tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74902961196088586072024-02-08T10:51:41.088-08:00A Single LifeWriting Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-13472726185778584992023-11-10T11:49:00.003-08:002023-11-10T11:49:48.852-08:00A Feline Life -- Diva Las Vegas Robinson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPMlzmkVlC7msBQK7-GGGS42t6_3kDK-PpBvwVoVK7OIj107StQ7puKX3MJShGVHpBr4-zS7UJD8iKHjLhr3ldjPtpAawj2XqfYAJasj7vS_Qy1WMBwgA-7Cf0uEYrYwsLU6ipByyRPrVt3Qmotjvoui6ODrKKl3jZJGnBlgQ0kMv40omIiB-pcH1zrvf/s4032/Diva%20Las%20Vegas%202022.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPMlzmkVlC7msBQK7-GGGS42t6_3kDK-PpBvwVoVK7OIj107StQ7puKX3MJShGVHpBr4-zS7UJD8iKHjLhr3ldjPtpAawj2XqfYAJasj7vS_Qy1WMBwgA-7Cf0uEYrYwsLU6ipByyRPrVt3Qmotjvoui6ODrKKl3jZJGnBlgQ0kMv40omIiB-pcH1zrvf/s320/Diva%20Las%20Vegas%202022.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The photo above is how I chose to remember my "furry adopted daughter" of 16 years, Diva Las Vegas Robinson. After a bout with an aggressive cancer that left her emaciated, I had her put to sleep on Halloween. The cat whose sursurration sounded like the lower register of a piano purred until she fell asleep in my arms for the last time.</p><p>I hadn't planned to adopt her on a rainy Ground Hog Day in 2008. My other cat, Tuffy (A.K.A. Tuff-Punk), and I moved into a Vacaville townhouse, and I thought he would want a feline friend. (The "fluffy, not fat" orange tabby dispelled that notion. Oh, well.) I went to a pet adoption event held by the Solano Friends of Animals in the Pet Food Express store in Benicia. The cat I had wanted to adopt, a female black American shorthair named Tashi, had already been adopted. I looked at other cats in their cages reaching out their paws in hopes of finding their permanent homes. One black-and-white tuxedo cat cowered in her cage with her wide jade eyes. When one of the pet rescue group's volunteers opened the cage and placed the cat named "Demi" in my arms, the feline felt limp. It was then that I decided to take her home.</p><p>When I walked in the door with a new cat carrier with the new cat, Tuffy yowled in protest and hissed at the interloper. I decided to drive back to Benicia in the storm and return "Demi." When I walked to the pet rescuers, one of them sent me back home with an admonition borrowed from "Project Runway's" Tim Gunn: "Make it work!"</p><p>I drove back to Vacaville, "Demi" meowing the entire return trip. When I entered, I went into the spare bedroom and opened the carrier door. "Demi" emerged from her temporary refuge, stretched, and head-butted and rubbed against me, purring loudly the entire time. Unfortunately, I had to keep her in the room, to which she loudly objected. Her cried prompted me to rename her "Diva" because she sounded like a demanding opera star. </p><p>Tuffy was not only unamused, but unforgiving. He hissed at her for weeks, hoping she would go away. Eventually, he adjusted to her presence.</p><p>As Diva adjusted to her new "furever" home, she became more loving with me and assertive with Tuffy, standing her ground when he would hiss at her. We settled into this rhythm until August 2013, when I had to have Tuffy put to sleep after a bout with kidney failure. A week later, I adopted another orange tabby, Lady Marmalade, who also bullied Diva. But Diva proved resilient, sometimes using her secret weapon -- her long claws. She was more a lover, not a fighter, though.<br /></p><p>We moved twice since Marmie's adoption, first into a three-bedroom rental home in south Vacaville and into my current two-bedroom halfplex in Sacramento's Pocket-Greenhaven neighborhood. Both had adjusted to the moves. </p><p>Diva walked with confidence, which prompted me to add her middle name "Las Vegas" because she strutted like a showgirl with her front legs almost crossing each other and her tail in the air. She claimed my office chair as hers, along with a box filled with my bed linens for sleeping. <br /></p><p>Earlier this year, Diva had a urinary tract infection, which a veterinarian treated with amoxicillin and ibuprofen for the pain. I didn't really think there was anything terribly wrong with her when she would sleep longer and eat less. Early in October, when I felt her ribs and hipbones, I contacted the vet for a regular appointment that was supposed to be the day before Thanksgiving.</p><p>Diva became weaker, and I relayed the information to my younger sister, who advised me to call the vet again for an emergency appointment. At first, I hesitated because I didn't want to put Diva to sleep yet. However, I didn't want her to suffer either. So, I called the veterinarian, and the advice nurse urged me to take Diva to the emergency room.</p><p>After an examination and blood text, a vet came into the examination room where I was awaiting word on my "Baby Grr." He told me that her white blood cell count was elevating and he believed she had cancer from the rapid weight loss. (She dropped nearly half her body weight to 6.6 pounds, her weight when I adopted her as a kitten.) He nixed my idea for taking Diva home, saying she would suffer. So, I reluctantly agreed to euthanasia.</p><p>I was taken into a room with two leather couches. Later, a veterinary technician dressed in a cat costume arrived with Diva wrapped in a fluffy pink blanket with a port sticking out from her front right paw. She gave us time alone for me to say goodbye. I told Diva that I loved her to the moon and back and I'm sorry I had failed her. I whispered that I was honored to have been her cat mom. Later, the vet entered, connected the port to a tube that had the "forever sedative," and put Diva to sleep.</p><p>I arrived home with an empty cat carrier, went into my bedroom, and cried myself to sleep with Lady Marmalade beside me. </p><p>Today, it's just the two of us. I am in a monthly pet loss support group and reading a book on pet loss grief. I'm trying to live my life with as much normalcy as possible, given the circumstances. I think Diva would have wanted it that way.</p><p>Diva had outlasted any pet I had either as a member of my family or alone. If I were to go to Heaven, I would hope to awake in a field with Diva resting on my shoulder and Tuffy and Marmie at my sides.</p><p>Diva, I will always love you.💓</p><p>Writing Diva <br /></p>Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-51640865437119679522022-05-03T17:46:00.000-07:002022-05-03T17:46:03.281-07:00"United" We Fall<p>"The United States of America" is a misnomer.</p><p>I posit that the United States has been divided over one issue or another since its founding. Slavery, racism, availability of birth control, interracial marriage, unequal treatment of women, homelessness, LGBTQ rights, COVID-19 policies, and the widening income gaps are among the many fault lines crossing this nation's landscape. One of the deepest, widest fissures is abortion.</p><p>In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade" target="_blank"><i>Roe v. Wade</i></a> that the U.S. Constitution protects a pregnant woman's freedom to end her pregnancy without excessive government intervention.</p><p>Yesterday (May 2, 2022), <i>Politico </i>published a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/read-justice-alito-initial-abortion-opinion-overturn-roe-v-wade-pdf-00029504" target="_blank">draft </a>of the proposed <i>Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization </i>decision. The case addresses the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. Associate Justice Samuel Alito drafted the majority opinion stating that <i>Roe </i>must be overruled. Four other associate justices -- Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett -- sided with Alito. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan are dissenting. It's unknown how Chief Justice John Roberts will vote.<br /></p><p>"The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of <i>Roe ... </i>now chiefly rely -- the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/read-justice-alito-initial-abortion-opinion-overturn-roe-v-wade-pdf-00029504" target="_blank">Alito wrote</a>. </p><p>The leak of the 98-page draft decision was a first. Chief Justice Roberts vowed to investigate the source of the leak. What I find interesting is the timing of the leak -- before the midterm primary elections.</p><p>Should the draft decision become official, abortion law will be left to the states. Thirteen states have "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/07/what-is-an-abortion-trigger-law/" target="_blank">trigger laws</a>" in place that would ban abortions immediately. Twenty-three in all could outlaw the practice. The United States would become a hodgepodge of areas allowing or prohibiting abortion. <br /></p><p>My stance on the issue is that, had I become pregnant, whether in or out of wedlock, I would have had the child because <b>I believe </b>the child is a life. But that's my belief. It is <b>not my place </b>to force my belief on anyone, especially on a woman of childbearing age making the agonizing decision whether to give birth.<br /></p><p>For people who want to unite this nation, I fear that horse has left the barn. With discord over COVID-19 mask and vaccine policies, race relations, LGBTQ rights, and abortion, I'm afraid I will see this country implode during my lifetime. <br /></p><br /><p></p>Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-4055419947189014852022-04-26T14:17:00.001-07:002022-04-26T14:17:10.620-07:00Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">After a year and a half absence, this blog is back. I wouldn't say it's "better than ever," but this writer has grown a bit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When I started this blog in 2008, I was nearing 50, single, and the pet parent of two cats. The latter two descriptions still apply, but I'm in my early 60s. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The biggest difference is that I'm writing for an audience of one -- me. If you come along for the ride, you're more than welcome.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, a few things about me. Don't say I didn't warn you!