Do yourself a favor and watch this campaign ad. You know you want to.
Category Archives: keys to success
Keeping Our Heads for Four Years
If you were a news junkie during the George W. Bush era, you’re already experiencing deja vu. That sinking feeling already makes your eyes roll automatically when Putin’s President appears. It settled into the back of your neck from the whiplash as you shake your head and shout “no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” over the latest outrage or tweet. And it’s there in the pit of your stomach, when you try not to vomit whenever you see the color orange.
Yup, it’s started. The Deluge. The Flood. The Trump shit storm.
During the Bush years, I would just be ready to pounce on one issue, when another hit the fan and took the wind out of my sails. Resistance is hard if there is just so much to resist.
How, I worried in the days since November 8, will I survive Trump. I feared a heart attack. A stroke. Getting so scared I’d shit in my pants. Of course I worry about the last one sometimes during a scary movie.
Anyway, I’ve come up with a strategy for a hybrid Resister/Surviving Human. I’m going to become a political centaur!
Google Image. No shit will be given by this filly.
I’m going to take my mother’s marital and parental advice and apply it to my activism. She said:
Choose Your Battles!
Me, I’m going to try to focus on issues I know about and/or that are closest to my heart. The ones I write about here on FiftyFourAndAHalf.
But that won’t be all I do. I will look for and follow the lead of others who are knowledgeable about other issues, and I will try to help to the extent I can. It’s not hard, really, to make calls to Congress and the White House. Really, it just takes a minute. You or I can even just cut and paste and hit “send.”
But I will try my very best to keep my blood pressure — and my outrage to livable levels.
George W. Bush kept us all off balance because there were so many things to be outraged about, that we couldn’t keep it up. Different bad presidents need different tactics.
And Trump will make the Dubya years look like a walk in the park. And that park is in Baghdad.
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Everybody Needs An Editor
One day, shortly after starting my first job that involved a lot of writing, I realized that I worked for a magician.
Seriously! My boss, another John, could look at a good piece of writing and make it amazing. All he used was a pencil.
I can recall standing next to him as he looked over my memo that first time. He changed a “this” to a “that,” reorganized a couple of words in another sentence and handed it back to me.
Naturally, I figured that since he was the boss he had to do something to contribute; after all, his name was going on it. But when I looked at the simple changes he made, I was astonished. Those simple changes made a huge difference.
“Everybody needs an editor,” John said, smiling.
That was close to 40 years ago, and since then I have used that line constantly. I’ve said that to everybody I’ve ever worked with. To writer friends. To blogging buddies. Because it’s true. No matter how good a writer you or I am, different eyes notice large and small ways to make something good, better.
If you’re writing a novel, drafting a memoir, compiling blog posts into a future best-seller, you need an editor. Someone who can help polish, perhaps shorten or reorder. Someone who can tell you if your work makes sense, or if there are areas that need clarification/reworking. Someone who can change some “this-es” to “that-s,” reorganize a bit, cut, and shine up that manuscript you’ve been working on.
I have someone to recommend.
Karen Kingsley is an old friend of mine who has been a professional writer/editor for her entire career. For the last 15 years, she has been a freelancer. Her website is Kingsley Ink.
She’s written and/or edited just about anything you can come up with: books (fiction and non-), websites, web content, essays, marketing materials, advertising, blogs, speeches, resumes, cover letters, Facebook posts, tweets, press releases.
Karen can help you shine.
Dear Electors
Today’s New York Times broke my heart by informing me (can you believe it? — A Newspaper!) that while the electors in the Electoral College will vote tomorrow (Monday, December 19), we won’t actually know the results until January 6. Shit.
UPDATE!
I was wrong. I misunderstood. Perhaps I read the Russian rules.
Trump just now went over the 270 needed to become the 45th (and possibly last) President of the United States.
WE’RE OFFICIALLY SCREWED.
Now back to my original post which is now completely irrelevant:
Still, I want to take just one more opportunity to beg:
Dear Electors:
Please don’t let Donald Trump actually become President of the United States. He’s cray-cray. And could you possibly imagine listening to that 6th grade speaking style for 4 years? Not to mention the fact that he’s already pissed off most of Asia.
Oh and there is that whole bit about Russia interfering with our election.
Google Image
So please, please, vote carefully. Vote as if the future of the world is in your hands. Because it is.
Sincerely,
2.8 Million (and counting) American Voters
Filed under 'Merica, ; Don't Make Me Feel Perky Tonigh, A Little Restraint, Perhaps, Adult Traumas, All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance, Baby You Can Drive My Car, Bat-shit crazy, Beating that Dead Horse, Campaigning, Cancer on Society, Clusterfuck, Crazy Folks Running, Criminal Activity, Cyber Brownshirts, Don't Make Me Puke, Don't Take My Medicare, Donald Trump, Dying Dreams, Elections, Elections Matter, Fuckin' Donald Trump, Good Deed Doers, Hands off My Medicare, Health and Medicine, How the Hell Did We GET HERE?, Huh?, Humor, I Can't Get No, Just Do It and I'll Shut Up!, Kakistocracy, keys to success, Most Embarassing Moments Evah!, Not stealing, Oh shit, Saving the World, Shit Your Pants Scary, Taking Care of Each Other, Trump Legally Declared a Slug, Vote, Voting, Washington, What a Putz, Wild Beasts, WTF?
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