Petition - Stop Dismantling Social Security and Medicare: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Petition - Stop Dismantling Social Security and Medicare: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Social Security has a $2.7 trillion surplus, can pay all benefits owed to all eligible Americans for the next 21 years and, because it is funded independently, has not contributed one penny to the deficit. Bernie Sanders agrees with AARP, the National Coalition to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and virtually all seniors’ organizations that Social Security should not be part of the deficit reduction negotiations.

Surrealism and Reality

Photo: Snow on the mountains in Palm Springs. 

Surreal: having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic.

 This is not the first time I've noticed the surreal quality of our life. 9/11 2001, that was the first time it hit me. We watched the horror going on in New York then we would take a break in the back yard. The serenity of our beautiful yard, our quiet sanctuary from the world, was in such sharp contrast to what was going on New York--it was surreal.

 The same thing has hit me several times since 9/11, but Friday was certainly one of those days. Wednesday we laughed through La Cage aux Folles, Thursday we went to Andy's to enjoy the Windy City Allstars playing their upbeat dixieland as only those pros can. Friday we were charmed by Hansel & Gretel at the Lyric. After the performance they came out and expressed sympathy for all the people affected by the tragedy that had happened that day, the very day we were enjoying the opera. A woman sitting in front of us told us that 20 children in grammar school had been shot along with six of their teachers.

 And suddenly there we were, caught in one of those surreal moments.

 We enjoyed our dinner at the Lyric's Bistro, avoiding the subject for the most part. We knew we'd deal with it when we got home. We watched for hours, cried, tried to figure out why anyone would do such a horrendous thing. And marveled at how surreal it was that we were in this lovely world while this horror was taking place in so many people's lives.

 The truth is that neither is surreal, they are both real. The world of nightmarish horror lives side-by-side with the serenity of lives lived quietly under the radar. It is all real. That is what makes it so hard to understand. How can it be that the world is both horrific and beautiful? I have no answers.

 Enjoy every day--that's the only thing I've managed to come up with that gets me through. It doesn't contain any answers or comfort, but it is the best advice I can give myself. We never know what will happen in the next moment of our lives, so we should enjoy everything we can and savor it. It is all we have.

Imagine -- Thank you, John Lennon

Imagine is one of the most beautiful tunes -- lyrics, music and philosophy. We can all hope ...

Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones, 1981

http://video.pbs.org/video/2310115288/

All you lovers of blues and rock 'n' roll, be sure to see this video made at the Checkerboard Lounge in November 1981. Buddy Guy, Lefty Diz and Junior Wells also joined in. It's a great concert of the music we know and love. I have seen most of these performers live through the years and treasure the memories of those and many other great nights of musical treats.

I think of this as sixties music because that's around when I got introduced to it. I was about 12 or 13 when I started listening to rock--a bit later I got to the blues and folk. I think our generation was so lucky. We had decades of amazing music to become familiar with. Although I wasn't around for the early 1900s, recordings introduced us to everything and everyone.

Someone once said that there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music. That certainly seems true to me. I'm no expert. Good music is what I like. Bad music is what I don't like.

In my twenties I mostly listened to Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, the Doors, the Band, all the Motown groups, Otis Redding, The Velvet Underground and Nico ... the list is way too long to list here. Many careers were cut short and we'll never know where their music would have gone if they had lived or survived the many band breakups.

When the seventies brought punk rock, I felt lonely. But I think I got into Willie Nelson then and some country. The eighties brought the Clash and Eurythmics (Annie Lennox!), Robert Palmer and quite a few others who continued the rock tradition in a direction I understood. Over the last couple of decades jazz (mostly the music recorded before about 1965), classical and opera were added in to the mix.

It seems to me that music is a universal language that crosses all kinds of barriers with ease. People enjoy it without worrying about who else does or doesn't like it. It's worldwide now--the internet and YouTube have connected the world in a way that we couldn't imagine when I was in my twenties and we all hoped for a united world. We roam freely through the world of music using electronic devices that were equally unimaginable back then. We may never have the world peace we also hoped for, but the world has come together in many ways that are good and healthy and who knows, maybe it will be peaceful someday. Until then, we have music--and that's a huge comfort.

http://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/tag/georges-meliese/

Saw two hours of Meliese films today at the Music Box theater. They were incredible. What an imagination this man had! He also acts in them with great energy and everyone looks like they are having a great time. The sets and costumes and special effects ... all outstanding. It's hard to believe he was doing all of this circa 1898-2005. Several were hand colored! See them!