</span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">As you can see from my latest photo, I'm an African American woman. I'm a fifth-generation Californian whose late father migrated here from the Jim Crow South. (I call my siblings and myself "Southern by proxy.") Although I was born and raised in Sacramento, I spent nearly half of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area (Walnut Creek, Fairfield, and Vacaville) and a year in Bellingham, Washington.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">I live in a simple halfplex in an established Sacramento neighborhood with home prices ranging from the $400,000s to more than a million dollars. I don't want or need a big house. 🏡 My halfplex is a fixer-upper, but I love it. Like me, my home is a work in progress. (In a future entry, I will write about how I ended up with this house.)<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">My Christian faith anchors my emotional and mental well-being. However, my path in following Jesus is rough, and I fall down often. My biggest flaw is that I have the mouth of a longshoreman. I take responsibility for it. If I were to explain how I got such a foul mouth with which I struggle, working in a newsroom for 12 years contributed a great deal.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Speaking of my faith, I don't proselytize. If you ever want to know my "testimony," I will sit with you and tell you. My Christian beliefs align mostly with those of pastor John Pavlovitz, who writes a blog title "<a href="https://johnpavlovitz.com/">Stuff That Needs to Be Said</a>" and wrote the book <i><a href="https://johnpavlovitz.com/if-god-is-love-dont-be-a-jerk/" target="_blank">If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk</a>. </i></span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jumping to politics, my views are left-centrist. I believe strongly in contributing to a social net for the disadvantaged. <i>But </i>there has to be accountability in how all tax money is spent. And I believe that corporations and millionaires on up should pay their fair share in taxes. Close those loopholes! </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finally, I love animals. I have two cats and hope to adopt a rescue dog someday. In the meantime, Lady Marmalade is my "attack cat." 🐈</span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm going to try to submit my entries weekly. Thank you for coming along for the ride.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Writing Diva </span><br /></p>Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-91851467845947207742020-10-13T22:01:00.000-07:002020-10-13T22:01:05.346-07:00Voting Shouldn't Be Hard<p>During this 2020 general election, I've been reading messages to "vote as if your life depended on it -- because it does."</p><p>Last week I delivered my completed ballot to a Sacramento County Elections ballot box in my <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/election/article246400385.html#voter-guide">neighborhood supermarket</a>. Yesterday, I received an email from the Sacramento County Elections Department stating that it had received my ballot and it would be counted. <br /></p><p>Since voting in my first election in 1978, I have missed only two
elections. I don't take casting my ballot for granted. My paternal
grandmother paid her property taxes on time in the Jim Crow South to
maintain her right to vote. My family would go to the polling place
together to perform their civic duty. Even when I was living in
northwest Washington state during a presidential election year, I voted
absentee on a California ballot.</p><p>While I was glad to see that my ballot reached the intended destination, I was dismayed when I read reports of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/13/more-than-10-hour-wait-and-long-lines-as-early-voting-starts-in-georgia">people in Georgia waiting up to 10 hours </a>to get inside their polling places to vote. </p><p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/11/texas-ballot-drop-off-locations/">Texas </a>has limited the number of places to drop off absentee ballots to one per county. One would think that government officials would encourage more voting, not less.</p><p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/voter-suppression" target="_blank">voter suppression</a> has been part of U.S. elections since the era of Reconstruction in the mid-1800s. Some powerful people within and outside government don't want to hear the voices of people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ community. They know the vote is the most powerful weapon we have. Why else would the powers that be work so hard to suppress the vote?<br /></p><p>After this election is over and the dust settles (God willing), I would like to donate to or volunteer with a voting rights organization. I believe people should have more voting options besides having to drive long distances to a polling place or waiting 10 hours or more to cast a ballot.</p><p> The late U.S. Congressman John Lewis said, <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_lewis_810346" target="_blank">"The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have."</a> <br /></p><p>Don't waste it.</p><p>Writing Diva<br /></p><p><br /></p>Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-68596146347536475782017-12-21T13:21:00.000-08:002017-12-21T13:21:28.829-08:00"Because ... It's MY Money!"<br />
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At this writing, I am five years and nine days away from
retirement. I mention this because I’m concerned that the recently approved
federal tax reform plan will eventually use my hard-earned <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-republican-tax-bill-was-the-easy-part-the-next-debate-could-be-much-uglier/2017/12/19/a9c94e2c-e4df-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html?utm_term=.89dd85a60ab7" target="_blank">Social Security and Medicare earnings</a> (That’s right, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">earnings!</i>)
to help pay for the tax cuts to corporations, millionaires, and billionaires.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My response to such a monstrous move cannot be printed in a
family publication.</div>
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<o:p></o:p> </div>
If I were to delay my retirement until I turned 66 years old and 10 months, I would take home $2,181 per month before taxes. In addition to my Social Security earnings and my state government pension, I have a 401K account in the low five figures and a small IRA.<br />
<br />
Although there are ongoing threats to my pension, this post focuses on the danger facing Social Security and Medicare. The $1.5 trillion tax bill approved by Congress provides a tax cut to working families that expires after 2025. Corporations win a permanent tax cut from 35 percent to 21 percent.<br />
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Because the tax bill will increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion over 10 years, something must be done to address the shortfall. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-gop-social-security-20171130-story.html" target="_blank">proposed two things</a>: "We have to generate economic growth which generates revenue, while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future."<br />
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So, I'm inferring that cuts in both programs go toward paying down the deficit from (partially) tax cuts to corporations and rich people. <br />
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Again, my response cannot be printed in a family publication.<br />
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I have worked for 35 years for the private then public sectors, enduring incompetent and bullying bosses along the way. I have a little more than five years from the finish line. I want my prize: low-cost health care and my retirement funds, which include my <em>full </em>Social Security allocation.<br />
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Because of this Trojan horse of a law, I will work in 2018 to get people elected who oppose this legislative mess. Why? As a famous comedian said as a tag line for a commercial for a defunct investment company, "It's <em>my </em>money!"<br />
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Writing DivaWriting Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-73140998789446879692017-10-17T15:46:00.001-07:002017-10-17T15:46:25.116-07:00Breaking the Ice (Or How I Became the Writing Diva!)The following is from a speech I prepared for a speakers' group at my workplace. Enjoy!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">My name is
Carol Evonne Robinson, and I’m a word nerd. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">I know it
sounds like an introduction for a 12-step group. Let me tell you how I became a
word nerd!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">Reading and
writing have been a part of my life since I was 3, and I’m glad to use my
passion for prose in my position as chief editor for the California Energy
Commission.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">My love for
the written word began when my father, an offset feeder for what is now the
Office of State Publishing, would bring home imperfect textbooks for my six
siblings and me to read. From a geography textbook about South America, I would
practice words like “Brazil,” “river,” and “country.” I began writing at 6
years old, not just my name and address, but stories about imaginary places and
real happenings on my street in Oak Park.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">Although I
attended UC Davis with the intention of going to medical school to become an
obstetrician-gynecologist, science and math didn’t come easily to me. But
writing always had. I worked as a news reporter for the campus radio station,
one of three jobs I held while carrying a full course load. Writing and airing
stories about events on and off campus gave me a rush.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">Five years
after graduation, I became a reporter for a <a href="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/" target="_blank">small newspaper in Bellingham</a>,
Washington, then a small town 90 miles north of Seattle along Interstate 5.
