Apologizing for Existing

From the raw, wise, and always wonderful Katie Riegel, another tender admission of vulnerability.

“When we feel like a burden on our loved ones, the comic recommends, we should thank them for their love and support rather than apologizing.

This recommendation is both lovely and smart. Words matter. Practicing gratitude has been linked to greater happiness and other benefits. And being acknowledged for their own wonderful selves gives our friends and loved ones more strength and energy to continue to support us. ‘Thank you’ creates a positivity loop.”

 

Source: Apologizing for Existing

Herstory: Giving Special Attention to the Experiences of Women

Feature: It Is Never Too Late To Feel Beautiful, or To Be Courageous

“You are never too old to try something daring; you are never too young to be inspired to take those steps you’ve been afraid to take.”

Click on “Tracey’s personal statement” to cast a vote for her.  (I don’t know Tracey, but I am inspired by her!)

Laissez Faire

It can be really hard thing to take a risk and put yourself out there.    There is always possibility that the  naysayers are right, or that the little voice in your head gets to say, “I told you so.”    There come a point where life has had too many “I wish I hads” and you just have had enough of being afraid.

My cousin Tracey is participating in the EM Mag Spring Cover shoot on ExploreModeling.com and I want to help her get more support!  Visit her profile and you can choose to  like, share, and to vote for her and give the other contestants a good showing (you can vote up to twenty times every day until the end of the contest).

Be inspired!

Tracey’s personal statement:   I am a 51 year old floral designer. For most of my life I’ve been someone’s daughter, wife, mother, employee. A…

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How To Stay Up Late: A New Year’s Guide for the Tired, the Faded, and the Jaded

How To Stay Up Late: A New Year’s Guide for the Tired, the Faded, and the Jaded.

Writers I Want To Kiss on the Face(book)

Karissa Morton’s blog on how we should support one another hits home with me. She writes:
It doesn’t take much to open someone’s link & read a poem he or she is proud of. It takes even less to click “like” or make a congratulatory comment, to metaphorically say, “Hey, I see your achievement in this tough, competitive world!” If we’re really a community, let’s engage like one.

Be True to Your Sisters

Be True to Your Sisters, reblogged from The Gloria Sirens.

 

I grew to realize that I could make friends with the smart girls, the pretty girls, and the girls who weren’t remarkable for either of those things but for other things I saw and appreciated in them.  I realized that I could be friends with women who didn’t share my political or religious views and that, perhaps, friendships that bridged those spans were even more valuable for the differences they overcame.

My Psycho Valentine

If you’re already grateful for your Valentine, you’ll be much more grateful after you read what happened to my friend Julia Connolly on the night before Valentine’s Day, 1974.  Feel free to share, repost, reblog, and print out and mail to your daughter/niece/granddaughter.

Why I Want to Get Croned

I just have to say how much I am looking forward to getting Croned now. Thank you, Lisa. A badge of honor is what it is. Turning the mischaracterization of female age on its head is turning the tables, regaining the power. I’m all for that.

Living Life to the Max

MAXINE KUMIN, 1925-2014

Seven Poets Laureate in Washington, Oct. 2010: Mark Strand, Charles Simic,         Kay Ryan, Maxine Kumin, Daniel Hoffman, Rita Dove, Billy Collins

Maxine Kumin relished her role as the first politically active female Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, the position now known as Poet Laureate.  She was the last laureate to move to Washington, yet she was there only one year; her outspokenness and political activism were probably the reason she was not asked by then Librarian of Congress, Daniel J. Boorstin, to stay for a second year as is the custom.  Equestrian, gardener, scholar, professor, critic, novelist, essayist, memoirist, author of children’s books, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and activist for women writers, human and political justice and animal rights, Maxine boldly jumped the fences built around women and showed us what a woman untethered can do. Married to chemist and engineer Victor Kumin, who helped invent the Atomic Bomb (and who later refused to continue his work after the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki) for nearly 68 years and the mother of three, Maxine proved with the fiery determination with which she lived her life that, yes, a woman can have it all.

More on MAXINE KUMIN’s year in Washington.