Sorry this is so long. We have had an amazing couple of weeks--and it's not over yet. Everything seems to be happening at once. From now on, I'll try to do this blog as things happen instead of waiting until there are so many things to talk about. (I was hoping photos would come with the links to break up the narrative.)

For the first time this year, we got tickets to some of the annual Humanities Festival programs. BTW, it's still going on, so check it out at: http://www.chicagohumanities.org/Blog/Matti-Bunzl/Fall-2012-America.aspx.

Our first program was John Hodgman, the week before last. It was rainy and cold. As JH said, it was the kind of day you want to curl up with a quilt and watch old movies. But we braved it and went to see him and were so glad we did. He and Peter Sagal from NPR had a wide ranging, totally unorganized conversation that was fun and insightful.

My takeaway was his saying how great it is that now everyone can get their creative stuff out there. It's not like the old days when you had to wait for a publisher or publication to discover you, you can just do it. That resonated with me because that's exactly why I self-published A Sixties Story. I wanted it out there. I didn't want to spend 30 years getting rejected and then die with the unpublished manuscript in the basement gathering dust.

Then during the following week we saw Jeannie Lambert filling in with the Recession Seven (really five that night)--and how lucky was that? They were great. They all know each other and the tunes so well and play with such originality and style. We closed Katerina's that night. Katerina always has great people there, so we know we'll be back. I want to see Bob Dogan for sure.  katerinas.com

Last Sunday we went to the Northlight Theater in Skokie and saw Woody Sez on it's last day of the run. We got there via public transportation in about an hour, so now we know we can go to the theater again. It was a wonderful play that told Woody Guthrie's story and the story of America in the dust bowl and depression years with 25 or so of his songs. There were three other performers with the man who played Woody and they were all talented. It was so nice to hear the old folk songs that we learned about and loved back in the sixties. No one does them any more, at least not that we know of. If anyone knows a place we can go to hear them, please let us know.  http://www.northlight.org/pages/woody_sez/274.php

Wednesday we saw Crossing Paris or Four Bags Full (it has several English titles), which is part of a flim series at the Alliance Francaise. First, can I say that the Alliance Francaise is a beautiful place and the theater is very comfortable and modern. We got there a half hour early and had our free glass of wine sitting on the lovely navy blue velvet couch in the lobby.

The movie was incredibly good (how can you go wrong with Jean Gabin in 1957?). It was set in Nazi occupied Paris and although it was funny in many places, for me there was always an undercurrent of fear because the Nazis could appear at any time. It was thought provoking and there was an interesting discussion afterward. The film series is still going on. The listing is at http://www.afchicago.org/app/Calendar.php

We talked about the film all the way home and tried to find out more about the writer, Marcel Ayme, which wasn't easy. We finally found a good write up on The Neglected Books Page, http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=218, which I didn't even know it existed, so that website got bookmarked.

Somewhere during the week we saw the HBO special on Ethel Kennedy done by her daughter, Rory. Although it's painful to go back to the sixties, watching her story made it worth it. What a remarkable woman. She went through all the sturm and dram of the sixties and the horror of her husband and brother-in-law and others being assassinated and managed to be a wonderful mother to the 11 children she was left to raise. Incredible strength and a positive outlook got her through. But how amazing is it that she didn't fall apart? It's HBO so I assume it will be repeated. See it if you can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAzvDnEyYs

Yesterday we saw Elektra at the Lyric Opera--and it was electric, just like the TV ad says. We were riveted for the whole hour and 45 minutes. I don't have the words to do it justice. The set, costumes, orchestra, music, and the voices--all were perfect. What a piece this is. I'm no expert, but I've never seen anything like it. We want to see it again. We're looking forward to all four of the operas we're going to see this season at the Lyric. This was a spectacular beginning. For more information http://www.lyricopera.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=10689

And then there was Chicago Open House 10/13-16, which I am sorry to say, we missed entirely. It was  rainy and we had other things going on, but next year we want to go. We also didn't have time to catch the Chicago film Festival 10/13-25. Next year ...

