I was ignorant about most of Puerto Rico – U.S. history until a smart woman I know planted the words “spoils of war” in my ear, and off I went. These brief points of fact should be known by all. Read them here, at The Gloria Sirens and share far and wide.
My friend Julia Connolly on the subject of sisterhood. Let’s hear it for my sistah!
“I’d learned myself by the age of sixteen that just as girls guarded their virginity, boys guarded something less tangible which they called Themselves. They seemed to believe they had a mission in life, from which they could easily be deflected by being exposed to too much emotion.”
Susan Lilley guest blogs for “The Drunken Odyssey” from Key West.
In Boozo Veritas #29
Writers in the Festival Mode
I am honored to welcome the brilliant and amazing poet Susan Lilley as guest blogger for this week’s In Boozo Veritas. While I’m braving the ice and snow up north in Indiana, she is down south in Key West no doubt having a remarkably different experience.
—Teege Braune
Special dispatch from Key West, Florida February, 2014
Writers know better than to make a no-alcohol resolution on New Year’s Day. After all, the doldrums of January signal the beginning of literary festival season! Actually, it’s always lit fest season, but the period of January through March seems to have more than its share of workshops, residencies, seminars, and confabs of all kinds. As one who just survived a glorious week at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, I can say with certainty that, if you imbibe at all regularly, there is absolutely…
View original post 1,025 more words
by Suzannah Gilman
A commercial shown last night during the Olympics made me sad. Children were shown riding the public bus and in other public places as well on the sofa at home, all saying “My mom got her degree right here… and here… and here.” It’s a commercial for a distance learning bachelor’s program. The children proudly said, “It’s an accomplishment.” Well, it’s certainly something to have a piece of paper that says you went to college, even if you were never physically present in a classroom.
I thought of my own children and how proud they are of me for graduating from college. I went to Rollins College full time, on academic scholarship, and finished my last three years while serving my school (volunteering and as VP of the English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta) and my children’s school (PTA board member, classroom volunteer) and being a Cub Scout Den Leader and a member of the Pack Committee as well as assistant leader for my daughter’s Brownie troop. I drove my kids to school, made their lunches, chaperoned their field trips (including a 5th grade trip to Washington, D.C. while I was studying for mid-term exams), and even found time to exercise. How could distance learning be necessary if it’s possible to be present and functioning in all of these places in all of these ways?
I wouldn’t trade my classroom experience at Rollins for anything. It’s where I got my second positive self-identity in my life (my first: as mother), where I became empowered, where I made friends I will always keep, and where I gained the confidence to apply to law school. I went to the highest-ranked law school in the state, feeling like I was standing on top of the highest mountain.
This girl from a single-parent family who grew up on food stamps and free lunches and never went to high school could not have made this quantum leap if I’d “gone to school” on a bus.
This poem by Tom Wayman, “Did I Miss Anything?” speaks to the importance of the classroom experience. Don’t miss out on it.
Classroom in Orlando Hall, photo by Rollins College
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.
I did something I never thought I’d do, and I wrote about it on The Gloria Sirens.
The last thing I thought I would ever do is get romantically entangled with a man 25 years older than me. But here I am. Here we are. I used to think of it as “sick” when I saw couples like us together. I’m sure I said that word. I’m sure there are those who’ve said it of us.
Read the rest here.
Her Hipness, Susan Lilley, on watching The Beatles on “an altar-sized hunk of furniture,” her family’s television, 50 years ago today.
Read her full post on The Gloria Sirens here: YEAH YEAH YEAH.
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.
I just have to say... 