Category: Uncategorized
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IT’S ONLY A RECIPE
Right now, the aroma wafting from our kitchen is the chocolate chunk Mandel Bread baking in our oven for our celebration of Hanukkah. We are celebrating Hanukkah and our love for the Jewish community. My husband’s father is full-blooded Italian, and we know his family enjoyed the same cookie, but they called it Biscotti. I remind…
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ROLLER SKATING AND WHEN IT’S TIME TO QUIT
This morning, I saw an aerial shot of Columbus Circle, which reminded me of our first time living in Manhattan in the 1990s. In traffic, I used to roller skate from our West Side apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, weaving between cars and running red lights, all the way to Central Park, skate the entire big…
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POOP MACHINES
This morning, my beloved husband passed his gastroenterology procedure with flying colors. He is good for another ten years, in theory. We live in a small community, and it took all of fourteen minutes to drive from our home and walk through the lobby doors of our hospital this morning. Our hospital is a modern…
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GIVE PEACE A CHANCE: NON-VIOLENT ENGAGEMENT 101
When in public, in-person, or Zooming, my husband and I practice non-violent engagement. Peaceful withdrawl from an agressive person or group takes practice, practice, practice. When in-person or while visiting on the phone or during a Zoom group with close friends, we can let our guard down a bit, however, it will always be part…
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Poetry, Eve as Hero
One semester I taught a course on poetry. Each day I handed out copies of the poems we would discuss the next class, and I encouraged my students to mark them up and when we had the discussion the next class day to keep taking notes. There is an Adam and Eve Poem tradition in…
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Volunteers, Doers as Writers, COURTTV
My husband and I work with several social action groups. We write proposals, we seek justice. We talk to other hard-working people. We get things done. Our friends describe us as doers. Right now the True Crime Writing Community is one of the most important doer groups in your community. It’s easy for some to…
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Mixed-Media HANDMADE COLLAGE WORKS
These mixed-media handmade collage works are from many years ago, and when someone blatantly copies, shames, and tries to get me to react to it, I think of what Oscar Wilde said when he popularized the proverb: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. Meow… Woof-woof… Peace…
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Community Building Art Works
I usually post this information around fundraising time, but I cannot think of a better time than now to mention this organization. For I cannot think of a more trying time for the military and veteran military members of our community, members who are still processing trauma, the military members who are out there right…
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BEAUTY, PERFECTION, SKIN, HIVES, ECZEMA
Before we went to sleep one night, I warned my new then-boyfriend (now husband) that at some point in our relationship, I would have a massive allergic reaction to something I ate or was exposed to, and I was giving him fair warning just in case he wanted out of the relationship. He did the…
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WE DONATE FOOD BECAUSE WE’VE NEVER STARVED FOR ONE THING
The other day some asshole yelled at me: “Hey, what’s in the bags?” and this blog post is my response because in general, people who yell stuff at me make me feel afraid. MOST Fridays before Shabbat service begins, my husband and I make an in-kind food donation to David D. Frazier Food Pantry at…
Mary Louise Penaz 