This is why we retired in Chicago. We love to travel, but when we're home, there's so much going on all around us--boredom is never an issue. Fortunately most of our friends feel the same way, so we have all of them around us too. To quote the overquoted song, "It's our kind of town."

Wolfgang's Vault

Wolfgang's Vault

This is Bill Graham's amazing collection of sixties and seventies (maybe more decades) memorabilia. After it was purchased, it took 26 40-foot vans to move the collection to its present location!

I recently joined and I've mostly gone to this site to hear rock 'n' roll from that era, but I haven't scratched the surface of what's here. It's a great way to connect with those times. Such great memories it brings up.

Check it out--have fun!

It's getting closer to November so it's politics again

I woke up thinking that I might have a way of explaining why I trust the Democrat's policies more than the Republican's.

It begins with the trickle-down theory of economics that I heard about first under Ronald Reagan, which goes something like this, give rich people and corporations the money in the form of all kinds of tax breaks and contracts and de-regulation, and the money will trickle down and make a strong middle class and bring up those in poverty so they won't need a handout.

By the time Reagan's term was over, he had quadrupled the deficit and created more rich people than ever.

Bill Clinton came along and by the time he was done they had created something like 23 million jobs and the  budget was in good order as was the economy. We had eight years of peace and prosperity despite daily Republican pummeling. 

By the time Bush was done, taxes for the rich were down, de-regulation was up, and yet we were bleeding jobs to the tune of 800,000/month and the debt was at 10 trillion dollars. As under Reagan, the trickle down theory had created  more rich people and Bush made it easier for them to get even richer. But under Bush, the middle class was in tatters.

The deficit caused largely by Bush's two unfunded wars and the cost of the gift to the prescription drug companies of not having to negotiate their rates like other healthcare services do, did not concern the Republicans until Obama was in office. 

That's the Republican way. That's where their economic theories have landed us, more than once. To me it's a no brainer. Republican policies are not good for the US or world economy, much less the middle class. I wouldn't trust them with my budget, much less the country's.

From watching this unfold over the years, I have come to the conclusion that trickle down economics will not help the middle class get back to being strong and make sure it stays that way. Quite the opposite. That experience over many years with Republican policies tells me that Republicans can't manage their way out of a paper bag.

But they are quite good at responding to needs of the rich (who aren't willing to even pay as much taxes as their workers pay), corporations (who send money and jobs overseas and avoid paying taxes) and the military industrial complex, who aren't interested in helping soldiers get a fair deal, but are great at giving huge defense contracts to companies like Blackwater, who rip off the government overtly. 

In keeping with the Republican demand for smaller government, six hundred thousand government workers have been thrown out of work, which Republicans think is good for the economy. I don't. I think my taxes (government spending) should be spent on teachers, fireman, policemen, not on tax breaks for the rich and powerful. I read that if those 600,000 people hadn't been fired, the unemployment rate would be about 7.3%, not to mention that many of those govt workers would be adding to the tax revenues, paying their mortgages and leading good middle class lives. 

I do blame the Republican policies for the bad economy because of their 16 years experience running it. It has been a  disaster for the middle class. I support the Democratic policies because they have worked better for the middle class and I believe when the middle class is doing well, the whole country does better. Businesses can expand because they have someone to sell products to. If incentives were given to companies to keep jobs in the country (a Democratic idea) I believe we would have more jobs here.

Under Obama, 4 million jobs have been added over some 29 months. The economy is headed in the right direction. Jobs are being added, not subtracted. Students are better off with the Pell grants being doubled and the removal of the middle man (the banks, who predictably were making out like bandits with Bush policies) in the loan process. Veterans programs have been greatly enhanced--their education and healthcare programs are better than under Bush and 150,000 private sector jobs have been created for vets--the auto companies are thriving--and there have been 16 tax breaks given to small companies--I applaud that. 

This administration's policies are working better to improve the economy than Bush's administration's policies, which brought the country and the world to its knees.

And I support Obamacare. Ironically, it is based largely on Romneycare in Massachusetts, which has been and is working. No one is required to change their health insurance if they are happy with it. Obamacare's goal is to help make processing more efficient (there are NO death panels) and give Americans fairer health insurance practices. To alleviate the pain of a mandate, it creates exchanges which give people a shot at buying more affordable insurance and tax breaks for buying it. 