After a year there, I worked for small papers in Northern California, closer to
home.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">What I
learned from my 12-year stint in newspapers is that people wanted news they
could understand without the jargon they didn’t. At first, I would write the
way city and county government officials wrote and spoke because it sounded
“official.” But my city editors taught me that readers wanted to know what was
happening and how it would affect them.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">Of my 16-plus
years working for the State of California, I spent 12 here at the Energy
Commission. When I took the writing test my soon-to-be supervisors gave, it was
supposed to take an hour. After taking the test and checking my results, I saw
that I had finished in a half-hour. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">W<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">hen I edit,
I have one character flaw – I curse under my breath. I’m not patient regarding
terms like “in order” or “make contact with.” I bite my lip when I see needless
capitalization. When it comes to working with prose, I’m a cross between <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0W71WXRO3Q" target="_blank">ChloeO’Brien from the TV series “24”</a> and Academy Award-, Emmy-, Grammy-, and
Tony-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg. In other words, I do not suffer fools
gladly – that is, I have no patience for nonsense, in print or in person. (Your fault, Dad!) So,
when you see my edits, please don’t take it personally. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the
most influential pieces I’ve read is an essay by George Orwell – “<a href="http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/" target="_blank">Politics and the English Language.</a>” He also wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm" target="_blank">Animal Farm</a></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> and </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.george-orwell.org/1984" target="_blank">1984</a></span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;">. The essay focuses
on the use of verbose, unclear language to hide the truth rather than express
it. I consider editing reports for plain language to be a mission. Although
energy scientists, economists, and analysts may know what the reports
communicate, regular people who read at a ninth-grade level often don’t. I
enjoy what I do because my position combines my writing skills with public
service.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright;">To conclude, I’d
like to think that when I retire, I will write my own book and read the 250
books in my collection. From toddler to elder, I remain a word nerd.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-5042334387544594362017-09-29T13:14:00.000-07:002017-09-29T13:14:33.844-07:00My Mom, the Superhero
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Last night, I was making dinner after a long day at work
editing a 469-page report due in two business days. After dinner, I made four
dozen <a href="https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/" target="_blank">Toll House®</a> cookies for a coworker’s birthday. In the meantime, I washed
dishes, folded clothes, and prepared for work the next day. When I finally got
to bed at 11:15 p.m., I fell asleep immediately.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This morning, on the eve of the 19<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of my mother’s passing, I awoke with an epiphany: Claudia “Deena” Buford
Robinson was a superhero. If I could, I’d call her “<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AbkSyR1T_coCmjitGxwdlRs51MjCF5HjK_Mr6aL0O7cvchN1QdA_V4s/" target="_blank">Wonder Woman</a>” because I
wonder how she did it all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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During her entire adult life, Mom raised seven children – five
daughters and two sons – and an occasionally obtuse husband. (Still love you,
Dad!) She worked for the California Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters
in Sacramento, rising through the ranks from clerk to supervisor before
retiring. In addition to taking care of the house (and rounding up the “herd of
cats” to help), she handled the household finances, took us children shopping
for clothes, and attended school events in the evening after she had worked the
entire day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Furthermore, she still had time to listen to our problems,
play with us, and sing and dance with us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
However, she did not tolerate disobedience or talking back from
us. The James Brown song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BcmjGWNOMU" target="_blank">“Papa Don’t Take No Mess”</a> easily applied to Mama. She
admonished us not to do anything that would land us in jail because she would
not visit. Because of my parents’ steadfast goal of raising good citizens, the
four older siblings are retired from government and university positions, and
the three younger ones, including this writer, are working toward that gold
watch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
My mother endured tough times, but she also persevered, with
grace and humor. Frankly, when I was a teen, I thought sometimes I didn’t want
to be like her because I wanted more out of life than what she had. I realize
now that there’s no way I could step into her size 7 pumps and do what she did
without losing my mind or energy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So, here’s to you, Mom – a true superhero. I know in my
heart that Heaven made room for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing Diva<o:p></o:p></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-50942981115170451322017-08-16T14:40:00.000-07:002017-08-16T14:40:10.536-07:00Standing at the CrossroadsOn the way home from my vacation last week to Bellingham, Washington, I was waiting at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for my flight back to Sacramento, California. A white woman sat next to me and checked her phone. Shortly thereafter, she poked me in my left arm with her right elbow.<br />
<br />
"Ow!" I said loudly.<br />
<br />
She got up and walked away without uttering an apology.<br />
<br />
Granted, what she did wasn't a hate crime. But I couldn't help but wonder if she would have been contrite had I been white.<br />
<br />
Although I have friends and family of different races, I've learned to keep my distance from strangers and acquaintances I've perceived to be racist. I've had the "N" word hurled at me several times in my life, and I've called the person on using the epithet. But, for the most part, I've kept my distance, and those who don't like people of color or other faiths have stayed away from me.<br />
<br />
I predict I will have an encounter with racists sooner rather than later.<br />
<br />
On August 17, I plan to attend a candlelight vigil in Fairfield addressing the violence after a white supremacist march August 11 and 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia. I will stand quietly with my candle and not call anyone names or start fights. I will do my best to keep out of harm's way. But I feel I must make my presence known.<br />
<br />
Now that the 45th President of the United States has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/16/nazis-must-be-confronted-world-leaders-accuse-trump-of-glossing-over-racist-violence/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_worldreax-wv-12pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.f244a5436814" target="_blank">blamed both</a> white supremacist marchers and what he calls "alt-left" (There is no such thing!) counterprotesters for the violence that resulted in the death of a local woman and injuries to 19 other people, I'm more on guard. I concluded that he was racist when he announced his candidacy by labeling undocumented Mexican immigrants as "killers" and "rapists." I was appalled when he was elected. (No, I refuse to use his name.)<br />
<br />
Today's entry isn't long. Just know this: I'm woke, and I'm done.<br />
<br />
Writing DivaWriting Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-50086557494405651932017-01-23T09:06:00.001-08:002017-01-23T09:06:15.371-08:00Talking About the WalkI'm back. I'm not going anywhere. And as the former USA Today columnist the <a href="http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/reverend-dr-barbara-reynolds" target="_blank">Rev. Barbara Reynolds wrote, "No, I won't shut up.</a>"<br />
<br />
I am one of millions of people nationwide and around the world distressed by the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States. (From now on, he will be referred to as "Cheeto." He will not have "president" before his name.) I still believe that he lacks the temperament to run this republic and that the country may slide into fascism comparable to Germany in the early 1930s.<br />
<br />
Shortly after the presidential election, I saw a Facebook post inviting people to the Women's March in Washington, D.C. Although I couldn't attend, there were satellite marches throughout the nation and around the world, including a <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article128019109.html" target="_blank">march and rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento</a>. I attended that march Saturday.<br />
<br />
When I drove over the Tower Bridge onto Capitol Mall, I was amazed to view a sea of people from 7th Street east to the West Steps of the Capitol. It took about 20 minutes to find parking, but I lucked out by finding precious spaces at the SEIU Local 1000 headquarters at 13th and S streets. I walked about a mile to the West Steps, where I stayed, took pictures, and talked to people. (I wore a hot pink hoodie underneath my black pea coat.) I stayed about an hour before my head began to hurt. Then I decided to visit my older sisters in Elk Grove.<br />
<br />
My older sister D answered the door as she was talking to my sister T2 on the phone, who was preparing a presentation on getting a job in state government. T1 had just returned from the store. We watched coverage of marches worldwide on CNN and MSNBC. Later, my older brother H2 arrived. <br />
<br />
While I was proud to be part of history, I felt gratified to watch it with my siblings.<br />
<br />
P.S.: I will be writing my blog at least once a month. At first, I didn't have much to say. Now, no one can shut me up.<br />
<br />
Writing Diva<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-6779388660601191942016-05-13T08:54:00.000-07:002016-05-13T08:54:30.231-07:00Friday the 13th – Not Just Any Other Day
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
“Triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13” – <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.merriam-webster.com</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I don’t fear Friday the 13<sup>th</sup> as much as I’ve
learned to respect it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
On Friday, May 13, 1988, a letter arrived in the mail that
drastically changed my life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The letter from the San Francisco Bay Area-based Institute
for Journalism Education (IJE, now the <a href="http://mije.org/" target="_blank">Maynard Institute for JournalismEducation</a>) informed me that I was invited to an interview at the UC Berkeley
School of Journalism, where the institute was hosting a 13-week “journalism
boot camp” for aspiring newspaper journalists. A career door finally opened
after struggling in dead-end clerical positions five years after I graduated
from the University of California, Davis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
That year, I was a secretary-typist for a consulting firm in
north Sacramento. In my spare time, I was attending classes at Cosumnes River
College in south Sacramento to qualify for internships I later earned at two
local television stations – <a href="http://www.kcra.com/" target="_blank">KCRA-TV 3</a>, the NBC affiliate, and <a href="http://fox40.com/" target="_blank">KTXL 40</a>, the
local affiliate for the new Fox network. I was also writing articles for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://sacobserver.com/" target="_blank">Sacramento Observer</a> </i>weekly newspaper,
hoping to get some clips for my portfolio. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In the winter of 1988, I had applied to IJE’s Summer Program
for Minority Journalists, which takes only 10 people annually out of hundreds
of applicants. When I received the rejection letter in March, I figured I would
apply to California State University, Sacramento, and work toward my master’s
degree in journalism and see if I could get into the field that way. (I’m a big
believer in having a Plan B, Plan C, Plan D … you get the idea.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I arrived home to my South Natomas apartment at the end of a
mind-numbing week of work with my bunch of mail from my mailbox. Then I saw the
letter from IJE. “What could they possibly want?” I thought. “I was already
rejected.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When I opened the letter and read the contents, my jaw
dropped and my eyes filled with tears.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The letter read that I was being invited to a writing test
and interview with IJE at the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. I would
interview with Jeff Rivers for one of the last few slots. Director Ira J.
