The best feminist book is Women Who Run With the Wolves, a complete archetypal Jungian dissertation, which you can study and takes notes in, as well as reading as a group. Dr. Pinkola brings the traditions of medicine woman from South American tradition together with Jung, the shadow, and the fairy tales that have deeper meaning.
Another good feminist book is Loving Him Without Losing You. This PhD. writer talks about how women live so much in fantasy, and not really noting reality.
I think to call oneself a feminist is one thing, but truly living it and learning what it means is another. Many female authors are feminists as well, such as Elizabeth Berg, Joyce Carol Oates, and others.
It is hard for women today. We want to be in relationships with men, but often they do not work out, and not to harm anyone, we have to move on and take our power back just to survive. We do not want to lose ourselves.
I may be too far from a dreamer, but even though I have been married, had kids, and had long term relationships, part of me thinks no one has been in love with me. I really do not know. I know that I thought, at one time or another, that I was in love, myself, but I do not even know now if I really was.
Now I almost have an aversion to men. I get turned off by them really fast, and I cannot bare wasting time with anyone, knowing full well they are not for me, that I am not for them. It is not anything against men in general. I mean I have sons. I just get bad feelings sometimes about the men who approach me. It could just be jadedness or caution, but I have learned to ward off red flags, and I will not 'rush in,' ever, after the experiences I have had. Once you have had your life demolished and had to pick up the broken pieces of your finances, your kids, yourself, it gets harder and harder to want anyone, or to even say yes - ever. I am not wrong in this, but I am not saying it is good. It just is what it is.
At this point, I think I am just okay with me.
In the ecosystem, we have a food chain, and every species, insect, reptile, mammal, plant even, has a purpose, in it. Here in the south, we do not have a lot of snow, the southeast that is, but we have the brown recluse spider, and we have copperheads and water moccasins or cotton mouth snakes, but mostly in wooded areas, fresh water for the moccasins, woodpiles, old sheds, shoes left outside for the brown recluse, which has a flesh eating venom which is serious.
However, out on my front deck, out of the way of human traffic, there is a big spider web and a big spider on it, very cartoonish, so clear is it, under the light of the outdoor lighting.
I was worried, because of horror stories I heard about the brown recluse, and the flesh rotting away from its bite from the inside out, so I started doing research on spiders, to try to assess what to do, and what type of spider it was.
From my research, the brown recluse has un-spiraled or smooth, spineless legs, and it has a violin pattern on its head, and only six eyes, verses eight, however I cannot see well enough to see any of that, and who wants to get that close? Kind of dangerous. But, I did compare it to some pictures I found on line, and I was pretty sure it was not a brown recluse, because of the right out in the openness of its very distinct web. They say the brown recluse only builds small out of the way webs, and would not be hanging around like the spider in Charlotte's Web. My son likes this spider. It eats moths and mosquitos, and hopefully roaches, which I hate, and it is not bothering anyone. Still, I worry. I realize that most spiders cannot bite at all, so there is little to worry about. There are spiders that look similar to the brown recluse, such as the wolf spider and others, but I have not been able to see well enough to see exactly what spider type this is.
One spider which is also notorious for its poisonous bite, is the black widow, which contrary to myth, rarely really eats its mate, the female that is. Note I said 'rarely.' This spider is black with a distinct red marking on its back.
If you do not want a spider or it is in the way, and you do not want to murder it, in case it is not a menacing one, you can take a jar and a piece of crisp paper or cardboard to capture and place it elsewhere. However, this is not so easy for everyone, mainly me, because of my slight fear of spiders, and liking them from afar. I truthfully kill spiders I find indoors, to be on the safe side, just squash them, rather than dousing with bug spray to induce a slow and painful death. I would not even like doing that to a roach, at least not seeing it.
If you love spiders, and you have found a web like mine, a 'Charlotte's web' kind of web, you can feed your cute spider, by throwing small insects into the web, such as a beetle, an ant, a roach, a moth, hopefully dead.