It's comical that the one thing Romney did well for Massachusetts, create a healthcare plan that is working so well (including mandates, which Romney recommended that Obama put in place) that Obamacare is based on it--and Romney dare not talk about it--his greatest success in government. 

The economy under Obama is showing positive signs and it's happening because of the policies Democrats have put forward and despite the fact that they have been fought at every turn by the Republicans spouting their tired, failed rhetoric.

Republicans have blocked every bill that would keep things going and make them better, even bills that some of them co-authored. Their hypocrisy and out and out lies, not to mention their failed policies, turn me off. 

So, all of that experience informs my decision.  Simply put, I have seen the trickle down theory in action twice and I don't think it works for anyone but rich people and corporations. I trust the Democrats more with the economy because the economy has done better under them in ways I value. 

Going forward--I'm waiting to see if Romney and the Republicans can convince me otherwise. But they have a hard row to hoe. I'm old enough to know better.

'nuf said! 

A Tale of Two Conventions ...

The conventions brought two weeks of focus on the election in November. I was not surprised that the Republican Convention made me want to kick in the television. I was amazed at how easily and fully they lied. But the Democrats! Wow! For twenty years, maybe more, I've been hoping they would say out loud and proud what we believe in. And they finally did it. Better than I ever dreamed they would.

I watched the Dems on CSPAN because I wanted to see the whole convention without commentary. (I taped the commentary on PBS and MSNBC so I could see it later.) Whoever put together the lineup of speakers and films from 5pm on every day on was really smart and knew the people and issues well. So many people gave inspiring speeches. I wasn't bored by any of them. I was so proud to be a liberal (progressive?) Democrat.

I've been emailing with a friend who is a conservative and after a few weeks of back and forth, I realized that we had both said our piece about our 'vision' for the US, and neither of us believed the other's sources, so we couldn't really exchange any information or change each other's mind. We called off the political discussion. Sadly, we are a microcosm of the fifty-fifty split in the country and the stalemate in Congress.

I was so glad to hear that the NY Times says if Obama can get out the vote fully, he will win--and that Google searches for the register-to-vote.org website doubled after Obama's speech.

We are released from our hibernation from the heat at last! We went to Millennium Park last night for the Lyric Opera's performance. It was a beautiful night filled with great music and Chicago's amazing skyline along with the changing colors of the bandshell.

Chicago is such a great city! We are lucky to be here. ENJOY!

Here's the register to vote URL:   http://registertovote.org/index.html

And here's the NY Times article on how Obama could win if he gets out the vote:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/obama-would-be-big-favorite-with-fired-up-base/

Wow. These photos put ours to shame. What incredible sites there are to see in this world. The photo below is of a place I've wanted to see for many years.

Source: ourbrighteyes.tumblr.com via Toni on Pinterest

What a Wonderful World --David Attenborough BBC

I just loved this.

Just a reminder that I'm looking forward to speaking about A Sixties Story at the Lifelong Learning Institute's Lunch 'n' Learn on Wednesday, May 30. Here's some info:

Lunch starts about 11:45am. The lunch is in Room 464 at 5202 Old Orchard Road. Parking is free.

Here are directions:
If you're taking Edens expressway -- get off at Old Orchard Road and then turn right if you're coming from the north and left if you're coming from the south to get to the building.  You take the first right west of the expressway and then follow it to the 2nd building which is 5202. There is usually parking right outside but there is also a garage.  Signage is bad but you can definitely see the two buildings --- the building is just the furthest north and east.

Hope to see you there! It would be great to see some friends in the audience.

We're back ... traveling in Russia was amazing ...

Add caption

We are doing a blog of the trip--we have most of it done. The wordpress blog is at:

http://martinsonline.wordpress.com/2012/05/

There are more photos (and more to come later) at:

http://lelandstudio.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/2012-Viking-cruise-to-Russia/C0000TgsaU8rGDqU

Joe Maltese--a dear friend to so many of us

Joe's Sun-Times obituary


Joe Maltese was one of those larger-than-life men who was filled with joy and stories and kindness. Whenever we came into Andy's, there he was, always greeting us with a smile. No evening was complete without talking with him. He could talk on any subject and always be interesting. We will forever treasure the memory of the night were lucky enough to have dinner at the Maltese's. They made a great feast for us and Joe wove the story of his life in Chicago into it. We were blessed to know both Joe and Mimi. Our hearts go out to you Mimi. We will miss you, Joe, but hold you close in our hearts always.