Hadnot signed the letter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I was floored. Then I realized what entering the program
would mean – 13 weeks in the Bay Area, followed by working for a year with a
newspaper that, more likely than not, would be outside California, the home I
had known since birth. A mix of excitement and fear prevented me from sleeping well
that night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Long story short, I not only got into the program, I
completed it and went to work for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/" target="_blank">The Bellingham Herald,</a> </i>a small newspaper in northwest Washington state then
owned by Gannett. (McClatchy now owns the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herald.</i>)
I spent 11 months there before returning to California to work for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.dailyrepublic.com/" target="_blank">Daily Republic</a> </i>in Fairfield.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Some people have asked if I regret having been a newspaper
reporter. I usually reply, “Never.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Bad things do happy on Friday the 13<sup>th</sup>, but so do
good things. I’ve learned that it’s not just any other day. Who knows what will
happen today?<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing Diva<o:p></o:p></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-27945404123043901012016-04-25T15:09:00.000-07:002016-04-25T15:09:29.191-07:00The Year the Music Died
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
During the past five months, music lovers have experienced
the loss of several authors to what I call “the soundtracks of our lives.”
Natalie Cole (who died on New Year’s Eve); David Bowie; Maurice White of Earth,
Wind, and Fire; Glenn Frey of the Eagles; Nicholas Caldwell of the Whispers;
Dan Hicks; Gayle McCormick, the lead singer of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIGo31k-qkw"><span style="color: blue;">Smith</span></a> who belted a
rocking rendition of “Baby, It’s You”; Sir George Martin, record producer for the
Beatles; Merle Haggard; Prince; Billy Paul (“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWOTdt9Bovk"><span style="color: blue;">Me and Mrs. Jones</span></a>”). This
year, 2016, has seen the passing of what appears to be more famous artists than
in previous years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Maybe it appears that way because we Baby Boomers grew up
listening to the music of these artists. For me, the deaths of these musicians
make me think of my mortality.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The recent untimely death of Prince, 57, stunned me most. He
is only three years and three months older than I, so he’s a contemporary.
Twenty of his songs are on my iPod, and I have his “Musicology” CD at home.
When my sister Black Woman Blogging and I heard that Prince was going to
perform two shows in Oakland, we wanted to get tickets. But, with any Prince
performance, it sold out as soon as the concerts were announced. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I thought that we would be able to see Prince another time.
That was not to be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
What saddens me is that the artists of the soundtracks of
our lives are passing away. These passings remind us that we, too, have limited
time on this Earth. (By the way, I believe that each of us has a soundtrack. We
have to listen for it.) All I can do is cherish the music these gifted
musicians left behind and live in such in such a way that we leave behind our
gifts for others to enjoy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I still feel wistful over the passage of time and the
passing of these artists. But I’ll go forward.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing Diva<o:p></o:p></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-9075401299361938152015-06-18T13:48:00.000-07:002015-06-18T13:48:58.856-07:00Done With Gun Violence
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I doubt that my blog post will have much focus today. To my
readers, I ask for your patience.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Last night, around the time nine parishioners of an
African-Methodist-Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, were shot to
death, I was having dinner with members of my church’s small group at a local
Panera restaurant. We laughed, broke bread, and prayed for one another.
Normally, we would’ve met at the church that evening studying the Bible,
praying for one another, and praising God.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
People should feel safe at church to worship and pray. For
this reason, I am stunned and angry to hear of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/17/charleston-shooting-churc_n_7608738.html" target="_blank">mass shooting</a> yesterday evening at Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine people died, including a state senator
who was the church pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney. A young Caucasian man allegedly
sat in the pews for about an hour before opening fire on the praying group. He
allegedly said told a parishioner during a break in the violence, “I have to do
it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Law enforcement authorities arrested Dylann Storm Roof this morning in
Shelby, North Carolina. They are investigating this massacre as a
white-on-blacks hate crime. Frankly, I’m surprised the suspect didn’t kill himself
when he was confronted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This violence has to stop. I realize that it’s a hackneyed
phrase, but I use it out of frustration. President Barack Obama, in remarks
made today at the White House, was also frustrated and saddened by the news of
this latest mass shooting during his term. Among those killings were the 2012 shooting
at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 26 people,
20 of them children, and another 2012 shooting, this time in a Sikh temple in
suburban Milwaukee that took the lives of five men and a woman. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
“But let’s be clear: At some point, we as a country will
have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in
other advanced countries,” a somber Obama<a href="http://time.com/3926839/president-obama-charleston-transcript/" target="_blank"> told reporters</a> with Vice President Joe Biden
standing silently next to him. “It doesn’t happen in other places with this
kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that
recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right
now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point, it’s
going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for
us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence
collectively.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Whatever the solution is, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">isn’t</i> arming clergy and parishioners. It definitely isn’t having
armed guards at the doors of houses of worship. Furthermore, the idea of
churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples locked to the public with security
guards to buzz them in seems antithetical with beliefs that doors should be
open to those who wish to worship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So, dear readers, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">if </i>you
have suggestions on how to deal with gun violence in general and mass shootings
in particular without arming everybody (including children) and closing gathering places, please let me know. As author and talk show host Tavis
Smiley wrote in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/06/18/shooting-black-church-south-carolina-column/28920015/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>, </i>“What kind
of nation do we want to be? Who are we, really?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Indeed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing Diva<o:p></o:p></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-81224487441816151192015-02-05T13:27:00.001-08:002015-02-05T13:27:28.108-08:00Fleeing the Titanic: Short-Selling the “Money Pit”
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This entry of “A Single Life” is the hardest I’ve had to
write so far. I’m not proud of the financial choices I’ve made. However, if my
experience can serve as a cautionary tale to someone reading this, I truly hope
I’ve helped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
After having owned my two-bedroom, one-bathroom townhome for
slightly more than eight years, I’ve thrown in the towel. I’m short-selling it.
I do it reluctantly because I can no longer continue to pay a total of $2,400
in mortgage payment and monthly homeowners’ association dues. I should not be
paying this much for a two-bedroom townhouse in a north Vacaville complex with
renters making up half the residents.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I hadn’t planned to buy a home in 2006. However, a fatal
shooting next door to my rental home in Fairfield prompted me to move. But I
did so in fear, and I shouldn’t have. (I will try to limit my “should’ve, could’ve,
and would’ve” statements in this entry.) I wanted to find a place that would allow
me to keep my cat, Tuffy. So, after calling several mortgage brokers, one told
me that I could buy a home without a down payment. In hindsight, I file this
exchange under “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So, armed with a Fannie Mae loan, I searched in Fairfield,
Vacaville, and Elk Grove until my broker steered me to the north Vacaville
townhouse I call home. The 40-year, 10-years-interest-only mortgage was for the
full asking price of the home – about $299,000.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Two years later, shortly after the start of the Great
Recession, the value of my home plummeted to $80,000. I, along with millions of
other homeowners, learned a new economic term: “underwater mortgage,” in which
the mortgage amount is more than the value of the home. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In 2011, I refinanced the mortgage through the federal Home
Affordability Refinance Program, or HARP, hoping to lower my monthly payments.
While I received a lower interest rate, the new mortgage lender added the
principal and interest, so I ended up paying nearly $100 more each month.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Late last year, the Solano County Assessor-Recorder’s Office
assessed my property at $150,000. While the increased value was encouraging,
the last straw came when I received my annual escrow statement. Because of an
increase in the property tax and insurance, my mortgage payment went up by $150
to $1,920. Add the $280 in HOA dues, that’s $2,400 a month. (The plurality of
the dues goes toward water for the lush community lawn. During a drought,
even.) The increased in my mortgage payment ate into my groceries budget. I was
miserable and decided to look into selling my home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I contacted a friend of a friend from church to find out
what my options are. He turned out to be a local Realtor. After discussing the
pros and cons of keeping the home, I signed papers allowing him to show my
home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
What the Realtor neglected to mention is that, in addition
to taking still pictures of my home, he videotaped the inside of my messy home
and posted it onto You Tube. Had I known that my messy house would be on the Internet,
I would’ve told him, “No!” But what’s done is done.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Long story short, we received four offers and accepted one
from a young couple with a toddler daughter. Now it’s up to my mortgage lender
to approve the short sale. Once the approval goes through, escrow should take
between 30 and 45 days, my Realtor said. In the meantime, I am searching for a pet-friendly
home, preferably a house over an apartment, because I have a piano and two
cats.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Right now, I’m soured on the American Dream of owning a
home. I will focus on paying my bills and boosting my retirement contributions.
