Words from the Heart

My Brother, Barry and I at Duxbury Beach 1959 The Beach, Parades and Hoodsies A recent visit to my cousin's home created an avalanche of childhood memories.  We laughed ourselves silly, remembering our antics together and with our other cousins.  As I reminisced, later, I realized that there are recurring themes in my memories.  The beach, parades and Hoodsies all hold a prominent place in the slide show of my formative years. The beach was just three blocks from my home growing up.  I swam before I could hardly walk!  Some of my happiest times were playing in the sand at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston.   The Bathhouse was built thanks to James Michael Curley , Mayor of Boston, back in the day and was divided into three sections - the boys', men's and women's bathhouses. My mother, one of the first women life guards in Boston on a public beach, took us to the "L", as it was fondly called, almost every day in the summer. ...

Today, I am honored to have author, Helga Zeiner , as a guest blogger.  She will be sharing with us the story behind her new novel, Section 132.  In her book, Helga deals with issues that are often avoided, disguised or ignored.  She brings her readers face-to-face with some of the awful realities of fundamentalism.  While her book is fiction, Helga has done extensive research into the topics it addresses.   As she will discuss later, her book deals with children being forced into polygamous marriages by fundamentalists sects, such as FLDS.  Please note that the mainstream Mormon Church (also known as the Church of the Later Day Saints) renounced the practice of polygamy in 1890.   Section 132 is the title of my latest novel. This refers to the part of the fundamentalist Mormon (FLDS) Doctrine and Covenants, which covers the "Principle of plural marriage." Behind this flowery description hides a life-style that is forced upon millions ...

Several months ago, I came across a video by Taylor Mali, a teacher who answered the question, "What do you make?" with eloquence and finesse. I shared the video with my soul sister, Eliza Fayle .  She was so inspired by it, that she began putting together a book of women who make a difference.   Yesterday, in an email, I received a copy of her second edition of Women Who Make a Difference .  Surprise!  There I was, along with seven other amazing, talented and wonderful women.  Let me tell you a little about Eliza.  She is a dynamo when it comes to affirming and supporting women.  Here website, Silver and Grace gives women over 40 a variety of topics to ponder - everything from what to wear in the summer to great reads and dealing with aging parents.  Eliza is a no holds barred type of woman.  She looks at, ponders and discusses everything from breast cancer to vaginal creams.  She does it with humor, yet, she gives so...

Immigrants just arrived from Foreign Countries--Immigrant Building, Ellis Island, New York Harbor. (Half of a stereo card) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I have been working for the past few days on my family's genealogy.  I am amazed at how much information we can access online as well as how far back we can go with that information.  After years of trying to piece things together, I am finally filling in the blanks on who my family is. The sad thing about all this is that I have come to realize that I have cousins I have never met, aunts and uncles that never saw me before they left this reality and grandparents whose lives are a total mystery to me.  For many and varied reasons, my family was not always the closest, especially on my Dad's side. The wonderful thing about all this is that I have found my father's ancestors (at least I believe I have) and they go back to Baden, Germany and Ireland.  On my mother's side, my paternal grandparents are a mystery ...

National Poetry Month Display @ Forest Hills (Photo credit: mySAPL ) A week has past since my last Poem-A-Day prompt from Robert Lee Brewer at the Poetic Asides blog .  I must admit, I am having trouble coping with the lack of a prompt each morning!  I know it sounds silly, but, for whatever reason, I became addicted to getting up early, rushing to my computer and forcing my braincells to function.   If you are not familiar with the Poem-A-Day challenge, it happens in April and November.  Each day, Robert expertly offers a prompt and his own poetic attempt. (A good leader always gets into the trenches with their troops!) Some days, the prompt is so easy - like it had been waiting there just for me.  Other days, I sit staring at the computer screen wondering what Robert was thinking when he came up with the prompt in the first place. Interestingly, I have always managed to write something.  Grant it, there are times when I wish I could ...