Some thoughts on retirement, politics and creativity

I just read an interesting New Yorker short story ("Hand on Shoulder") and an insightful blog (click here to read the blog) by Ian McEwan. Smart man. Good writer. The blog has an interesting take on freedom and the situation in Israel with the Palestinians--one of the many conundrums of our times.

As I was reading his blog, it struck me as amazing that we can exist successfully in such difficult times, fraught with anger and religious wars, greed, corruption, and all manner of cruelty and stupidity. I'm not as steeped in the news or commentary as I used to be--even when I agree with the point of view, it's hard to deal with the utter craziness--but we can never be far enough away from politics. Outrages seep in every day on my emailed newsletters and TV and in conversation.

If you let it, craziness can permeate every level of life and really bring you down. So we try not to let it. We are the lucky ones who manage to create a livable space that provides us with sanctuary from all of it. We noticed it most starkly on 9/11, when we went from watching the world of horror on TV to soaking up the world of peace in our back yard. It was surreal that in minutes we could change locations and change the world.

Retired is the happiest I have ever been. Our sanctuary provides us with time to do as we please for the most part. The day-to-day To Dos can be managed or put off because tomorrow won't be taken up by the draining insanity of worrying about working for crazy people and doing their "stuff." Now our world is filled with being in touch with friends and writing and traveling and relaxing and bike riding and lunching and going to concerts and art galleries. And we are too busy. How does that happen--that you're busier when you're retired?

We've moved on in our creative life, expanded from writing to taking photos and videos, and I'm really enjoying it. Photography is an old love that I let go dormant during the work years. They come together in travel writing, which I'm to get better at doing. I still have that fiction novel in the back of my mind, and several photo books as well.

Seems impossible, but in the midst of all of it, here I am, in my sanctuary, doing my thing.

Spring came early this year ... and it's beautiful!

Is rock 'n' roll back or have we just been missing it?

Neon Trees--Everybody Talks

We were watching one of the talk shows last night and saw this group singing this song. We really liked it, which was great because it's been a while since we liked a rock group. There were a lot of good groups in the 80s--The Clash, Robert Palmer, The Eurythmics--but there haven't been many since rap came around and dominated the music world. The old stuff is great, but we really liked hearing a group playing 2012 rock 'n' roll.

thoughts on social networking and being in touch

On this day last year in the late afternoon, we were in the Toronto airport waiting for our Air Canada flight to Rome. It doesn't seem possible that it was just a year ago that we started on that six-week adventure through Europe. Every day for the next six weeks will be marked with the memories of that trip. It'll be 'today we were in ... ' every day. No worries, I don't think I'll post every day, but it will be on my mind.

Lately I've been posting to FB regularly and sending emails to friends. I like keeping in touch, even if it's just reaching out to friends and not being sure they'll care. It's kind of like reading the paper when you're with someone and calling out articles to each other or, of course, just sitting an yakking about life in general. I like it when people respond. The surprise of who reacts and how is fun. 

We live in such a big world. Thanks to social networking, we are not only surrounded by a big world, we have a big world ourselves. We have friends visiting and living in many places around the world and the country, some that we haven't seen for years. And yet, we can keep in touch. 

None of it is as personal as face-to-face because who wants to risk the world knowing our personal stuff? But it's at least small talk and a way to make contact--to affirm that we are all still here. In touch--even the phrase suggests the familiarity of touching. 

Blogging seems to me to be like letter writing was when long-distance calling was expensive and there was no internet. It amazes me that there are millions of people who can't imagine life without the internet or cell phones or even remote controls. I was in my forties before I had my first Mac. I think there were Wang word processing systems at work for while before that. And that world wasn't primitive to us. It was our modern world.

Here's a photo of me in the airport after our February trip to southern California. We had such a good time there, except the two days we were sick. We were with friends face-to-face--and there's nothing better than that. 

So here's to being in touch, no matter how you do it.

I'll be speaking May 30--please come if you can!

I've been invited to speak on about A Sixties Story by the Lifelong Learning Institute. I'm really excited. It's open to the public and I sure would like to see some friendly faces in the audience. So if you can make it, please do! Here's the information:

May 30    11:45-12:45PM
The Lifelong Learning Institute at National Louis University
5202 Old Orchard Road - Room 464
Skokie, IL
For more information, call Joan Marks at 224/233-2366.