Maybe someday I will own a home. But next time, I will put some skin in the
game.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing Diva<o:p></o:p></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-26461521899676163902015-01-16T12:15:00.000-08:002015-01-16T15:06:33.292-08:00Hey, Academy, How About More Color and More Women?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The following is an open letter to the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences:<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p>Greetings, Academy voters,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
After viewing your nominations for the 87<sup>th</sup>
annual <a href="http://oscar.go.com/" target="_blank">Academy Awards®,</a> I thought, “These choices could be a topic of Saturday
Night Live’s ‘<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/15-best-really-segments-from-snl-video_n_1515440.html" target="_blank">REALLY?!! With Seth and Amy</a>.’” For example:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">You nominated “<a href="http://www.selmamovie.com/" target="_blank">Selma</a>” for
best picture and best original song (kudos to John Legend and Lonnie “Common”
Lynn for “Glory”) but did not give nods to lead actor David Oyelowo, who
gave a towering performance as Martin Luther King Jr., or Bradford Young
for cinematography, or, most glaring, Ava DuVernay for best director. You
could’ve made history by nominating DuVernay, who would’ve been the first
African-American woman earning a best director nomination and <a href="http://movies.about.com/od/oscartriviaquiz/f/oscars011905d.htm" target="_blank">only the fifth woman</a>. REALLY?!
How about director Angelina Jolie for "<a href="http://www.unbrokenfilm.com/" target="_blank">Unbroken</a>"? (Regarding Oyelowo, whose name you should learn to pronounce since he’ll
be back, I get that you made room for Bradley Cooper in “<a href="http://www.americansnipermovie.com/" target="_blank">American Sniper</a>.”
But this is his third consecutive nomination. Make room for someone else!)<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">I agree with four of the
five leading actress nominees. You might as well engrave <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000194/" target="_blank">Julianne Moore’s</a>
statue now for "<a href="http://sonyclassics.com/stillalice/" target="_blank">Still Alice</a>" since she’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">way</b>
overdue. But I’m scratching my head over your nomination of Marion
Cotillard for “<a href="http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/two-days-one-night" target="_blank">Two Days, One Night</a>,” <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oscars-what-is-two-days-one-night-2015-1" target="_blank">which hasn’t even been released in the Sacramento area</a>, over Jennifer Aniston’s performance in “Cake.”
(Sigh.) REALLY?!<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Regarding the roster of
nominated animated films, I am thrilled to see “<a href="https://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/movies/how-to-train-your-dragon-2" target="_blank">How to Train Your Dragon 2</a>”
in the pack. But why not “<a href="http://www.thelegomovie.com/" target="_blank">The Lego Movie</a>” too? REALLY?!<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">I’m not going to fault
Glen Campbell’s nomination for best original song for “I’m Not Gonna Miss
You,” although I have yet to see<a href="http://glencampbellmovie.com/" target="_blank"> his film</a> debut in the Sacramento area.
But I believe that his song may be the dark horse in this category. However, couldn’t you have made room for Lorde’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PdILZ_1P74" target="_blank">Yellow Flicker Beat</a>”
from “The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 1” as a nod to younger viewers?
REALLY?!<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Finally, I am glad that
you invited (best supporting actor nominee) Barkhad Abdi, (best supporting
actress winner) Lupita Nyong’o, cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi,
costume designer William Change Suk Ping, and director Gina
Price-Bythewood to join your august body last year. How about adding some
more women and people of color since the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/03/oscar-voters-94-white-76-men-and-an-average-of-63-years-old/284163/" target="_blank">Academy is 94 percent white and 76 percent men?</a> REALLY?!<o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<br />
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I’m done with my annual nominations rant. Let’s see how
things turn out on February 22.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing Diva<o:p></o:p></div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-23151235721784347512014-05-05T14:47:00.000-07:002014-05-05T14:47:17.404-07:00You Get What You Need<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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I want to thank readers of the previous blog entry “Long
Walk to Financial Freedom: Cutting the Cable Cord” for your support and
comments. Since that entry, I bought a digital antenna for my television for
$21 at Target. I get nine channels, including KCRA 3 (Sacramento NBC
affiliate,), KOVR 13 (Sacramento CBS affiliate), KUVS (Sacramento Univision
affiliate; hey, I need to improve my Spanish comprehension!), and KMAX
(Sacramento CW affiliate). </div>
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<br /></div>
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No ABC shows? Maybe KXTV News 10 in Sacramento doesn’t offer
a digital channel. If that’s the case, BOO!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, I’m putting my DVD player to good use. I
started checking out DVDs from my library, including “<a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/lost" target="_blank">Lost</a>: The Final Season,” “<a href="http://www.sho.com/sho/the-big-c/home" target="_blank">TheBig C</a>: First Season,” and “<a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/person_of_interest/" target="_blank">Person of Interest:</a> First Season.” I was surprised
to find so many current titles at my local library. This could work!</div>
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<br /></div>
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I can’t use <a href="http://www.roku.com/" target="_blank">Roku</a> because it requires an Internet connection,
which I gave up with my television cable connection. I will wait about six
months before I restore my Internet connection. In the meantime, I use the computer
at, where else, the local library.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I still miss watching television that doesn’t break up
because of bad reception from my antenna. But I’ve heard that a budget reflects
one’s priorities. My biggest priority is getting myself out of debt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I may not get what I want in terms of programming. But I
have what I need. Oh, and my library has Seasons 1 through 3 of "<a href="http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones#/" target="_blank">Game of Thrones</a>!"</div>
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<br /></div>
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Writing Diva</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-7053015960817129272014-05-01T16:42:00.000-07:002014-05-01T16:42:04.237-07:00Long Walk to Financial Freedom: Cutting the Cable Cord<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Note: This entry is
the first of an occasional series on getting myself debt-free.)</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hello, my name is Writing Diva, and I need to get my
financial house in order.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hit rock bottom earlier this month when I prepared my
household budget and realized that to live within my budget, I would have to
forfeit food. Not happening.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One might wonder how I arrived at this nadir. Regardless of
the salary cuts I have endured as a California state employee from 2009 through
2012, I am responsible for how I handle my finances. I neglected to ask myself repeatedly
the basic question, “Can I afford it?” (I should have asked myself that same
question in late 2006 when I bought my townhouse shortly before the housing bubble burst. But that’s a topic for another
entry.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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My credit card payments couldn’t be cut. I could pay on time
but only the minimum amount. As for my electricity/gas bill with Pacific Gas
and Electric Company, I could cut my electricity usage, including air
conditioning.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But the deepest cut came through my cable bill. On April 19,
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because I couldn’t bear to give up my phone number, which is easy for most
people to remember. However, I will shop for a cheaper phone service.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Cutting cable was difficult. Every time I would try to cut
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another slate of channels in addition to limited basic. I would watch my shows
(“Scandal,” “Grimm,” “Mad Men,” “The Good Wife”) without complaint.</div>
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<br /></div>
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On April 19, however, I said, “Enough.” I unplugged the
set-top box and took it to the Comcast store in Fairfield and canceled my
television and Internet access. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When I left the store, I felt proud of myself until I
arrived home. Silence. Nothing to turn on. No “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
No PBS, which meant farewell to “Downton Abbey” and “Nature.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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I think I’ve went only a handful of days in my life without
the blaring of a television set nearby. I admit my life is so pathetic that I
sometimes plan my days around what’s on the tube. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I read a historical romance that had an unexpectedly poor
payoff. I’ve been searching for a part-time job online through the county
library computers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I expect to get a break in August when two loans are paid
off and I receive a small (2 percent) raise in pay. But the walk just started.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Writing Diva</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-57837626173420320482014-01-16T13:31:00.000-08:002014-01-16T13:31:16.319-08:002014 Oscar Nominations: An Embarrassment of Riches<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Like an eager child on Christmas morning, I got up and
turned on CNN at 5:37 a.m. today to watch this year’s <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees" target="_blank">Academy Award nominations</a>. After Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl
Boone Isaacs and actor Chris Hemsworth finished announcing the nominees in the
