The Social Porcupine

I have a question for you: "If you lived in Germany during the Third Reich, would you have been one of those that stood by silent as Jews were dragged away from their homes? Would have refused to believe that Jews and many others were being killed and treated inhumanly at several large concentration camps scattered throughout your home country?" Before I answer this question for myself, I want to take a break and share a story from my siblings and me.  When my Dad was in the hospitable last year for a month, my mom spent all of that time with him, I was mostly in charge of my ten younger siblings. The few just under me in age were able to take care of themselves and help out with the younger ones, too, but as the oldest one I ended up dealing with most of the messy, stressful situations that arose.  Such as making sure my younger siblings did their chores and school and not spend every moment watching movies or playing video games. The only problem was dur...

"Well, I knew it would happen one day ..." "Keturah has gone and lost her nerve. Or passion. Or mind. Or, possibly, ALL." "NO.  we've lost Keturah." "NO MORE POLITICS? EVER ? How can you live with yourself?" "Whew! I'm relieved." "You're relieved? But politics are people just as breathing is life." "C'mon. Who cares. I always knew she'd cave in and stop writing those silly posts ..." "Eh. Politics are boring. I'd rather not think about what might or might not happen. Yeah, I know. People die when they stop thinking. But at least they can live a few short stress-free moments." "FINALLY!" "So proud of you for shutting up." "Seriously? It took you this long to wake up?" "Please, wake up. We love your politics." "Shh. She's already too egotistical." "Hmm? I didn't say I liked her ... just her post...

I haven't shared anything about the wall online. Not because I've been hesitant to stir up controversy—those that have followed my blog for very long know that I love to discuss the untalkable subjects half the world fears to think about — but because I've been very unsettled in my own thoughts concerning the wall. And even after much thought and study, I'm still not completely sure what I think. But I think I am finally ready to share what I am currently thinking. I just ask one thing, all my friends (trolls, too). Please read to the end before commenting. And please bear with me. I will try to share cautiously so as not to needlessly offend anyone, and I ask that no-one look for offense where it's not intended, which I do not intend ever.  Most of my Trump Wall  "research" I have heard through podcasts or my Dad. I've tried to listen to a variety of opinions, but most of my media intake has been pro-wall. Pro-wall: Louder With Crowder ,...

We writers love words. Many of us love speaking these words aloud almost as much if not more than writing. That's because we have opinions - opinions we believe ought to be shared. Even to the point of friendly   discussion unless that's impossible because someone completely stupid won't understand . But sometimes we opinionated verbalists take a moment and realize we need to fuel our minds and stabilize our opinions with facts.   That's why, occasionally, we choose to listen . lis·ten ˈlis(ə)n verb 1. give one's attention to a sound. synonyms: hear , pay attention, be attentive,  attend ,  concentrate noun 1. an act of listening to something.                                                                       ...

I was first introduced to Ender's Game through the movie  at my friend, Mary's place. It's hard to not fall in love with the plot. It's combined emotions and facts into this perfect mush of confusion. What would you have done? How would you have felt? What was really right? I loved the movie even as I hated it for so many reasons. Because I understood the " bad guys". They did they right thing. They weren't really bad. They were thinking long term: "Save the world, prevent the Formics from every trying to destroy Earth again." So I understand a lot of people have told me that the movie wasn't nearly as good as the books. So I may not have as full of an understanding of the Formics as I could. But here are my thoughts about the movie and the Ender's Shadow audio books. Though one blogger  did say she preferred the movie for various reasons, one being there was less inappropriate content in the movie. Also, be warned, I'm not...

While cleaning awhile back the thoughts in this meme stumbled into my mind. And so I posted them on fb. I was slightly surprised at the variety of responses I received. A strong Christian woman who is active in knowing what's happening around her agreed . A bisexual Liberal agreed . A wife of a military man agreed.  A few other people agreed.  But many, many, many Christian authors disagreed .  The people with voices were the ones that said, "No, politics don't matter. And sharing our opinion doesn't help." "Then . . . why do you write???" I'm starting to realize is politics is a very distracting word. To many it means FIGHTING ANGRILY AND FORCIBLY OVER THINGS THAT DON'T REALLY MATTER. But that's not real politics. Politics is the all the little things that connect citizens and a country together as a whole unit. Politics is the science behind the laws, the beliefs behind the government, the culture of our environment...

New Hair I know we should go, my daughter and I. But I can’t manage to make myself move. The scissors in my hand clang to the floor. What have I done? They’re expecting us, my family. But wait until they see me. Linnie knocks on my bedroom door, but she doesn’t wait for me to answer. She rushes in. “Mom, we’re late-“ her words change. “Your hair.” I laugh. “Yes, Linnie. My hair.” “It’s on the floor.” her words shatter me. I forget about being strong and not scaring her. I start sobbing, pulling at the hair that remains on my head. For so long I loved my hair... it was my pride. I kept it long, healthy, beautiful. Now it falls through my clothes, itching my skin. It clings to the carpet floor. It’s all gone. Linnie doesn’t freak. She’s too mature for a child. She gives me a quick hug. “We need to go.” Somehow she drags me to the car. She fastens my seatbelt. “It’s OK, Mom. Just drive. I’ll tell you when to turn.” I don’t pay attention to the speedometer or...

Hello, people! My blog shows I've been active (thanks to scheduled posts) but to be honest I've been very quiet on the blogging world all of April. And that's because I've been gone! Kinda... I went to help my friend after the birth of her new baby, Elizabeth, for a month.  Basically, I was her live-in slave for one month. ;D Cook, clean, help with little girls. Give her  conversation. I've been keeping up with rewrites for  A Series of Thoughts , but besides that it was life with my friend! FANTASTIC LIFE.  Here's a glimpse of what life was...  Flying to Kentucky!  I fly a lot. But I hate it.  The flying part isn't so bad. But security hates me.  They literally always have to pat down my left ankle!   Almost  always. This time around was no exception. And running to my connecting flight makes stress have the time of my life. HAHA. Stress and I are thriving buddies, though. So no big deal. This time I...