Click here for the link to the Lifelong Learning Institute

Celebrate! It's spring, at least for now ...

Bought purple and yellow pansies and a yellow primrose a couple of days ago. Uncovered the patio furniture and set out some chairs. We've eaten outside almost every night this week. I'm wondering if we somehow went back to California, where it was sunny and beautiful every single day.

And I want to say what a great time we had celebrating PJ's birthday. A whole day of celebration starting with the 95th then a walk on the Magnificent Mile with stops at the Apple store and Crate and Barrel and a photo op with PJ and Marilyn Monroe. Then on to Andy's, Callahan's and Howl at the Moon. We partied!! So much fun--I felt 22!

Happy Spring!

This should get you in the mood for spring.

We Blue Staters Provide for Red Staters--who hate us--what kind of fools are we?

Read this story, Blue States Provide. Red States are Parasites.

Have I got this right? Red states are fighting for lower taxes, yet they get more money back for their taxes than blue states, which means they get blue state tax money to supplement their red state tax money. If they don't want blue state tax money, why are we fighting to give it to them? They hate us for it.

What a crazy woild we live in. Sometimes I wish Lincoln had let the south secede and offered sanctuary and 40 acres and a mule to all African-Americans. The America envisioned by red state people would have mandatory Christian church-going, no public schools, no unemployment insurance or aid to indigent people, no government supported highways, police, firemen, no social security, no medicare or medicaid, no unions ... and that's the short list.

YIKES. If that's the world they want, why are we fighting to pay our hard-earned blue state money to keep them from it? They hate us for wanting all the things we provide them with our blue state supplement. We goody two-shoes blue staters need to think this through.

Just imagine, if we didn't have to support the red states with our tax money, we could keep disbursing our blue state tax money in the blue states and have the secular America we want--with good schools and a strong infrastructure and union wages and a great safety net ... the list goes on.

If they don't want higher taxes or government in their lives, is there any way we can let them go their own way and save our hard-earned blue state tax money for blue states?

Liberals rock--JFK quote that says it all

If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."—JFK

Self-Published Book Awards | WritersDigest.com

Self-Published Book Awards | WritersDigest.com

I just entered A Sixties Story in this contest for the second time.

It didn't win the first time I entered, but I just received these comments from one of the contest judges:

What did you like best about this book?

Say "Chicago" and "1968" and, if you were alive then, you'll think of the "police riot" that went on during the Democratic convention. Apicelli brings considerable insight into her description of that event, including Mayor Daley's order to kill rioters and maim or cripple looters. I was old enough to watch the Chicago events on television and I remember hoping I never, ever, saw anything like that again. She did a wonderful job with this coverage, and I felt personally grateful to the "angel" woman who offered to take the scared kids out in her car. I've known a great deal about this event, but Toni made it personal and offered new events.

How can the author improve this book?

Although tie-dye is a perfect symbol of the sixties, the dark background makes the cover look more like a target, which I thought at first it was! (Or maybe that's appropriate for the Chicago event.) Self-publishing is expensive, so recalling all those books and changing the cover might not be practical. I hope that if it goes into reprint she'll color that cover.

For a good laugh, you gotta see this!

A solution for Social Security--LOL!!

Tales of the City--Armistead Maupin is the best

http://www.armisteadmaupin.com/BooksMTL.html

This weekend I read the last two books in the Tales of the City series. If you were lucky enough to catch the TV series 20 years ago, it'll be fun for you to read Michael Tolliver Lives and Mary Ann in Autumn. If you didn't, I think the books stand alone. Maupin can really tell a story and he catches you up as it unfolds. I read a hard copy of Michael Tolliver Lives in the morning. Luckily I was able to check Mary Ann in Autumn out of the library for my Sony Reader and read that in the afternoon. No waiting. It was a fun day.

We watched the Republican debate on Saturday night. Not much new there, but we caught up on Romney's stump speech. He was the one who took up most of the time. I'm glad we're not in a dogfight for the nomination this time around. I remember the Clinton/Obama race all to well.

Tonight we go to see The Magic Flute. I'm so looking forward to it. The Lyric always does a beautiful job and I've never seen it.

So it's a new year.  Enjoy!!