major categories, I noticed several surprises and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">major </i>snubs.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Two big ones: No Tom Hanks for best actor in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV-ptQX-75Y" target="_blank">“Captain Phillips.”</a> (What?) No love for indie <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crMTGCCui5c" target="_blank">“Fruitvale Station.”</a> (Boo!)</div>
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<br /></div>
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OK, here are some of the major categories with surprises and
snubs:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Picture:</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQNjfhlREk" target="_blank">“12 Years a Slave,”</a> “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7a1aK_lG0" target="_blank">American Hustle,</a>” “Captain Phillips,” <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvMPU0WaPcc" target="_blank">“Dallas Buyers Club,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7a1aK_lG0" target="_blank">“Gravity,”</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV6mXIOVl4" target="_blank">“Her,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT5tqPojMtg" target="_blank">“Nebraska,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZQkETG0aJ0" target="_blank">“Philomena,”</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszwuX1AK6A" target="_blank">“The Wolf of Wall Street.”</a></div>
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<i>Surprise:</i> “The Wolf of Wall Street” getting in because it’s
such a divisive film. Although the American Film Institute named it one of the
top 10 films of 2013, audiences rated by CinemaScore gave “Wolf” a “C” grade.</div>
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<i>Snubs:</i> A sour note for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXMuR-Nsylg" target="_blank">“Inside Llewyn Davis.”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FER3C394aI8" target="_blank">“Blue Jasmine,”</a>
director/writer Woody Allen’s take on “A Streetcar Named Desire,” was also left
out, as were <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuojHqfe4Vk" target="_blank">“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kYmrjongg" target="_blank">“Saving Mr. Banks.”</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leading Actor:</b>
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”; Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”; Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12
Years a Slave”; Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “The
Wolf of Wall Street.”</div>
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<i>Surprise:</i> DiCaprio, who won the Golden Globe for best actor
in a comedy or musical.</div>
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<i>Snubs:</i> In one of the most competitive leading actor races in
years, there were bound to be egregious exceptions. The last time Hanks received
an Oscar acting nod was in 2000 for “Castaway.” Robert Redford, whose last
acting nod was for best actor in 1973’s “The Sting.” He performed most of his
own stunts in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_R04LfUQU" target="_blank">“All Is Lost.”</a> Joaquin Phoenix, whose character had a love affair
with a computer operating system in “Her.” Idris Elba, who portrayed
antiapartheid leader and South African President Nelson Mandela in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmm-aazQQKA" target="_blank">“Mandela:Long Walk to Freedom.”</a> Up-and-comer Michael B. Jordan, who played the ill-fated
Oscar Grant in “Fruitvale Station.” Forest Whitaker, who gave a subdued but
strong performance as Cecil Gaines in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leading Actress:</b>
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”; Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”; Dame Judi Dench, “Philomena”;
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”; Sandra Bullock, “Gravity.”</div>
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<i>Surprise:</i> Although critics were split over “August,” hey,
she’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Meryl Freaking Streep! </i>She has
earned her 18<sup>th</sup> record acting nomination.</div>
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<i>Snubs:</i> To make room for Streep, Emma Thompson’s portrayal of
cantankerous author P.L. Travers in Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks” was overlooked.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Supporting Actor: </b>Barkhad
Abdi, “Captain Phillips”; Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”; Michael
Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”; Jonah Hill, “The Wolf of Wall Street”; Jared
Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club.”</div>
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<i>Surprise</i>: Two, actually – Cooper and Hill. </div>
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<i>Snubs</i>: It would have been nice to honor the late James
Gandolfini for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEEJaIjF_Lo" target="_blank">“Enough Said,”</a> whose gentle character closely matches his
real-life persona. Also left out: Daniel Brühl for Ron Howard’s “Rush” and “Saturday
Night Live” alum Will Forte for “Nebraska.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Supporting Actress: </b>Sally
Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”; Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”; Lupita Nyong’o, “12
Years a Slave”; Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”; June Squibb, “Nebraska.”</div>
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<i>Surprise: </i>Hawkins, who wasn’t nominated for this year’s
Screen Actors Guild awards.</div>
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<i>Snub:</i> Oprah Winfrey of “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” who was
nominated for a SAG award. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Director: </b>Alfonso
Cuarón, “Gravity”; Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”; Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”;
David O. Russell, “American Hustle,” Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street.”</div>
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<i>Surprise:</i> Actually, none.</div>
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<i>Snub:</i> The problem with having up to 10 best picture nominees
is that not all the directors can be nominated. No Paul Greengrass for “Captain
Phillips.” No Spike Jonze for “Her.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Animated Feature
Film: </b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBdiFU6DgpE" target="_blank">“The Croods,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE" target="_blank">“Despicable Me 2,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ1rmOYLr2U" target="_blank">“Ernest & Celestine,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc" target="_blank">“Frozen,”</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imtdgdGOB6Q" target="_blank">“TheWind Rises.”</a></div>
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<i>Surprise:</i> I hadn’t heard of “Ernest & Celestine,” the
story of a destitute bear who befriends an orphan mouse, until today. The film
is in French.</div>
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<i>Snub:</i> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBzPioph8CI" target="_blank">“Monsters University,”</a> one of the few instances that a
Pixar animated feature was left in the cold.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Documentary: </b>“The
Act of Killing,” “Cutie and the Boxer,” “Dirty Wars,” “The Square,” “20 Feet
From Stardom” (Yay!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Surprise:</i> Can’t say because I’m unfamiliar with the first
four films.</div>
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<i>Snub:</i> No <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLOeH-Oq_1Y" target="_blank">“Blackfish”</a>?! The documentary about the capture of
killer whales for amusement parks was both heartbreaking and chilling. I saw
the trailer and was enraged. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The 86<sup>th</sup> Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen
DeGeneres, will be held March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-48946209997471361102013-12-19T11:57:00.000-08:002013-12-19T11:57:25.398-08:00Duck, Duck, (Jim) Crow<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I don’t watch A&E’s <a href="http://www.aetv.com/duck-dynasty" target="_blank">“Duck Dynasty.”</a> Frankly, I avoid
most, if not all, “reality” shows. When I heard that Duck Commander Company
founder Phil Robertson made disparaging comments against the LGBT community an
interview with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">GQ </i>magazine, I shook
my head at his uninformed outspokenness. But when he said that
African-Americans were happy before the Civil Rights era, I took offense and
felt that I had to take Robertson to task.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them,”
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/12/19/duck-dynasty-dad-blind-to-reality/" target="_blank">Robertson told </a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/12/19/duck-dynasty-dad-blind-to-reality/" target="_blank">GQ</a>. </i>“I’m with the
blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field…. They’re
singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell
you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!… Pre-entitlement,
pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one
was singing the blues.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The A&E cable network suspended Phil Robertson “indefinitely.”
While he is on suspension, I suggest that Mr. Robertson take some time to
research the effects of Jim Crow laws on African-Americans and the United
States as a whole.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Robertson can start by reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">T<a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/book/190696/the-warmth-of-other-suns-by-isabel-wilkerson" target="_blank">he Warmth of Other Suns </a></i>by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson.
The book chronicles the Great Migration of blacks from southern to northern and
western states. Most African-Americans living in the oppressive <a href="http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm" target="_blank">Jim Crow South</a>
left to find better jobs and build new lives. Even during the period from 1915
to 1970, they found covert, institutionalized racism in jobs and housing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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If reading is too time-consuming or even difficult for Mr.
Robertson, then I suggest talking to people who lived through the Jim Crow era.
My 88-year-old father, for example, fled his boyhood home of Gould, Arkansas, in
his late teens to escape the mental and physical oppression of the Deep South.
He traveled to California, served in the Navy during World War II, and worked
in Northern California for most of his life, retiring in his late 80s. He can
share his experiences, as can his younger brother, whom I’ll call “Uncle G.”