Just to end, back to snakes, I once completely freaked out when a big corn snake went under my trailer. I had cats then, and I was trying to throw the recycling bin over it, to capture it, and the cats just sat and stared at it like wimps, because normally cats kill even the most poisonous snakes. I did not know at the time it was a nonpoisonous snake, and thought it was a coral snake or worse. The Mexicans across the street heard me screaming, but I do not know if they knew what I was screaming at, and I do not know the Spanish word for snake. They probably just thought I was having an emotional nervous breakdown, like my boyfriend left me or something, lol. I called a snake specialist, and he charged me fifty dollars for going under to find it, and all through. He never found it, but he showed me a picture of a snake that looked just as it had. I said, "yes, yes, that's it." It was a harmless corn snake. Still, I had a hole near my bed which was right above the place outside where it had gone under the mobile home, so you can see my concern.
I think that spiders are fascinating creatures, but beware of the brown recluse and the black widow.
We live in a world of materialistic values. I have had friends who were extremely materialistic. I still do. If I were to subscribe to their values, however, I would be screwed.
I admit that I would love to have a more beautiful house. I only had a beautiful house for two years, aside from the modest, but lovely home, I grew up in. Some people, however, like a friend of mine, only get to have a child for two years. My friend's child died. It is obvious what is more important.
Still, we weigh and value people by what they own, drive, live in. We even gage their intelligence on this, because had they been stupid, would they not have made choices as bad as mine? Truthfully, I have known people who were poor, but highly intelligent, so that is not the case. You cannot take your 'shit' with you when you die. It won't fit in your ivory coffin. So, realize that even if you want to keep up with the Jones's, it is not worth it. Do not compromise oneself for others' beliefs. If you are comfortable or not, remember that all the wealth in the world, cannot necessarily bring more than glamour. Perhaps, with Hollywood and everything else, glamour is what we are driven by. It is only lies we tell ourselves that make us unhappy.
I think I would miss the convenience and ethnic diversity of my neighborhood, as well as the true richness of life, if I were to move to a fancy dwelling. Happiness does not lie in the ivory towers of the mind.
The title is actually something that Einstein said, but I think it is true. I have to take my hat off to Jodi Picoult for The Storyteller, a story of a young woman whose grandmother is a holocaust survivor, and she meets a man in his nineties, who claims to be a former S.S. officer, a Nazi. He wants Sage to kill him, but she gets in touch with the F.B.I. and Leo Stein, an agent specializing in this area, goes to visit her grandmother with her, because she is the only one who could possibly truly identify him, in case he was lying, for whatever reason. The grandmother, Minka, has never talked about the camps, ever, but tells her story, which is horrific.
There has never in history been anything as horribly strange as the holocaust. I know that people have been persecuted many times over, such as slavery, genocide in Africa, the twin towers, the native Americans, but I do not know if people realize that the Jews have never been given a public apology by Germany. And, I realize others have not had that either. I also hate it when Meher Baba followers try to make up pat answers, and claim that Meher Baba said this or that. I really do not care about that, or care to hear it. I do not like A Course in Miracles interpretation either.
When you really think, nothing is as insane as rounding up Jews and at first taking their homes away, and sending them to ghettos, and then putting strict rules on them, like not walking on the sidewalk, wearing yellow stars, and not going to school. Jewish children had to sew those Nazi symbols onto shirts, etc..
Then in the camps, it was starvation and murder. Only by luck or strength, some survived, and those who survived were never the same. It makes you want to cry when help finally came, the English, Russians or Americans, depending on which camp, the red cross.
I find that among some liberals, there is almost an anti-Semitism nouveau, and you may not agree or understand, and perhaps it is not only liberals, but some conservatives too, but people do not seem to care anymore. As I said before, there is no statute of limitation on murder, and any Nazi still alive, no matter how old, should have consequences. However, unlike Law and Order, this is not always the case. They are, if sent back to Europe, rarely contended with there, and we have not the jurisdiction to punish them on American soil.
It is difficult for me not to hate the Germans, although I am one quarter gentile German, I am also half Jewish. Anyone should find the holocaust despicable. Please note that any anti-Semitic remarks will be removed from my blog. Freedom of speech has limits, not legally, but in this type of forum.
The good is that ethnic cleansing was not successful completely, and the Jews are still viable and worship in temples, have lives in many countries. Still, the idea that you should blame a people for your economic or social problems, take everything they own and eliminate them, taking away every human right, is preposterous, and I cannot believe they got away with it, until the war ended, and they were found out, the people surviving rescued. I think Picoult did an amazing job of researching and accuracy, and she is a world class writer in my book now, and although I have always liked her books, The Storyteller is her very best work.
