2022—A Year to Begin Closing a Gaping Agape Hole?
My faith needs bolstering these days. In general, it feels like Rocky after a few rounds with Clubber Lang…taking quite a few hits and finding itself on the ropes, hoping for the bell to ring to end the round and catch its breath before it keels over.
It is primarily my faith in people that is so wounded, after these last years of division and vitriol. We have siloed ourselves and shouted in…
The FraGEElay Nature of Life: How $2.50 Saved an Entire Town
For my tenth annual iteration of my Christmas Eve(ish) FraGEElay* post, I find my heart dwelling on another Christmas classic: It’s a Wonderful Life. It is my favorite movie, and I have seen it over 100 times. But my viewing of it the other night brought me a new understanding and insight.
The film (for those living in a sad “I haven’t watched IAWL” world) is about George Bailey being shown the…
Time Marches On…(and The Juggle Struggle Is 9)
I am both happy and sad when people ask me why The Juggle Struggle rarely sees a new post these days. Happy that anyone cares…sad that I am not writing like I used to. The truth is that I have a lot that I want to write, but my focus and discipline have hitched a ride out of town. I haven’t completely given up, though, and I am compelled to write a little now to mark the ninth anniversary of this…
2021: Bring Me a Renaissance!
Even those who have had beautiful experiences this past year know that overall, 2020 sucked. We have had very hard lessons to learn and been very hardheaded (and hardhearted) about learning them.
There has been so much loss and sadness. Over 343,000 American lives have been lost to Covid, and deaths worldwide are at 1.81 million. And counting.
Many livelihoods and incomes of the 98% have been…
A Year of Overwhelming FraGEElay
This is the ninth iteration of my yearly Christmas Eve “fraGEElay”* post, and 2020 has been a year of fragility like never before. Over 334,000 Americans have died due to Covid, with nearly 19 million cases overall.
That means that this Christmas millions of Americans will be dealing with the various degrees of loss this horrible virus has brought. Many, many tables will have one less place to…
2020 Hindsight—What if 2020 is the year we finally see 20/20?
With pretty much everything being a cause for division these days, I’m pretty sure there is something we can all agree on: 2020 was a year. An exceptional year that brought us a great deal of pain, struggle, and loss. A year that gave us plenty to learn from and a lot of tough challenges to work through.
And now that we are soon to have 20/20 hindsight of 2020…what do we see more clearly?
I saw…
A crazy little fairy tale…or is it?
There was a captain of a ship who was fired from his job and told to—as his contract states—finish his voyage and then leave. Rather than accepting this and behaving professionally, he claims that he was not fired and tells all the passengers that he is being attacked. He threatens to just keep the ship out at sea. The company tells him they can prove that all protocols were followed in his…
Dear Donald—You Must Be So Proud
A Voter’s Journey in the crazy that is 2020.Dear Donald—
Congratulations—you won! You have clinched the victory!…over trust. Yes, trust had already received some stern punches to the gut, but you have crushed it altogether. You must be so proud.
I’m not talking about allowing outside forces to meddle in our election or using taxpayer money to fund your campaign or having your staff…
A Season of Blursdays – Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020
I’ve come to think of every day as Blursday, Marchtember Oneteenth during this pandemic. For most all of us, there is life BC (Before Covid) and then this haze of “the new normal.” It has most definitely been a struggle. So much loss, fear, pain, and uncertainty. Maybe all those things apply directly to you or maybe some only to those around you or beyond, but we are all going through a…
The Privilege of Uncomplicated Morality
In these days after the killing of George Floyd, our country is at a critical crossroads. As a white woman, I have chosen to share resources on social media from those who know better…much, much, muchbetter.* I’ve been doing a lot of listening and trying to keep my big yap shut when it comes to “knowing” and avoid “whitesplaining” because as an ally, I know that’s the right thing to do. Instead…
Living the juggle struggle and striving for the peace that passes all understanding.