Uncle G, a retired real estate agent, saw his best friend lynched by a white
mob when they were boys. He shared this story with me as part of a family
history project. He was clearly traumatized by the memory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I ask that Mr. Robertson take the time to educate
himself before spewing uninformed comments from his mouth and shooting A&E’s
cash cow “Duck Dynasty” in the foot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Writing Diva</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-82175943863253576702013-08-08T11:30:00.000-07:002013-08-08T11:30:15.837-07:00Back to Life<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY</a><br />
<br />
Exactly 20 years ago today, I died.<br />
<br />
Not of embarrassment, but of complications from double pneumonia.<br />
<br />
For less than a minute, I suffered cardiac arrest, and my medical team from <a href="http://www.johnmuirhealth.com/locations/john-muir-medical-center-walnut-creek.html" target="_blank">John Muir Medical Center</a> in Walnut Creek performed CPR and shocked me back to life. During this life-saving effort, I "dreamed" that I was floating above my body, feeling peaceful. I don't think it was a dream, though.<br />
<br />
Backing up three weeks: I had worked on a three-day series of articles for the <em><a href="http://www.contracostatimes.com/san-ramon-valley-times" target="_blank">San Ramon Valley Times</a> </em>on "AIDS in the San Ramon Valley." The reports were among the best I had ever done. But the work took its toll on my body: I came down with the flu.<br />
<br />
After a week of coughing and not taking full breaths, I consulted my physician, who diagnosed me with pneumonia. I asked him, "Shouldn't I be in a hospital?" Instead, he prescribed antibiotics and sent me home.<br />
<br />
Bad decision.<br />
<br />
I went home to Sacramento to allow my parents to care for me, and my physician called me back for another exam. By the time my parents and I arrived in Walnut Creek, I was short of breath, and my heart was beating erratically. My physician finally had me admitted on July 31 to John Muir Medical Center, where my attending physician was a cardiac surgeon I had interviewed for a news story.<br />
<br />
After my family left my hospital room, I realized the difference between me and my parents and siblings was that I could not leave the hospital without risking my life.<br />
<br />
The next day I underwent a procedure that involved putting a scope down my trachea to view my lungs. I woke up in the intensive care unit with a breathing tube and a feeding tube down my throat. My first thought was the equivalent of "WTF?" <br />
<br />
Although I couldn't speak, I could write, barely. I motioned for the nurse to bring me a pen and pad of paper. I wrote, "Me die?" She responded that the medical team was doing what it could to keep my alive.<br />
<br />
During my morphine-induced state, I saw an Episcopal minister pray over me. I thought, indignant, "I'm not dying <strong>yet!</strong>" I was tested for hantavirus, which I didn't have. I was awakened by nurses to cough. <br />
<br />
What does dying feel like? As if your soul is a candle, and its flame is flickering to just a glowing ember before finally going out.<br />
<br />
Three days after my near-death experience, I left the ICU and returned to a regular hospital room. I learned from a nurse about my almost meeting my Maker. I was stunned. My siblings told me that the night before my near death, Dad was crying and praying nonstop. I have never seen my father cry. Still haven't.<br />
<br />
I spent 16 days in the hospital, 8 of them in ICU. I was out of work for a total of seven weeks. I didn't regain my full speaking voice until two months after I left the hospital.<br />
<br />
Often I wondered why I lived when others have died in similar circumstances. It may be that I still have a purpose in life I have to fulfill before I die for the last time.<br />
<br />
Writing Diva<br />
<br />
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-68097589280475998912013-07-29T12:48:00.000-07:002013-07-29T12:48:03.071-07:00Hot Fun in the SummertimeThere are times when a single life can be fun. A hot summer Friday night was a great example.<br />
<br />
Last Friday I was coming off a long, stressful work week. I wrote on my Facebook page, "I'm in dire need of getting my groove on." I had planned exactly that: I was going to a "Meetup" with some acquaintances to see the R&B/dance band the Time Bandits in Andrews Park in Vacaville. The gig was part of a summer series of "<a href="http://www.downtownvacaville.com/calendar/creekwalk/" target="_blank">Creekwalk</a>" concerts.<br />
<br />
I met several members of the Meetup group seated in their camp chairs under the shade of a sycamore tree about 75 feet from the Creekwalk stage. <a href="http://onesheet.com/TheTimebandits/splash/#" target="_blank">The Time Bandits</a> from nearby Fairfield were playing some infectious soul and dance music ranging from the 1960s to present day. I strutted and bumped to songs ranging from Kelly Clarkson's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFCuyLwhUzM" target="_blank">"Walk Away"</a> to The Temptations' <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=748hUA0MMR0" target="_blank">"I Can't Get Next to You."</a> I think I fulfilled my daily dose of cardio in front of that stage.<br />
<br />
The only guy in the group, whom I'll call "Gary," arrived with his camp chair. We met each other in late December during a meetup at a downtown Vacaville karaoke bar. The last time I saw Gary was in January at a dinner for another group. I found him to be a laid-back, solid person. He's probably 5'9", slim, and shaved bald. We greeted each other before he set up his chair next to mine.<br />
<br />
The group members would chat among themselves despite the deafening music. I asked Gary why he wasn't dancing yet.<br />
<br />
"I don't feel comfortable dancing with people I don't know," he replied.<br />
<br />
"You know me," I thought but kept to myself.<br />
<br />
Gary finally got up the nerve to get on the dance floor and ask a woman to dance. I shrugged and enjoyed the evening from my camp chair. There had to be at least a thousand people there of myriad races and ages, from a 7-month-old girl smiling in the arms of her dancing mother to a grizzled war veteran rolling in his wheelchair with his date. The heat subsided as the delta breeze picked up slightly. Everyone was friendly and encouraging of each other.<br />
<br />
Later, the band started playing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzDpVSRiA7Q" target="_blank">"My Girl."</a> Gary stood and extended his hand to me. "Would you like to dance?" he asked.<br />
<br />
I took his hand, stood, and said, "Sure."<br />
<br />
We danced to song with a crowd of maybe 200 people under a waning moon.<br />
<br />
After the dance, Gary thanked me and left shortly thereafter. I left a short time thereafter.<br />
<br />
The evening gave me a sense of joy. And neither the arthritis in my right foot nor the plantar fasciitis in my left bothered me, even when I was boogieing.<br />
<br />
So, if you see me with what I call "happy cheeks," you know why.<br />
<br />
Writing Diva<br />
<br />Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-79518579402869474072013-07-18T11:51:00.000-07:002013-07-19T10:01:29.459-07:00Nelson Mandela: Bittersweet Birthday<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/In+Profile+Nelson+Mandela+_hV20hXmzX0l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/In+Profile+Nelson+Mandela+_hV20hXmzX0l.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
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Today, anti-apartheid leader and former South African
President Nelson Mandela is marking his 95<sup>th</sup> birthday in a hospital
bed in Pretoria. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Although his doctors say his health is steadily improving
from a lung infection, at the risk of sounding pessimistic, I sense this may be
the last birthday that he and his family celebrate.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years in prison after
being convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. Following
a successful international lobbying campaign, Mandela was released in 1990.
Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a world tour, which included a visit to U.S.
cities, including Oakland, California.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As a reporter for the Fairfield-Suisun City <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Republic, </i>I covered his final stop
of his U.S. tour at the Oakland Coliseum. I pestered my city editor, saying that
this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and that all San Francisco Bay Area media
needed to cover this, especially since I knew several Solano County residents
who would attend Mandela’s visit. My city editor relented.</div>
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<br /></div>
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When I arrived at the Coliseum on Saturday, June 30, 1990, I
was surrounded by 58,000 people and media crews from throughout California and
other countries. I worked the stands and interviewed two Vallejo residents and
Seretha Jefferson of Fairfield, who wore a broad-brimmed straw hat and flowery
dress to see Mandela. Once on the ground, Mandela appeared onstage, as music
played and the chorus sang: “Freeeee Nelson Mandela!” </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I admit at that point I lost all objectivity and danced and
cheered on the field. Epic journalism fail.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quoting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York
Times </i>story of his Oakland visit, “the deputy president of the African
National Congress smiled broadly and told the crowd, ‘Despite my 71 years, at
the end of this visit I feel like a young man of 35. I feel like an old battery
that has been recharged. And if I feel so young, it is the people of the United
States of America that are responsible for this.’”</div>
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<br /></div>
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My story ran in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily
Republic </i>on page 1 as a sidebar to Associated Press coverage on Mandela’s
visit. I was humbled to have been half a football field from greatness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My prayers are with Mr. Mandela, his family, his friends,
and his country.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Writing Diva</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-63986216464875785352013-02-25T09:27:00.001-08:002013-02-25T09:27:14.337-08:00Back Away from Quvenzhane!I will be brief. A post from <i>The Onion's </i>Twitter account referred to 9-year-old best actress nominee Quvenzhane Wallis as the unspeakable "c-word."<br />
<br />
I will not reprint the post or link to it. That post, along with Academy Awards host Seth MacFarlane's tasteless joke about her during the awards ceremony, made me want to write.<br />
<br />
Leave Ms. Wallis alone! Even if she is a best actress nominee for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," she is a child. Also, as an Oscar nominee and the tenth African-American actress nominated for a leading role, this poised, beautiful, intelligent young lady deserves greater respect than she received last night. And that silly reporter from the Associated Press who <i>would not </i>pronounce her name correctly and referred to her as "Annie" (For her upcoming role in the Broadway play) should be disciplined.<br />
<br />
Although the Academy Awards is a melting pot and has been for the past few years, some reporters and even a certain Oscar host have yet to enter the 21st century. As Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Spike Lee would say, "Wake up!"<br />
<br />
Writing Diva<br />
<br />Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-63991536744276971302013-02-14T08:48:00.000-08:002013-02-14T08:48:35.368-08:00How to Woo a Writing Diva<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Happy Valentine’s Day, readers! If you have a significant
other, I hope you’re spending a relaxing, splendid day (or evening) with your
sweetie. If you’re single, I hope you treat yourselves well this day and all
year long.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although I’m sitting out this Valentine’s Day, listening to Jermaine
Stewart’s dance song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWZisnZ-RGE" target="_blank">“We Don’t Have to Take Your Clothes Off”</a> on my way to
work reminded me what it takes to woo me. I am a cerebral, sometimes snarky being
with a tender heart that needs to be protected at all times. If I were
dating someone, the best way to my heart on this day is a love letter.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I do not respond well to a box of chocolates, especially
because I’m allergic to chocolate, especially the dark kind. Although I would
not look down my nose at a one-carat diamond ring or pendant, a love letter
would do in a pinch. ;-)</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If my guy were to send me an e-mail love letter or card, I
would look at him as if he were freshly made poop and walk away. When it comes
to love letters, I’m old-fashioned – I like handwritten letters on stationery.