I am reading Jodi Picoult's 2013 bestseller, The Storyteller. I would like to tell you that my idea of a good time was kayaking, sky diving, and jet skiing, but I guess I am boring, because my idea of a good time, is a good book or a good movie and a glass of wine.
Even though the holocaust was sixty years ago, there is no statute of limitation on murder. When we extradite Nazis to Europe, often nothing is done with them. No consequences, but anyone who watches Cold Case, knows there should be..
Picoult's main character is Sage, a name I wish now, I had kept. My birth name is Leslie, but part of me will always be Sage as well. I dreamed that Mehera said that I was Leslie Sage. However, my parents named me Leslie, a popular name in the early sixties, like Christopher, my brother's name. Leslie and Christopher were the names of actor Michael Landon's kids.
A bad economy is never reason for genocide. So many excuses for Nazism, and for the apathy of the Germans and other Nazi countries in Europe, towards Jews, gypsies, and anyone they considered the enemies, six million.
Samuel Clemons said "don't change the names and places, change your own name." That he did. His pen name was and is Mark Twain.
He said write as though only you were going to read it. This makes it real and raw. Stephen King, a more generic but good writer, said "imagine who you would like to read this." Mark Twain spent seven years, and at least three, writing his books, each one. King said, "get done in three months."
I spent two years on 'American Boys.' Few people read my blog anymore, which makes me wonder why I wrote it. It was happier than my real life. I do not want your pity, your charity. I only wanted to tell the truth. I have to live in lies it seems, and can never escape them, even though I wish so much to, so much, I can barely breath sometimes.
I watched all of Revenge on Netflix. It reminded me of things in my life, minus wealth I cannot imagine. Nolan looked and acted exactly like my Alan, who died, and watching it, brought Alan back for a while.
But, I cannot live the lie of the rich. I cannot live the lie of the pious, the self-righteous. I know in my heart that I am hated, and that I will never have my due heritage. The native American, in a sense, though not really, banished to poverty, and no one cares. They, the well meaning, throw their scraps at me, which only insult me more deeply than ever, and I can no longer live a lie.
The characters in my novel represented real people, my children, other people's children, Alan, myself, and ultimately 'Jim,' but I fear I will never have a Jim. Really I do not fear it, but accept it.
If you read my book, you would know 'Jim.' But, as I said, no one, hardly but a few, ever read my blog anymore. Perhaps, Americans will read again. As another author so eloquently said, "I wrote my book, because I wanted to read it."
Yes, as the title states, I like to watch these shows on Netflix. Of course they are not all I watch, but what I prefer as of late. The reasons are a few. For one, many of The Twilight Zone episodes are pieces of famous great literature. Some have much meaning, such as, The Obsolete Man.
The meaning is what we are dealing with in the world today. Any state that does not value the work and right of human beings, whether they be a librarian, a nurse, or a teacher, has no real value, and is meaningless. In this case, where the individual is not valued, the state is what is obsolete. This kind of crazy thinking is also a theme in the famous Twilight Zone episode narrated by Rod Sterling as they all are, entitled, Eye of the Beholder, the one where a beautiful woman's face is in bandages, and the doctors and nurses take them off, and she is still beautiful, but she is considered a freak, while they are the ones who really are. Meanwhile the supreme leader is on the television, in the hospital hallway, where everyone, doctors and nurses smoke of course, as in the early sixties, even later, speaking about the 'rules of conformity.'
Aside from the deeper reasons, I enjoy seeing how things were in 1961, when most of these were made, and the year I was born. I have a fascination with how people dressed, behaved, acted, etc., during the time my parents were young. The women seem downright histrionic, and the men sure wore their pants high wasted, lol. Maybe that will come back, high wasted pants for men. I'm sure GQ has some male model in Italian pants like that, even now, the equivalent to Vogue, although the owner of Maxim, one of the richest men in Scotland, said "GQ is for men who like socks better than sex."
Speaking of Vogue, I was once in Barnes & Noble with a girlfriend, and I had a sprained ankle, so while I was sitting, I asked my girlfriend to bring me a magazine. It was Vogue. I said, "can't you bring me something more realistic like Lucky or Jane?" LOL.
