no homogeneous architecture or culture or people. We are quaint, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not a manicured, HOA-rules, perfection kind of quaint. We’re like that roguish charming boyfriend that can’t quite…
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This is a story about Mandy. And it’s not nearly long enough.
I met Mandy in college when we pledged the same sorority. She thrived in that high energy, chaotic environment. She became an officer and a very “involved” member. I was the total opposite, with a glitchy social battery and introvert tendencies. Mandy had tons of friends and seemed to have a connection with everyone. I…
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Why I didn’t tell
(warning: contains description of sexual assault) I wasn’t raped. Thankfully. Just to clarify. What happened to me was not as violent, but it was an insidious invasion of my body just the same. There are so many reasons why women don’t tell anyone about their sexual assault. It’s traumatizing, it’s humiliating, it’s rage-inducing. You would…
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A Semi Serious Review of the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas
I was tagging along with my husband to Las Vegas for a work trip. We’ve been there many times and have stayed in several different hotels. This time we chose the Paris simply because we were feeling nostalgic, as we had stayed there almost 20 years ago celebrating my 30th (!) birthday. Upon arrival we…
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Earrings and Other Things
When I was growing up one of the major rites of passage for a young girl was getting her ears pierced. I begged and begged to no avail starting when I was about ten years old and the answer was always the same…sixteen, and not a minute before. That seemed totally unreasonable. Absolutely light years…
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A Good Friday Note for the Rice Boys
A little note for the Rice boys on Good Friday. As you know, I’m constantly refining and defining and deconstructing and reconstructing my faith. I’m asking hard questions and not settling for pat answers. What I’ve found over the years is that discernment is the key. Faith and facts can coexist. Take the Creation story.…
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Goodbye Jimmy
Dispatch from Key West 9/2/2023 Well I haven’t looked to see if the flags are at half mast around here but they should be. We are the actual Margaritaville. I wouldn’t call myself a Parrothead but I know art when I see it (or hear it) and Jimmy Buffet’s songwriting was exactly that. Nothing evokes…
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Introducing Barbara Jean
I have six sister-in-laws. My husband has four sisters and I have two brothers, so there you go. They are all very different and all very lovely and I adore each of them. But today I’m talking about Barbs because her birthday is coming up. There’s a whole inside joke that has to do with…
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Woke and Other Four-Letter Words
What is “woke”, anyway? It’s such a volatile word lately, used to denigrate and divide. I think there’s a severe disconnect between the right and left on what this word actually means. I’m trying to be fair here, so bear with me. Wikipedia says it’s “an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English meaning ‘alert to…
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Perry Minnow Paws
I’m still not exactly sure what happened but as best I can tell, I woke up one day in my 40s a different person. I went from almost 20/20 vision to needing 1.75 readers. My right hip, always a little janky, went full Karen and constantly wants to speak to the manager. It’s me. I’m…
Walk Home Together 