Period.</div>
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<br /></div>
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A man I had dated in the late 1980s (Yes, readers, I’m <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that </i>old.) wrote me 15 love letters. I
still have them in storage. To me, love letters are the most tangible evidence
that someone loved me. </div>
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<br /></div>
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A few suggestions:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Do not type a love letter
using a typewriter or word processor on 20-pound white paper. How
clinical! Write using print or cursive letters in dark ink.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Use stationery.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Although I’m an editor, I
will overlook spelling, grammar, and usage errors in love letters. I
figure if my man is making the effort to write, I can compliment his
content.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">Try to avoid explicit sexual
references. If I want to read porn, I know where I can find it. I want to
know what’s in the heart, not the loins.</li>
</ul>
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</div>
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Yes, I’m well aware that some men aren’t into reading, much
less writing. But a love letter is what works for me. Find out what works for
your heart this day and every day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Writing Diva</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-72506421443026649372013-01-10T14:03:00.002-08:002013-01-10T14:03:25.551-08:002012 Oscar Nominations -- Not Much Risktaking<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Another year, another set of Academy Award nominations.</div>
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<b>Best Picture</b>: This year there are nine contenders, including
front-runners “Lincoln,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Life of Pi,” and “Silver Linings
Playbook.” Other nods went to “Django Unchained,” “Les Miserables,” and “Argo.”
A surprise in this category is the inclusion of “Amour,” which is Austria’s
entry for best foreign language film (nominated). To my recollection, the last
time a film was nominated for best picture and best foreign language film was
2001’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” one of my favorite films, directed by
Academy Award-winner Ang Lee, who is also up for best director for “Life of Pi.”
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My only complaints: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences can nominate up to 10 films. I don’t understand why it didn’t make
room for “Skyfall,” which received critical acclaim as well as made big box
office. Perhaps it’s because it’s a James Bond film, and the Academy isn’t
ready to embrace it as a top pick. In my most recent post, I wrote that the
director and writers took their reboot of “Bond, James Bond” seriously, giving
this franchise a much-needed shot in the arm. Sigh.</div>
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Also, I may be the only moviegoer saying this, but I didn’t
get “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” I didn’t know if it was about surviving on a
remote Louisiana island after hurricane Katrina or about a daughter learning to
survive after her father takes ill, or about a fantasy mirroring the 6-year-old
girl’s reality. I wished it had settled on one theme and went with it.</div>
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<b>Best Actor:</b> One might as well engrave the Oscar statuette
and give it to Daniel Day-Lewis for his much-lauded portrayal of “Lincoln.” If
he wins, he will be the only actor to win three times in the leading actor
category and join a handful of actors who have three Oscars, including Jack
Nicholson, Walter Brennan, Ingrid Bergman, and, just last year, Meryl Streep.
Only Katharine Hepburn earned four acting Oscars, all in the lead category.</div>
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As for the other nominees – Bradley Cooper, Joaquin Phoenix,
Hugh Jackman, and Denzel Washington – I would hope <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any </i>of them would have a decent shot. I know Denzel already has two
Oscars, but a third wouldn’t hurt. (Just saying!) I’m glad Hugh Jackman <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finally </i>got an Oscar nod. My complaint:
Why is Joaquin Phoenix even nominated when he said publicly he hates the Oscar
promotion process? The Academy should have given Phoenix’s spot to John Hawkes
for his portrayal of a polio patient in an iron lung who wants to lose his
virginity in “The Sessions.”</div>
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<b>Best Actress:</b> Repeat after me: kwuh-VEN-jah-nay. This is how
Quvenzhané Wallis pronounces her first name. The 9-year-old is the youngest
ever nominated for the best actress Oscar. On the other end of the age
spectrum, “Amour’s” nominee Emmanuelle Riva, the oldest nominated for best
actress, will turn 86 when the Academy Awards air on February 24 on the ABC
television network. But I think it will be a battle of the J’s – Jessica Chastain
for her role as Maya in “Zero Dark Thirty” and Jennifer Lawrence as a troubled
widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.” I believe Naomi Watts is the dark horse for
her portrayal of a mother surviving the real-life tsunami in Thailand in “The
Impossible.”</div>
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<b>Best Supporting Actor:</b> Emma Stone, who announced the Oscar
nominations this morning with Oscar host Seth MacFarlane, summed it up nicely:
All the nominees are previous Oscar winners. They are Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln,”
Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained,” Robert De Niro for “Silver Linings
Playbook,” Alan Arkin for “Argo,” and Philip Seymour Hoffman for “The Master.” </div>
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Complaints: Hey, Academy, where’s the love for Leonardo Di
Caprio for “Django”? Or John Goodman, one of the hardest working actors in
Hollywood, for either “Flight” or “Argo”? Or even Javier Bardem for his
tortured villain in “Skyfall”? How does one root for any of the nominated
actors when each has at least one Oscar? (OK, Bardem has an Oscar for “No
Country for Old Men.”)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Best Supporting Actress:</b> The big surprise was Jacki Weaver
for playing the mother in “Silver Linings Playbook.” I think it will be a knockdown
fight between two-time Oscar winner Sally Field for her portrayal of Mary Todd
Lincoln in “Lincoln” and Anne Hathaway for her role as Fantine in “Les Miz.” Amy
Adams (“The Master”) and Helen Hunt (“The Sessions”) may end up as also-rans. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Best Director:</b> Note to the Academy: No Ben Affleck for “Argo”?!
No Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty”?! Are you freakin’ kidding me?!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Steven Spielberg may take his third Oscar for “Lincoln,”
unless David O. Russell is swept on a wave of popularity for “Silver Linings
Playbook.” I think Michael Haneke will have to be satisfied with best foreign
language film for “Amour.” I don’t think it’s Ang Lee’s year for “Life of Pi”
because it’s a crowded directoral field. And, frankly, Benh Zeitlin, director
of “Beasts,” is too young and inexperienced to even be in this category. He
took a place that should have been for either Affleck or Bigelow.</div>
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<b>Best Song:</b> Just give it to Adele and Paul Epworth for the
title song from “Skyfall” and call it a night.</div>
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<b>Best Animated Feature:</b> Too much of a horse race between “Frankenweenie,”
“Brave,” and “ParaNorman” to call it. I think “Wreck-It Ralph” and “The
Pirates: Band of Misfits” are bringing up the rear.</div>
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OK, I’m all typed out. Thanks for reading.</div>
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Writing Diva</div>
Writing Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7490296119608858607.post-43882011589937577362013-01-06T00:47:00.000-08:002013-01-06T00:47:28.564-08:00Skyfall: A Possible Oscar Dark HorseI finally got to see the latest James Bond film "Skyfall," although it's been out since mid-November. But with less than two weeks until the Oscar nominations are announced, I would not be surprised if it garnered a nod in the best picture category, among others nods. In my humble opinion, this isn't just the best Bond film of the franchise; it's one of the best films of 2012.<br />
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What I liked about this film is that the makers eschewed the camp of previous Bond outings and took this seriously. I wasn't sure what to expect from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty," "Revolutionary Road"), but I also saw his crime thriller "The Road to Perdition," in which Craig played a pivotal role. The action sequence in the beginning of "Skyfall" didn't disappoint. Just as Mendes can handle suburban angst, he pulled off an action movie that examined themes of aging and duty to country at the expense of its soldiers of espionage.<br />
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Bond (Daniel Craig) and his spy partner (Naomie Harris) fail to retrieve a list of undercover agents from an assassin, causing British government to question the judgment of the leader of MI-6, M (Oscar-winner Dame Judi Dench, who should be nominated for best supporting actress). It turns out that a spy from her past, Raoul Silva (fellow Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, who should also get a best supporting actor nod), is behind the bombing of MI-6 headquarters and the outing of the undercover agents. Bond, who went through a life-changing ordeal after a judgment call by M, has to not only retrieve the information, but save M's life.<br />
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Craig continues to explore the darkness that haunts an aging Bond. In one scene where Bond comes to terms with the fast-changing world, he meets Q (Ben Whislaw), a twenty-something-year-old computer geek. I also want to commend Albert Finney's cameo as a groundskeeper from Bond's childhood.<br />
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Even with its requisite shootouts and explosions, "Skyfall" is also a thriller that delves more into its characters than previous Bond movies. It's a fitting way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise. Even the opening sequence, with the title song performed by Adele and written by her and her regular cowriter Paul Epworth, was well done. If the song doesn't win best song at the Oscars, I will be quite disappointed. <br />
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I recommend this film highly, giving it an A-. <br />
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Writing DivaWriting Divahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14203252758251671824noreply@blogger.com0