I am blessed to have many good friends that I have known for a long, long time. They can best be described as falling into a couple of different groups,…
Writers are constantly looking for story ideas and sometimes they are literally right in front of us — when we look into the mirror. But how much personal information should…
Appetizer Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? 100% optimist, sometimes to my own detriment. Soup What is your favorite color of ink to write with?…
Are there times when the use of hyperbole in our writing is appropriate? Certainly, when employed to convey a compliment or express a desire, deliberate exaggeration of the facts can…
That’s me hugging a statute in New Orleans Square at Disneyland, summer 1979.
Appetizer When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup? I always have a bottle of water,…
Stereotype: A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image; One that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type. “North Country” is a 2005 movie…
Have you ever created a fictitious identity in order to access an Internet site? If so, you may have violated a federal criminal statute. Megan Meier, aged 13, thought she…
My question for this edition: Has the price of gas impacted you/your family? If so, how? If not, what’s your secret? My Answer: Earlier in the week, I pulled into…
Federal and state laws prohibit discrimination, harassment or retaliation in the housing market, workplace, and when a business establishment provides goods or services. But do those statutory schemes apply or…
My question for this edition: What is your reaction to the California Supreme Court’s ruling that restricting the right to enter into a legally binding marriage to members of the…
“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.” So begins “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” So begins “The Tale of…
LOL. ROFL. POS. TTYL. TTFN. Do you recognize each of those abbreviations? If not, they stand for: Laughing on line. Rolling on floor laughing. Parents over shoulder. Talk to you…
In a recent meeting with my colleagues, we all sat around a conference table, our identical Blackberries in front of us. As one by one the Blackberries chirped, clicked, chimed,…
Appetizer Name something you would categorize as weird. Peanut butter and tuna sandwiches. My oldest son used to eat them every day. In fact, for awhile, I had to make…
Here in California, it is unusually cold for late April, but that was fine with me. I settled in last evening, wrapped in my favorite blanket, to watch the seventh…
This past week, I was contacted by a reporter from the Stockton Record. She interviewed me for a story about women here in California’s Central Valley who blog. She has…
Appetizer What is your favorite vacation spot in the United States? It might be a place I haven’t gone yet! Odds are it has a beach and I’m longing to…
1. I love springtime in Northern California. 2. Cranberry scones and cinnamon-raisin bagels are foods I love to eat for breakfast. 3. It seems I’m always searching for evidence –…
Last night over dinner, one of my oldest and dearest friends mentioned that she had spent some time yesterday writing a letter to her daughter who is attending college in…
1. Tonight I saw Oprah’s interview of Thomas Beatie, the transgender man from Oregon who is now pregnant. 2. “Sway” by the Pussycat Dolls makes me wanna dance! (“Shall We…